Aroura

[quote name='Horsefeathers!']TDG, I love you :cry: !! I want to have your baby. Or you can have mine. What a breath of fresh air you are!![/quote] :lol: :lol: :lol: Thanks TDG, its almost impossible to find complete lists like that these days, all the ones I find only have the basics listed, as well as listing alot of grains (instead of other things that also contain the same vitamins) which makes it hard seeing as my dogs don't get grains! (It makes my boxer more aggressive and makes her fart and have bad breath, the poodle is allergic and one of the others puts on weight to easily!)

If you're looking for the best dog food and you are looking at kibbles you may be looking in the wrong spot. There are some very good brands of kibble out, personally I reccoment eagle pack or Innova, but if you want to keep an open mind go to the thread "raw diets... the other side", I think thats what its called. There are some different view points on alternate ways of feeding in there.

Thanks for that, is it ok if I copy that into my web page? Just a few things I'd like to add, any meat with fat in it contains vitamin E, and tomatos and Garlic contain selenium :fadein:

Well TDG and Horsefeathers, you've got me there on the lightly cooked idea. Though I will still feed raw I do agree that a lightly cooked diet, if balanced, is far better than most (nearly every) kibble. My question is, seeing as that many of the vitamins and minerals dogs need are actually within the bone itself, how do you get your dog adequete vitamins and minerals without artificial supplementation? One thing that I recently learned and found interesting, that I thought I would share, is that even ground bone cleans dogs teeth, its the micro fibres in the bone which clean the teeth just as much as it is the knawing. I found that interesting because its hard to get chicken carcass from the butcher here as they grind it all up into pet mince (only a dollar per kilo). This is great stuff, because not only does it have the meat, bone and some of the innards (liver, heart, lung etc) but now I know it also cleans the teeth!!! I wouldn't go by this alone though, if I was worried the dogs may choke on a bone and so ground all their meaty bones up I would still give them a large recreational bone a couple of times a week so they didn't miss out on any of the other goodies of chewing bones! :D

I vote Kung Fu Fighting, I love that song :wink: That boot scooten one kinda bugs me :-? Probably because I live in the town right next door to the country music capital of australia! :o

Thanks everyone :D He's doing great Malamum, he actually really likes them all now and doesn't try to attack them!!! He's changed, not only physically, but behaviourally. He's so much friendlier with everyone he meets, and every dog he meets as well!!! He's a little darling :wink:

I was just looking at photos on the computer yesterday when I came across two photos taken of Montie two days after I got him three months ago. Then I looked at him now, and you all have to see this. Montie 3 months ago: [img]http://home.austarnet.com.au/creamy_pumkin/Dogs/Montie/montie1.jpg[/img] [img]http://home.austarnet.com.au/creamy_pumkin/Dogs/Montie/montie2.jpg[/img] Now, Montie today: [img]http://home.austarnet.com.au/creamy_pumkin/Dogs/Montie/MoomaBeauty.jpg[/img] Doesn't he just look so much healthier? I hardly even recognised the old photos as him!!! Looking good eh?

Pretty much any type of meat and bones as long as they are fresh. I steer clear from cow bones as a general rule as they are usually not very meaty and also are very hard and carry the risk of breaking teeth. Lamb off cuts are great, as are chicken carcass' and whole rabbits (you may want to gut them first though for risk of parasites). Ox tails are good for small dogs, but larger dogs can choke on them. Generally bones should be big enough that the dog can swallow them whole, which is why ox tails can be a hazard. Chicken necks are fine if the dog knows to chew them and not just swallow them. Turkey necks are great for variety and kangaroo tails are great if you live in Aus or you can get them cheap elsewhere! As for the Raw Foods bit, that generally covers pureed raw veggies, they must be pureed as otherwise the dogs can't digest the cellulose. Raw fruit is also great for variety and some people add things like honey, yoghurt, kelp, cod liver oil, flax seed oil, apple cider vinager, brewers yeast etc to the diet. Offal is also added and usually makes up about 10% of the diet. The main thing to keep in mind in variation, which is something no kibble offers. They say variety is the spice of life, well that holds true to dogs too and if you have plenty of variety and plenty of raw meaty bones the nutrients are balanced out over the space of about a week and the dog misses out on nothing. Its really quite interesting and you can never learn too much. I'll be studying nutrition at uni this year so will be learning even more :wink: [size=2]Love to learn![/size]

Just some food for thought, I've heard of many dogs choking to death on kibble, kibble also increases the risk of bloat and I've heard cases of so called good dog foods that have been contaminated or shown not to be nutritionally complete, even to the extent of causing deaths all around the world. Every thing you do in life carrys a danger, you're worried your dog may choke on a splintered bone so you feed him kibble and he chokes on that, or dies of bloat, people can't assume that because they are feeding kibble that it also doesn't carry risks, and there are cover ups about them also. I've weighed up the pros and cons of feeding raw and decided that the pros out wiegh the cons so all my dogs are thriving on raw. I do beleive though that everyone has a right to their own decisions and although I'm an advocate of raw, if some one decides to feed kibble then thats fine by me so long as its not the cheapest bag on the shelf. If someones dog has a problem, yes, in many cases I do encourage them to try BARF, not because I swear it will fix all problems, but because I have seen alot of good results and it does often help. I make no promises, merely suggest they give it a try. I just thought that while we're on the topic of the dangers of BARF I'd quickly point out some of the dangers of kibble, after all, there are two sides to every coin. Alpha, how did you cut the bones? I've heard that cutting bones up can cause them to splinter or lodge in the throaght, is it possible that that could have happend?

Hi there Shara! Was just wondering if you feed Coal once or twice a day? He should be old enough now that you're only feeding him once a day. You shouldn't be worried to take his food off him, leaving food out all day can actually be one of the causes for aggression, so if he doesn't eat it right away put it away and don't offer it again until his next meal. He'll learn! As for the BARF, maybe instead of offering him kibble and BARF each day you could give him just BARF every 2nd or 3rd day and just kibble on the others? Just a suggestion, but I think you'll also reduce the risk of him not eating his kibble meals completely if you do that as well. Oh, and just so you know, all our dogs went BARF cold turkey, the gradual change over is just something that some people do, but I don't really think its neccissary unless you have a really old dog or one with an already weak immune system :wink:

[quote name='Malamum']Though I think Indy would be too slow and clumsy to catch anything anyway. :wink:[/quote] Thats what I thought about Lily, until she caught her first rabbit TODAY!!!! We took them out to the pine forest and I was SO PROUD of my baby, she actually managed to catch something! :angel: And she brought it back to us, flopped it on the ground and just lay there with this amazingly proud look on her face (she'd have the biggest grin if it were possible!). Then, to our suprise Tessa also caught a rabbit!!! I was pretty happy they caught their own dinner!!! As most of you know I feed BARF so I was very happy that I could feed a fresh whole prey to them, I'm going to take them out more often now and hopefully they'll catch dinner on a regular basis! :lol: Oh, sorry to anyone who can't stand the thought of those poor little bunnys... they are a serious pest here and there is nothing more natural than a dog killing its own food :wink:

Well if you can't afford to desex all your animals maybe you shouldn't have so many should you? A part of responsible pet ownership is being able to AFFORD to do what you have to do to ensure all of your pets get the best possible care... seeing as you can't do this I suggest you find homes for your pets that can.

Only two accidents inside? Well he's doing well then!!!! Lily was a horror for the first few months, she'd always some how manage to do it just as I turned my head, so I never caught her in the act. She was good though, the first time I ever caught her in the act I scooped her up and bolted outside with her and gave her the biggest hug when she did it... and then she never ever did it in the house again :wink:

Yay, so happy to hear you finally got him!!! :angel: Welcome to puppy hood, its a long and tiresome journey, but its well worth it! :D One thing I've learnt is that if a puppy wakes you up you shouldn't even blink, because if you do there will be a puddle waiting on the floor by the time your eyes are open again. You have to jump up, run to the door and let puppy out STRAIGHT AWAY!!! Lily was terrible, if I didn't run she would always pee before I had a chance to stop her, so its straight to the door without any hesitation! Going to look at pictures now :wink:

A rottweiler :o :roll: Yeah no puppys from this boy. This girl at dog training wants to get into RSPCA work and stuff, but she's got no idea. He 10 month old dog just had a litter of pups!!! :evil:

LOL, true courtneck. I get so defencive when people ask if he's a chihuahua!!! I guess if you'd never seen a pap before you might think it was a chi cross... but you'd think vets would know!!! :o

I've got two words for you - selective breeding. They may have been hunting dogs back then, but how many breeds these days can actually do what they were origionally bred for? Not many, they have been bred for looks, and with that their health has been comprimised. I can't really give you advice reguarding the exercise thingie. Swimming and other such exercises are great for building muscles, but I'm not sure if stong muscles alone will protect such a back from too much stress - it will greatly help but if you look at the bone structure it is obvious that stairs etc can't really do much good. Its a pity that we've bred dogs in such a way that they can't even live their lives, but I guess the best we can do now is cater for their needs! :D

Great to hear... I was just going to use it on Montie, but I'm beggining to think I'll give it to Lily also :wink:

Good luck for November. Until then I don't think you'll have too much trouble learning to read his signs, which may be hard if it IS his eyesight. Just watch for a stiff stance, thats usually the biggest tell tale sign of a pending attack, even with dogs who don't raise their hackles. I'm that way with Lily now that some how I can feel when she is getting antsy with another dog before she shows any signs at all... after a while it does become like a sixth sence :wink:

Tessa woowoos to say hello and Donna (lab x) woowoos like crazy when ever she is excited, you can hear her blocks away! :lol:

He's back! And he's so cute and docile! He just gives a little tail waggle when he sees me and gives a little squeek if I pick him up. Its so endeering, and every one is "awww"ing over him :angel: My little darling has balls no more :wink: They left the tooth, apparently they didn't see the point in removing it as there were no nerves etc showing and it wasn't loose at all. He just wants to snuggle up, I think I might go to bed soon so I can cuddle him all night 8)

Thats great :D

I hope Alfie is fine and they find out what is wrong with him. I don't know too much about this sort of stuff, but I think that vaccinations aren't always 100% so you might want to check it out anyway. Best of luck to him.

13 cases, and six beloved pets died :cry: Thats so sad, and these people were only doing what they thought was best, by buying a "good" pet food. I'm never going back to kibble :cry:

Just over 15 weeks :D Which means if you get him you'll have to get him into puppy classes and used to your home straight away because the crucial stage of socialisation is up to around 16 weeks, but it sounds like he comes from a loving home who has already worked on alot of the socialisation with him, but you can never expose him to too much! (So long as he isn't getting nervous!). You're post nearly brought a tear to my eye, I always cry when I'm so happy, I cried when I got all of my dogs and I can feel your happiness, I hope it works out for you. At least you will be able to keep in touch with the breeder and she can give you tips for search and rescue work! Good luck, I hope this one works out for you! :angel: