WWQP Bulletin Board Chat

SARA

I concure with Kathi. While my pooches turned their noses up at Science Diet they loved Pro Plan. That's the top of the line Purina feed. I read long ago in Gun Dog Magazine that one should avoid any dog food that does not list meat as the first listed ingredient. Also avoid corn. The reason for the latter is that while the corn contains as much protein as other grains most of it is not absorbed and adds significantly to the volume of doo-doo in the yard. I found that by using any of the lamb and rice or other meat and rice or barley produces less in the way of feces to clean up. The stools are also firmer making it easier to clean up.
As for canned food my vet and I suspect all others as well as professional kennel people avoid it. If it gets to be too well established as a habit it may be hard to break the pattern. The hard dry stuff is much better for the teeth and GI tract. I feed twice a day and find that Shadow doesn't get nearly as frantic with hunger as the dogs we had previously. She weighs at about 32-34 lbs. and is in great health. She used to get a rounded cup of feed twice a day plus a toy dog sized milk bone which Al started calling it desert. As she aged I cut back on the quantity and switched to senior food. She gets 3/4 cup twice a day now at age 11.5 years. I do admit she gets treats but if she starts putting on the pounds I cut back. The treats are always dry doggie treats and I've recently found one that is "lite". My vet also says that most dogs who lose teeth in their old age have had what she calls a "crappy" diet implying canned mushy stuff and table scraps.

Pro Plan is sometimes hard to find and when I can't get to the pet store in Asheville I use Purina One. Just read the ingredients list and cut out the mush. As Kathi says, cut out the treats and she'll get hungry enough to eat whatever you offer her. I used to get annoyed with a neighbor who gave treats to my toddler which always resulted in not eating a meal. Several years after we moved away I went back for a visit and her then kindergartener who had been Lisa's pal was so obese she couldn't hang her arms straight down from her shoulders. She burst into the house while I was there when she came home from school and demanded a fried egg sandwich. Dad promptly jumpted up and made one. And her mother was a nurse! Down right tragic.
Of course, make sure your pooch gets lots of exercise just as you do.

Hope Carl's thyroid situation resolves without too much fuss.
Jane

posted by Jane in NC @ 5:31 PM