Basenji Feeding

Basenjimamma - I'll look at the varieties of Heinz baby food. Thank you for the tip. I notice that most say cook the sweet potatoes. Does anyone feed them raw?

I second what Pat said. We have a couple of deer in the freezer that were given to us in December & January. I saved most of the leg bones on one of them (my neighbor's dogs got the ribcage and spine- they're 3 big Labs, so they made short work of it). Giving my dogs big, meaty leg bones gave the Basenjis a little diarrhea/loose stool for a day or two. (Chloe, the canine garbage disposal, had the biggest bone & was unaffected). It wasn't anything major, but next time I'll stick to giving smaller pieces. I've used an old hacksaw for cutting bone; venison leg bones aren't too thick & you may be able to get them at least cut in half yourself. Your pups will absolutely enjoy the bones- I know mine did! Kept 'em busy most of the day.

I also recommend this site http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ An interesting site but I did notice that some of the products have not been updated in a long time. Once you see a food you like on this site it would be a good idea to doublecheck the ingredients on the product's website as they may have changed since originally being posted.

Update: As soon as I switched the dogs to a different brand the itching stopped and the hair has started to grow back. I think it is safe to say they were allergic to something in the food. I was also feeding the puppies Nutro Natural Choice puppy food and although they had gorgeous coats they just weren't doing very well on it. I will never use nor recommend this brand of food again.

I would highly recommend the fish oil. As I stated before in a previous post, I put Zak on a grain free diet and added fish oil pills daily and a Cosequin DS (glucosamine & chondroitin) capsule sprinkled on his food each day for arthritis and he has not had a problem with arthritis since. There are foods with these supplements included, however, it is my understanding that they are just sprayed on the food. My vet had in the past suggested for my senior dogs at least 1000mg fish oil daily for cognitive health and the arthritis. For Zak and some early kidney disease he is showing she is recommending, and I have also read on line, 100mg fish oil per 10 lbs. of body weight (2500 mg daily). I don't think you're going to find the best level of fish oil supplement in a kibble. Oh, and his coat this year is sooooooooo soft! :)

Kananga approves. :D Local pet store that I go to carries all of the frozen raw diets offered by Nature's Variety. It's nice to have a good selection to possibly rotate proteins. I thawed out 3 medallions and it only took Kananga 20-30 seconds to realize this was yummy food. He's a big fan of this but hopefully he'll still like his dry kibble. :)

oops never mind

"Maybe he just has powerful jaws as he destroyed a new $17 toy that is made pretty rough and tough." You have to realize that makers of those indestructable toys have never tried them out first on basenjis.

Chicken Soup is good quality food. AJ won't eat it but each dog has his or her own taste. He gets Pinnacle. It does come in 35 lb bags, but I buy a bunch of 7 lb bags each time…to keep it more fresh and because it's easier to stow 4 small bags than 1 big bag. (He's a trucker dog.)

oh, man, send me a piece. we're going to a friend's house, and i wasn't "required" to make dessert this year. I do think i'm going to make red velvet cupcakes for Digital's birthday (next month), not that he can have any, but i do like the red velvet cake and it'll be the last night of my control unleashed class, so there's that. anyway, that cheesecake is just delish!!!

Haha. I've made myself heart from the grocery store, and I liked it. I've had liver and onions and chopped liver, and they were good too. Freeze dried, just dounds so … dry... Medjai seems to like it though.

I agree with Pat. If the 'best' dogfood gives your dog gas, or loose stools, it isn't the best for that dog. Like Petra said, you feed a good to great quality food, hi or medium protein, whatever your dog likes that agrees with them.

@snorky998: Thank you, Andrew. How's Shango been? Still the adorable host at the shop? He's doing GREAT. He's still managing things at the bakery just fine though day after day he just glares up at me after a pup leaves the store- he wants another dog to play with so badly! LOL

@tanza: Here is a link to Animal CPR and Heimlich http://www.ahimsarescuefoundation.org/dogcpr.pdf That's the one. Thanks, Pat. Jason whisked me out to wine tasting and then dinner after work, so I didn't get time to post it. Miranda

I will just add to what Petra said about finding the steel cut oats. You can find them in the Oatmeal section but also if you grocery store has a bulk section check there. It was significantly cheaper for me to buy from the bulk bins then to get the prepackaged section.

I do like it but is just a little to much money but don't keep me from wanting one. Rita Jean

@agilebasenji: If you and your vet are happy with their weight, I would not change the amount you're feeding them. However, my pups need more calories in the winter to maintain their weight. Treats - my pups love sweet potatoes and raw (or cooked) zucchinis. sometimes dogs like green beans or carrots. at my house, tri-ing is really bad about taking the carrots, chewing them up and spitting them out all over the place. Yea, thanks Jet. Otherwise, they also like cheese, waffles, eggs, etc, but given you pup's allergies, you may not want to try the later. LOL…. leave it to the "Tri-ing" to make a mess out of the carrots!!!!

@agilebasenji: To clarify, I'm not feeding my dogs differently because they are show/performance dogs; I'm feeding them differently because that is what works for the individual. Where I see feeding a dog differently because it is a performance/working dog (NOT a conformation/show dog) is where the dog is burning TONS of calories. Examples would be a working border collie/kepie or, perhaps, a greyhound that is being run many times a week (I don't know how they work things at the track), a working military/border patrol dog that is logging in miles of work daily, etc. My performance/show dogs are more weekend warriors by comparison. Training less than an hour everyday (not that I really train 7 days a week), hardly needs a special diet (IMHO). I will say I feed the basenjis more in the winter than the summer; they need more calories when it's cold. I also cook an egg on show/agility/coursing mornings, but that's because Digital is a picky boy and I need him to having something in his tummy when he's performing in agility/coursing. And it has just sort of carried over even though Miss Zest would never turn down food of any sort. Of course that's not too different from most weekends since I usually cook a big breakfast on Sat and Sun and everyone gets a bite of egg then. However, I will say I know of some people who do feed their current show dogs a better diet than the non-show dogs, which I find very sad. Well put, especially your last comment… I totally agree.... and pets/companions deserve the best we can feed them... no different then show/performace dogs...

It's second ingredient is brewers rice. Here's an explanation on that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewers_rice

My boyz (almost 13, almost 12) are on Evo small bites. One gets probiotics in the evening meal, the other not. Both are on joint sups.