what do you feed your dog?

[sea4th]

I'm curious what different BC owners feed their dogs & why.

 

Vicki

[UpNatEm]

Without giving a speech(I'll spare you all) I feed mine the "BARF or Raw diet".Everyone probably believes in something they like or works for them.I used to feed kibble,did tons of research,switched to the raw diet and now have my vets curious.For more info email me.

 

Sue Barta www.bartasborders.com

[JEL]

I feed my Border Collie Wellness by Old Mother Hubbard. Intially, I was impressed by reading their label; now however, I can say that my dog does really well on it, and it is one of the few foods I've tried that she doesn't pack on pounds with.

I, too, did tons of research on the BARF diet - read several books on the subject and talked with many present (and former) BARFers, and decided against it.

 

The really fun - and frustrating - part of finding the *right* dog food, IMHO, is that what works great for one dog isn't always the greatest choice for the next dog....my Border Collie tends to run a little heavy, despite a high activity level and running the gauntlet of "lite" foods, incl Nutro and Premium Edge....for us, Wellness works.

 

janet

[sarajakesmum]

I second the wellness- we give jake just under a cup twice a day and a little bit of either rice, baked potato or canned pumpkin (got the pumpkin from this board. Jake likes the fish and sweet potato one.

[sarajakesmum]

sorry forgot to answer why- I live in a city and its illegal not to pick up after your dog. punishable to a 500$ fine. So this keeps it all together- wet food causes a big disaster. Sorry for the graphicness.

[nancy]

PetSmart's Authority - Lamb & Rice - has certainly decreased Fergie's output. And she is more energetic while losing that tad of extra weight.

 

Today, at almost 7 years old, she out-hiked us on a trail that zig-zagged down from the Blue Ridge Parkway to a creek, along the creek until we humans decided to give up on the mud, then badk up. We 3 were all totally tuckered out. But about 2 miles down the Parkway, we visited an old cabin. Ferg was ready for another hike. We sure as #$%^m weere not!

 

Gee, should I give up home-made bread and jam, and steak dinners, for some Authority?

[Bill Fosher]

For the past six or eight months, I've been feeding Precise Sensicare, which is their lamb and rice formula. I chose it for several reasons. First, the ingredients list is good. It contains real foods, and is preserved naturally.

 

Second, it is relatively low in protein (22 percent) and has a good amount of fat (14 percent. Ideally, you want to find a dog food that has a protein to fat ratio of 3:2, and a protein level of 20 percent or less. Most American dog food is higher than 20 percent protein, and too low in fat.

 

Some of the dogs that I have here now were eating horrible "cheap" dog food from Wal-Mart before, and they all look much better since the diet was switched. They eat less because the Precise is more digestible, and there's less coming out the other end.

 

I remember running the numbers one time, and figuring out that even though Sensicare is nearly twice the price per bag of the Wal-Mart food, it was only a few cents per day more expensive to feed the dogs with it because I feed so much less of it.

 

I'm feeding it to 12 dogs right now, plus a litter of pups, and they are all doing great on it.

 

------------------

Bill Fosher

Surry, NH

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by Bill Fosher (edited 08-23-2002).]

[Guest rtphokie]

Bill,

I'm curious as to why you want to feed low protein? I would think a working dog would need high protein?

 

Thanks,

Laura

[Bill Fosher]

Dogs get sustained energy from fat in the diet, not from protein. Of course, they need a certain amount of protein in their diets, but not nearly what most dog food manufacturers provide.

 

Protein is a profit center -- soy and meat by-products are cheap, and consumers are willing to pay a lot for high-protein dog food because we have been taught that protein is good and fat is bad.

 

Excess protein in the diet can lead to behavioral problems, particularly in young dogs who become hyperactive. I would think (although I don't have any scientific data to back this up) that it would also be hard on the liver and kidneys long term, since they would be filtering out excess blood nitrogen all the time.

 

Border collies have always been shepherds dogs, and in the UK have historically been raised on cheap rations -- oatmeal and meat scraps, and sometimes just oatmeal. These rations are, incidentally, low in protein. The breed is probably somewhat genetically adapted to low-protein diets.

 

In puppies, you don't want high protein because the excess energy is put into growth, and rapid growth can lead to skeletal problems.

 

I'll see if I can dig up the link to some articles on feeding the canine athlete, or perhaps Kim at black dog farm has them.

 

------------------

Bill Fosher

Surry, NH

[JEL]

fyi..there are some good articles to be found on www.k9power.com about nutrition, fat, etc....

[2 Devils]

I recently switched to Canidae. My dogs have allergies to corn and canidae does not have it. Before the switch they were on Nature's Recipe venison and rice.

 

Since I made the switch my bc/mix has more hair growing in which I am glad of. She has always had a thin single coat, smooth hair.

 

I switched one because after 2 years on the nature's recipe they all started reacting to it so I switched to Wellness and they did ot really like it and their coats became dull. So I went back to nature's recipe until I could find a food I liked. The canidae is made with human grade meat etc...has only 450 calories per cup and is not realy high on protein. My bc/mix has lost 3 lbs and so has my acd. They both needed to loose a couple and look real healthy now. They also have less stools and they aren't as smelly.

[Guest C Denise Wall]

Laura wrote:

 

"I'm curious as to why you want to feed low protein? I would think a working dog would need high protein?"

 

 

I wrote an article on nutrition in '96 that may help answer that question. It's on www.stilhope.com

 

Denise

[sea4th]

I'm currently feeding 10 dogs & had a litter of pups this past January. My dog food of choice is "mOrigins", a raw diet, but since it is expensive, I only have 3 of my dogs on it, 2 of which are old timers and one of those has a compromised immune system. The rest I feed Solid Gold Holistic, the Wellness, Flint River Ranch, Royal Canin Holistic--which ever is most accessible at the time I need it.

 

I am totally sold on Morigins (they have a website). It comes in frozen 5 pound rolls & I've fed it this summer frozen, right out of the freezer, after I've broken off the frozen portions with a hammer & flat head screw driver. The dogs loved it during this hot summer.

 

I've always been somewhat of a health nut for my dogs, & to a lesser extent myself (sad, isn't it). But what really sold me on mOrigins, was after coming back from a 2 week business trip last March, I came back to find my oldest BC really sick-----he had several things going on at one time---kidney function was off, he was urinating blood, e-coli in the bladder, spondylosis and he was diagnosed a couple of months later with a disorder BC's don't generally get. I was told that he would certainly die WITH the disorder, but not FROM it. I had him neutered, and at my vet's recommendation put him on an early kidney diet, & he was on antibiotics for the e-coli. After several hundred $$$ of vet bills, and having carried him into the vet's office because he was too weak to walk, and that he really looked horrible on Science Diet's kidney diet (he had a sunken in look), I made up my mind that whatever time this dog had left, he would at least enjoy his food. I was really preparing to lose him. I switched him to "mOrigins". This was in August of last year. In October, this soon-to-be 12 yr old BC, was working livestock again----not like a 6 yr. old, he's still an old dog, but considering the fact that I was carrying him a few months prior to that, I was happy to see my dog doing what he loves best.

 

When we did a blood panel on him this past May, this "condition" I was told he would die with, no longer existed.

 

His teeth are like a dog's half his age. I'm just happy to have my best buddy back. He'll be 13 Nov. 1.

 

P.S. The woman that I get this food from bought one of my pups. She has 3 dogs on this food and the pup has great muscle tone, looks great.

 

I am always on the lookout for a good quality dry food and stay away from supermarket shelves and find that usually only the crappy dog food is advertised on TV.

 

OH well, that's my 2 cents worth.

 

Vicki

[diane allen]

My choice is a raw natural diet. Along with others, I'll skip the sermon. Suffice to say that it works for us. My 3 dogs are healthy, happy and look great. We travel a lot, so picking up solid, non-stinky poop is great: theirs is quite solid, and practically odorless! (OK, not completely....)

 

One dog who used to have lots of intestinal problems, and probably has a weak immune system, does great on this. I have a good source of antibiotic-free, hormone-free range-fed beef; if I didn't, I might be more inclined to look at something like Solid Gold, Innova (both of which I used before switching), or Flint River. I also intersperse fish, occasional meat-free meals, and variety, variety, variety of other ingredients! No, it's not cheap; no, its not easy. But its my choice.

 

Bill said,

"Border collies have always been shepherds dogs, and in the UK have historically been raised on cheap rations -- oatmeal and meat scraps, and sometimes just oatmeal. These rations are, incidentally, low in protein. The breed is probably somewhat genetically adapted to low-protein diets."

 

Agreed. The grain I use (along with the meat or fish) is oats - which for a grain, is actually quite high in protein and fat; but its not the primary ingredient in their food. I'm sure those UK field dogs did well on it, but might not have done so well on white rice. Oats are the easy and cheap part of the diet!

 

Yet another opinion...

 

diane