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Post by bobbenson on Apr 28, 2008 14:21:34 GMT -5
I haven't been here in a long time. Computer crash and lost the link.
Times are pretty tight and my boxer is now over 1.5 years. I bought a bag of dog food from the local supermarket. Purina I think. $15 vs $40 for the upscale puppy food I was feeding him. Thats a pretty big spread. I wanted to be sure he got the best during his growing period.
It strikes me that generic dog food is probably ok, but you should probably give the dog nutritional supplements. Does anybody have an opinion on this and what supplements if they agree with this strategy. I only feed him dry dog food and he is free fed from an automatic feeder.
I have seen posts where free feeding isn't supported, but I used it for my prior two boxers and it worked out well.
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Post by Brooke on May 3, 2008 8:04:04 GMT -5
When free fed, dogs have a much higher tendency to become overweight. As far as the generic foods it's not the greatest to feed them. They are filled with significantly more grains and fillers that don't process as easily. You can tell a difference in what they leave in the yard. ;D The quality of food that goes into the cheaper foods is not as healthy. (Dually noted by the petfood recall causing deaths and health failures awhile back) Infact there are only a few brands I would consider feeding my dog (especially after that). For the past 5 years I've had her on Canidae dry dog food. I pay about $30 for a 40 lb bag. She doesn't seem to have a strong doggy smell that tends to take over the house. She's 7 years old and her teeth are pearly white and she only poops 1-2 times a day. I really feel the type of food you feed age them faster too.
The dogs I had on crappy foods tended to poop a lot more and it was a lot smellier and the stool was more loose due to the grains and fillers.
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Post by Richard on May 3, 2008 11:41:12 GMT -5
We feed Nikki the Eagle Pack Sardine, Anchovy and Salmon holistic select dry food. It was initially because Nikki had some skin issues that we were dealing with. Since she's been on this food now for about 3 1/2 years, she's doing great. We've recently started the process of switching Rocky from Eukanuba for large breed food over to the Eagle Pack as well. Up here the Eukanuba is about $65 for a 40lb and the Eagle Pack is about the same for a $30lb bag. Each lasts about a month and a half (or a little less for the Eagle Pack). They get fed once a day at 5pm (the switch between DST and EST and back always messes them up for a few days! ) and get about 3 cups of food each. I think 6 out of 7 days, the bowls are cleared but occasionally, Nikki won't eat everything so we'll leave it down for a while longer. Even when times have been lean around here, I didn't want to cut back on the quality of dog food mainly because of two reasons: 1) I can see that they're both doing well on the food and it works as advertised. 2) They're both 7 1/2 years now and while I know that there are no guarentees for quality of life, the better the food is going in then the better their health is and less visits to the vet. Bottom line IMHO, whatever works best for you and your Boxer - if he's doing well and eating properly then your feeding system is working.
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Post by bobbenson on May 3, 2008 13:55:43 GMT -5
This is my third boxer. I free fed my other two as well. They never got fat. The type of feeder I had and currently have is a galvanized 10" x 10" x 3' thing with a flat panel door on the front that swings open. Perhaps one reason they didn't get fat is its not really natural for the dog to push open the door and stick their head in a hole. For all three dogs, they put their head in, grab a mouthful of food and get out of there. They really don't like sticking their head in the hole. That might be a breed thing as well. Maybe a ratter type of breed would be more comfortable sticking their head in the hole? My last two dogs were fed whatever dog food I could find as I lived in Central America for much of their lives. The food selection wasn't exactly good. For my current dog, I just cut over from puppy food at 1.5 years. I was feeding him Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy . It got a B ranking on the link at the bottom of this post. I bought a bag of Purina because that was what was at the grocery store. 40lb bag for $15. Purina got an F at the link below. I just called WalMart and they carry Iams for $34 for a 40 lb bag. So thats about twice the price but a grade C vs Grade F dog food. Of course the grading system may be somewhat arbatrary. Money is pretty tight at the moment, but I'm going to see how long it takes to go through a $40 lbs bag of dog food. It may only be a small amount of money per day. Here's a link on dog food recommendations (grades). They explained how they did the grading which made some sense. Either way, I think I'm going to switch to the IAMS. www.the-puppy-dog-place.com/dog-food-ratings.htmlDoes anybody use any suppliments as well?
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Post by Aussienot on May 3, 2008 17:22:22 GMT -5
Good quality ingredients cost more. If the food is significantly cheaper than other foods, then you have to ask yourself why. Look at the ingredients. Also check out how much sugar and fat the food has. If the food is made of corn, wheat and meat substitutes like "chicken meal" or "meat by-products" that's probably why it is less expensive.
With people, your diet has a lot to do with your health. Like people, dogs are what they eat. Adding supplements will not transform a nutritionally poor food. If you eat corn chips at every meal, taking a vitamin tablet will not make it a good diet.
Good supplements are not cheap. If you have to add supplements to put some nutrition in, it might be cheaper to feed a quality food in the first place. Save money by stopping the free feeding. Measure out how much your dog eats into two meals a day.
You've put a lot of effort into training and behavior, so it seems like you care about your dog. Do you really need to cut corners in your dog's health just to save a few bucks?
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Post by bobbenson on May 4, 2008 12:57:00 GMT -5
Point taken Aussienot. I'll go back to the good stuff when he finishes his current bag. I think I will continue free feeding him unless he starts getting fat. The question is what decent dog food is available in the local pet store here. It seems to vary widely all over the country.
A final note on the free feeding - the reason I started using the automatic dog feeder with my first dog when I was 21 or so is I traveled a lot for business. I had a room mate. I didn't want to take the chance that I was gone for a week, my room mate was in an accident and the dog was without food or water. I also used an automatic waterer.
The same thing could happen here. I'm new to the area. If my wife and I were in a car wreck, no one would check on us for a week or more.
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Post by nicolesmith on Jun 26, 2011 6:43:54 GMT -5
I agree that if you’re feeding your dog with cheap dog food. It's best to supplement the dog with the nutrients which I think is the same if you buy the dog expensive dog food.
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Post by vertastikl on Jul 3, 2020 10:24:58 GMT -5
I don’t use nutritional supplements in dog food, I just picked up a good Blue Buffalo Basics Limited Ingredient Formula Salmon & Potato Recipe Adult Dry Dog fish and contains glucosamine and chondroitin to help meet the special needs of larger dogs. The food contains antioxidants, essential vitamins and important nutrients.
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