Ive always been an advocate of a raw diet, but over the eight years of Pennys lifetime Ive softened in my approach and now go with the theme of everything in moderation. (Unless a food is actually unhealthy for dogs, of course.)
It can become tricky to source a variety of raw meats, but I think the list by Dr Bruce Syme at the bottom of this old post of mine is a good general resource.
In general, well continue with the raw diet, but Ive come across a new book that has a convincingly clear explanation of many aspects of diet for pet dogs. Its called Feed Your Best Friend Better.
One of the things I like about the guy who wrote this book is that hes more about what to feed your dog for good health rather than focusing on what not to feed.
Another feature of the book is that it has the clearest explanation Ive come across of how much to feed your dog in terms of activity level...
and a clear diagram of how to estimate whether your dog is at a healthy weight and how many calories a day she requires for her level of activity and age.
Because the recipes and information are for US measurements, Ive had to adapt them, but as you can see from these pictures, Im getting myself organised, lol.
[If you click on the photos of the book, another window will come up with a large photo that makes the pages more readable.]
At first, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the discussion of what supplements a dog needs if you are preparing meals at home, but its reassuring to see that the author, Rick Woodford, is not dismissive of commercial foods. If Ive understood correctly, he says that commercial foods are supplemented so fully that even adding half commercial food to the dogs diet will result in sufficient nutritional extras.
We add Sashas Blend (or Glyde) to Pennys bowl each day, for joint health, and Melrose Omega-3 Liquid, plus Vets All Natural Complete Mix a few times a week. I think that covers most of the nutritional requirements that she might miss on a home--prepared diet. She gets ZiwiPeak canned food some days, also - the label says it has added Vitamins and Minerals. I love this food, even though its expensive, because its mostly meat (or fish) and has a variety of meats and organ meats we couldnt easily access from the butcher (venison and tripe for instance).
In the photo above youll notice some eggshells. I used to crush up eggshells and include them in Pennys food occasionally, until a friend told me about the time her labrador retriever got a bit of eggshell stuck to the lining of his bowel. So I stopped adding eggshells! But Rick Woodford suggests washing eggshells, drying them and them baking them in the over until brittle, after which they go into a food processor to be ground up to a powder. Im collecting the shells and Ill try his method when I have enough shells to make it worth the trouble.
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