"human" food or dog food?

[ACAkeyla]

I had some issues with one of B's eating her food (Authority). I started feeding her ground turkey, oatmeal, and some kind of veggie with her dry food (she has gained 3lbs, which she REALLY needed). Is it a good idea to rely on the "human" food to give her the nutrients she needs or should I try a new dog food? Any kind of advice would be wonderful. Thanks!

[lvoss]

If you are interested in feeding a home cooked diet then you may want to join the yahoo group K9Kitchen which has information about how to prepare a correctly balanced diet.

[krunzer]

I would try a different kibble. Timberwolf or Taste of the Wild are high quality foods. See if they have some sample packs.

[Quercus]

Totally your preference. Both have good options, just make sure that if you are making her food, you are getting in all the nutrients she needs. I WISH I had time to make my dogs' food…it would probably be less expensive, and far healthier for them...but I barely have time to get food on the table for the humans in the house.

[Kipawa]

@krunzer:

I would try a different kibble. Timberwolf or Taste of the Wild are high quality foods. See if they have some sample packs.

You could try a different kibble and add some veggies to it. Kipawa eats Taste of The Wild Bison and gets additional veggies in his bowl with the kibble. He loves sweet potatoes, sugar snap peas, cauliflower, green beens, kale and even brussel sprouts!

[sharronhurlbut]

My biggest fear in feeding home made is that I might miss out on something the dog needs.

[MacPack]

You say you are adding 'extras' to the dry food, that should be fine as long as it's a good quality food with adequate nutrients. Adding some human food as an 'appetizer' is good (according to Nicky's internist, after her pancreatitis) just don't give any extra fat or fatty foods. I also add some hot water to the kibble and let it sit for about 20-30 min, it is soft-crunchy and they love the gravy. I add a bit of canned food and sweet potato, mush it up, and my dogs gobble it.

[ACAkeyla]

Thanks for the info everyone!

[agilebasenji]

http://www.maryshouse.us/Recipes.htm

my pups get a bit of muttloaf with their evening meals

[DaMac]

A lot of the food that people reccomend are just not available in this small area. Anyway, the only people food mine have ever gotten it pizza crust, they think its just a great chew.
Dave

[tanza]

@DaMac:

A lot of the food that people reccomend are just not available in this small area. Anyway, the only people food mine have ever gotten it pizza crust, they think its just a great chew.
Dave

This is my personal opinion… your pets miss out on people food, not scrapes as was done for many years, but veggies, fruits, raw meat... regardless if you feed a regular good quality kibble... I see no reason not to give them good human grade meat, fruits and veggies

[krunzer]

LOL…how tough are your pizza crusts??

[sharronhurlbut]

We give our b's a lot of human food. The Wheat, my village girl, will eat anything. Bird seed, from our backyard bird feeders , things my 2 p/b b's turn their nose up at…
She has no allergies, no food issues and is very hardy. But that figures, as only the very strong ones make it in that hard place.
My boy has food allergies, and grass allergies, so it more of a problem for him.

[Patty]

Human food?? Mine are on a raw meat diet but also have veggies, fruits and scraps if there are any left! In fact just anything - like Miss Wheat they will eat almost anything and are usually very fit.

[Buddys Pal]

Oh no, I was not going to have to post a reply to this because I do add some human food once in awhile and rotate it, eggs, tuna, chicken, bovine heart, chicken livers (all cooked) but anyway-the carbs in a pizza crust can lead to disaster! My Dad was always giving his dog table scraps (right from the table too!!! Uggg!!!) But now, after many pizzas etc, the dog has diabetes and does not take well to the needle of insulin. PLEASEEEEE DONT FEED THIS UNHEALTHY PART OF HUMAN FOOD!!! PLEASE?! Preenpets.com has a good selection of made in America food for cheweys. check it out….

[tanza]

@Buddys:

Oh no, I was not going to have to post a reply to this because I do add some human food once in awhile and rotate it, eggs, tuna, chicken, bovine heart, chicken livers (all cooked) but anyway-the carbs in a pizza crust can lead to disaster! My Dad was always giving his dog table scraps (right from the table too!!! Uggg!!!) But now, after many pizzas etc, the dog has diabetes and does not take well to the needle of insulin. PLEASEEEEE DONT FEED THIS UNHEALTHY PART OF HUMAN FOOD!!! PLEASE?! Preenpets.com has a good selection of made in America food for cheweys. check it out….

I agree with unhealthy human scrapes. Now that said, once in a great while a little treat of this is OK… IMO... but never on a regular schedule. If you are going to feed human food, do not use scrapes.. feed good food that only you yourself would eat. I agree with eggs, tuna, chicken, etc as noted by Buddys Pal.... and many veggies... and/or fruits...

[krunzer]

But not grapes or onions….those are toxic to dogs.

[eeeefarm]

I don't think the occasional piece of pizza crust is going to do any harm, but obviously don't overdo it. Dogs evolved as scavengers, and up until fairly recently they mostly got by on table scraps before someone had the brilliant idea of telling us we had to only feed "scientifically balanced" meals to our canine friends. Funny, it is acceptable to feed your children fast food garbage, but God forbid you should feed your pet anything that isn't "veterinarian approved" (most vets know diddly squat about nutrition…...they get a short course provided by guess who? The dog food companies!)

"People" food is fine, IMHO, but beware the known toxic items. Most people know about chocolate, but some aren't aware that raisins and grapes can be dangerous. My Basenjis have always loved most vegetables and fruits, and popcorn is also a favourite. But I feed a good quality dog food for convenience (NRG dehydrated) and supplement with veggies when I am cooking.

[agilebasenji]

@tanza:

.. feed good food that only you yourself would eat. I agree with eggs, tuna, chicken, etc as noted by Buddys Pal…. and many veggies... and/or fruits...

Uhm, well, at my house the rule is I only feed my dogs human food that I should be eating. :rolleyes: Like tonight Zest really, really, really wanted a bite of the homemade peach/blueberry cobbler. But I gave her garden fresh zucchini instead. :p
Yes, I suffer for my pups.

[LindaH]

@DaMac:

A lot of the food that people reccomend are just not available in this small area.

You can always order it online, often at a cheaper price and often without any shipping charges. That's what I do when we're in Arizona during the winter since we live out in the middle of nowhere and the closest stores with premium dog food are 120+ miles away. Even when we're in Spokane during the summer, I more often than not order online because 1) The food I use is often cheaper than what I can buy at a store here and 2) I don't have to pay Washington State sales tax of around 8.7%.

The place I order from is PetFlow.com, although there are other, similar, places. Order over a certain dollar amount and the shipping is free, or only $4.99 if you can't meet their minimum dollar requirement for free shipping. You can also arrange for repeat shipments, but it's not a requirement.