# Dog Food Alternative



## mtnscout (Oct 9, 2008)

This might be a strange way to start a post but do you know anything about dalmatians? 
I knew someone who had one and besides being deaf from inbreeding for the spots, the dog had severe digestive problems. The solution for that was all the dog ate was rice, sometimes with peas in it for a treat. And the dog thrived on it.

Other people have listed storing dog food and being worried about having enough put by, well stretching it with rice would make it last a long time. If you're worried about feeding fido then buying an extra couple of bags of rice would be a cheap fix.

Just an idea.


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## vikx (Nov 13, 2008)

Great idea and would work for people too!


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## bunkerbob (Sep 29, 2009)

mtnscout said:


> This might be a strange way to start a post but do you know anything about dalmatians?
> I knew someone who had one and besides being deaf from inbreeding for the spots, the dog had severe digestive problems. The solution for that was all the dog ate was rice, sometimes with peas in it for a treat. And the dog thrived on it.
> 
> Other people have listed storing dog food and being worried about having enough put by, well stretching it with rice would make it last a long time. If you're worried about feeding fido then buying an extra couple of bags of rice would be a cheap fix.
> ...


Just don't forget to buy the "WOK your dog book" to add to your survival library.


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## sailaway (Mar 12, 2009)

bunkerbob said:


> Just don't forget to buy the "WOK your dog book" to add to your survival library.


I have the compendium, Wok your cat. Then there's my pet fish Eric. I haven't swallowed goldfish since college. I also ate the worm at the bottom of the tequila bottle, that's probably why I've been in a 12 step recovery program the last 25 years.:surrender: For an especially savory meal my yellow labs prefer road kill, something like a squirel or bunny with a tire pattern in it.

On a more serious note, I would make sure the rice I put away for them and myself was brown rice, it has the nutrients in it, white rice doesn't.


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

Good point on the rice.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

I eat brown rice pretty much every day. IMHO, it tastes an awful lot better than white rice, let alone all the nutritional benefits. Definately the way to go.


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## Freyadog (Jan 27, 2010)

Besides dry dog food during the winter months I fix my rotty and g. pyrenees oatmeal with rice and add a tad of beef or chicken bouillion. Since I store homemade beef and chicken broth I sometimes add that.


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## Turtle (Dec 10, 2009)

Freyadog said:


> Besides dry dog food during the winter months I fix my rotty and g. pyrenees oatmeal with rice and add a tad of beef or chicken bouillion. Since I store homemade beef and chicken broth I sometimes add that.


Ha! My mom has a Rotty and a Great Pyrenese! Both great dogs.


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## mrghostwalker (Sep 17, 2009)

Brown rice is a good extender for dogs.
One of the great things about dogs is that they will eat almost anything. Dogs don't care if their food is $3.99 a bag or $15.99. 
When I was growing up on the farm my mom would cook up any table scraps and throw in a handful of dry dog food. They always ate it and they were the healthiest dogs I ever saw.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

You can presure cook fish then mix in some grains like rice, oats, corn, etc. We make ours using fish and 3-Way with Molasses (livestock feed). The dogs and cats love it. Throw the whole fish in and pressure cook it. The bones turn soft that way. Add the other ingredients and stir. You'll need to freeze large batches. 

We get lake trout from fishermen. Fish and Game recommends that people don't consume the large ones due to possible mercury contamination so we use them for dog food.


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## zorro (May 6, 2009)

I don't know about dalmatian's specific needs. 

But I used to have a labrador dog during a bad financial period of my life. I would often feed him a lot of "human food", along with some regular dog pellets. He really seemed to like: rice, all kinds of broth (and also homemade soup I would share with him), cabbage (would give him a quarter of the head at a time, we both ate a lot of it during these times), peppers (including hot peppers), oatmeal, many kind of culinary herbs during winter (herbs contain a lot of minerals and vitamins). During a hot summer day, as a treat, I would give him a small whole watermelon from my garden and watch the show! He also was crazy about corn on the knob (toasted on the barbecue without removing the husk, then cooled enough to prevent burns). He would eat it just like us, eating the kernels first, then he would also eat the heart. I would give him some olive or canola oil during winter (as recommended by my veterinarian). 
Finally, he would also get some food by himself when I walked him to a field or a wood and let him go. He would catch mice (even under snow), ground hogs, small fish, ducks and he even tried a skunk  and a deer (but couldn't get it). 

Some veterinarian say that eating cereals may cause digestive problems in dogs. However, I worked for two weeks in a dog and cat food processing plant of a very big company a couple of years ago and I can tell you most of the brands contain a lot of cereals  , vegetables and unfortunately bad fats (just like us, dogs get sick when they eat only junk food). 

I know a lady who owns two dogs (they are 8 and 10 years old) and feed them the same thing as the rest of the family, all the time. But she cooks every single meal only from basic ingredients (no junk food at all). The dogs have a nice shiny fur, plenty of energy and look great. 

I also know 4 different people who feed their dogs only raw meat, all the time. But their dogs are allowed to forage for greens on their properties. All dogs (10 in all) are doing well.


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## Jaspar (Feb 3, 2010)

Our dogs have both had pancreatitis (sp?) and were restricted to rice and small amounts of grilled chicken for a week. Our friend is a vet, so this was a free diagnosis and treatment. 

Dogs love rice. 

Our dogs also love green beans, apples and carrots.


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## SaskBound (Feb 13, 2010)

My grandma fed her dogs on porridge and table scraps. She had this beat up old pot that sat on the back of the stove and got meat scraps, potato peelings, the tops and tails off the beans, and whatever leftovers that there weren't enough of to put in the fridge. Oh, and pan drippings or gravy, wilted greens, and on and on...

In the evening, after supper, grandma would add a double handful of rolled oats to the pot, plus some water, and maybe a pat of butter or slop of cream, and boil it up for the dog(s). They wolfed it down...loved it! All of her dogs lived long healthy lives. I feed my pooches porridge regularly, so that if the time comes that porridge is the only option, they will already be used to it. They love the stuff...


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## lanahi (Jun 22, 2009)

Brown rice turns rancid quickly and is not a good storage grain. I don't suppose that anything rancid is good for dogs either. 
I think I will ease into serving my dog rice dishes...good idea!


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## Aemilia (May 27, 2010)

mtnscout said:


> This might be a strange way to start a post but do you know anything about dalmatians?
> I knew someone who had one and besides being deaf from inbreeding for the spots, the dog had severe digestive problems. The solution for that was all the dog ate was rice, sometimes with peas in it for a treat. And the dog thrived on it.
> 
> Other people have listed storing dog food and being worried about having enough put by, well stretching it with rice would make it last a long time. If you're worried about feeding fido then buying an extra couple of bags of rice would be a cheap fix.
> ...


The more I think about this the better it sounds. I used to feed my dogs a rice & bean diet from this book: Amazon.com: Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (9781579549732): Richard H. Pitcairn&#8230;

I have been thinking of two other advantages of rice/beans for fido, especially in my situation: I have 2 older dogs on a raw meat diet. So we don't use commercial dog food.

Can store a smaller amount of dogfood and stretch it out, good for us because we don't use much dogfood.
Heaven forbid something happen to my dogs (11yo & 10yo), I'd rather have extra rice/beans than extra dogfood.

So I just wanted to say thanks to the OP for a good idea.


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## kogneto (Feb 23, 2010)

don't know if this helps, but my mom has had her golden retriever on the green bean diet to help reduce her weight. Basically you give them a helping of those green beans that come in the super can, in the morning to tide them over till later in the afternoon.

my mother-in-law does a variant to make their food tastier, by mixing in a scoop of green beans with their dinner, but just giving them that much less dog food

it fills their bellies, tastes delicious to them, and helps stretch that dog food supply


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## tmike (Jul 22, 2010)

A good survival food for pets and people (eaten in many cultures around the world) is dried grasshoppers. Pick them off the plants in your organic garden in the summer and dry them in a dehydrator or on a screen in a window. When brittle, grind them up and they store well indefinitely until needed in a sealed jar or zipper baggie. Add hot water and your pet has a delicious, protein-filled survival meal.


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## HarleyRider (Mar 1, 2010)

No matter what food I have on hand, and it's several years worth, my dog will eat before I do; next to my wife, she's my best friend and part of my family.


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## Knotted (Jul 20, 2010)

I dont know about dog food but my friend has an English Bull terrier which when wet you can see the black (dalmation) spots. I learnt this was due to the dogs being crossed between dalmations and the original English Bull Terrier.

The problems they have is that they have to constantly put sun cream on the dog as there skin is sensitive so Im guessing this would be the same for dalmations... In regards to the food they have more problems putting it down without getting their hand chewed off than what to feed him


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## Sonnyjim (Sep 17, 2009)

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but when my golden is sick I feed her rice and fish or potato and fish. Her normal dog food is a fish and potato food so it's easy to go over to the rice or potato. I can fish in the river behind my house and catch 10lbs of catfish and bass in less than an hour so I fillet them up and throw them in with the rice(most of the time). In a survival situation rice is good to store and potatos are easy to grow and if you're in an area with good fishing then you're good to go. She likes the catfish more than the bass because of the texture and taste but she'll eat anything.


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

if you boil a rabbit,chicken or any kind of meat and don't use the stock for yourself, cook the rice in it for the dog.


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## Vertigo (Aug 6, 2009)

Being my family is actually in the dog food business, I cannot but give a couple of comments/pointers on this topic  (For what it's worth)

Specific feed issues for dalmations are unknown to me, as for any other breed of dog. However, I must say that it is better to give a dog only dry dogfeed, than it is to give for instance table scraps. The biggest issue with dry dogfeed however, is the quality of that dogfeed (there is a lot of difference between two different bags). Only the more expensive ones actually contain all the necessary nutrients and vitamins a dog needs. If you decide that those expensive brands are too much coin to lay out in the long term, it is far better to go for some simple foods you cook yourself for your dogs. As many already mentioned, rice is an absolute winner with dogs. Just cook a substantial amount of it, then maybe poor some of the meat broth from your own meal over it, add a couple of beans and such, and that will make a great meal. Definitely better than the cheap dry dog feed and on par with the expensive dry dog feed (however it is a bit more of an inconvenience to be cooking for them everyday). Remember to only serve it when the food has cooled down completely, in fact cooking it in the morning and then leaving it to cool down for a few hours is much better. 

In any circumstances, do not give them left overs from your own meal. Apart from being a very bad habit for your dogs to learn, the nutrients in it are not healthy enough for them. The reason for this, is genetics. Most of the dogs people own, will be pure-breds or close to it. And most, if not all of those dogs are very sensitive to what they eat (ergo the existence of those expensive dog feeds) and although they will love to eat those left overs, it will not be good for them in the long term. Technically, you could see a lot of the dog breeds as genetically disadvantaged, so they need every added advantage (through their food) to have long healthy lives.

If at all possible, stay away from the 'wet' dog foods (the cans, tins,...) because they are close to the worst to give to your dogs (especially if that is the only thing you are giving them) 

One last piece of advice, a dogs' digestive tract is very sensitive, so do not change out one kind of diet for another one every other week! This is probably the worst you can do to your dog! Pick a diet you (and your dog) are comfortable with, and stick to it! 

If you do happen to give some scraps as a treat for your dogs, remember never to give any bones! Only soft meats, or small pieces of fat that was cut away (only cooked).

hope this helps,

V.

PS: Oh yeah, and NO chocolate for them!


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Quote from "vertigo": "In any circumstances, do not give them left overs from your own meal. Apart from being a very bad habit for your dogs to learn, the nutrients in it are not healthy enough for them." 

If it's not healthy enough for dogs, why are WE eating it? :scratch

Another quote from "vertigo": "If you do happen to give some scraps as a treat for your dogs, remember never to give any bones!"

What about the ones our dog finds in the woods and drags into the yard and chews up? (We live on 20 acres in the middle of nowhere...there's no way I'll "restrain" our dog from exploring. She never goes far from the cabin.)

What about the mosquito larvae and who-knows-what in the puddles and marsh water our dog drinks?  

Sometimes I think people worry more about "proper diet" for their pets than they do for themselves or their children! How much "junk" food do each of US have in our diets? I realize that dogs are pretty much at the mercy of what we provide for them. Come to think of it, our kids are too. 

If the rice everyone keeps suggesting for their dogs is white rice, it's not very nutritious for either human or canine!  

We, too, have given thought to feeding our dog and cat if a long-term situation happens. For a lot of us, our dogs will be going back to a more "natural" diet right along with us humans. 

I like what aemilia said farther up in this thread. If we store rice and beans for our dogs, and something happens to them, at least we humans can eat the rice and beans.

If all we stored was dog food, then what? :dunno: Find someone with puppies, I guess!


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

Vertigo-- I am slightly confused by your statements. 

You say not to give them table scraps, but it is okay to feed them rice, beans and broth. Those things are table scraps in my home. So what would be the difference?

Maybe we just got lucky with our dalmation, yorkshire terrier, german shephard, and various "mutts". They all lived at least 14 years each. We fed them the cheap dry foods, table scraps, bones, canned food, whatever. The dalmation died at 17 years and my Grandmother would regularly feed him a treat of raw eggs and bread. A few of them loved chocolate.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

Kinda' makes ya wonder how them pesky coyotes and wolves have managed to survive for so many years just eatin' the things that God provides.


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

I think Vertigo is trying to say, do not feed your dog the cheap food that you see at a lot of stores and i could name a dozen where the cheap stuff is 40 pounds for 17-19 dollars, if one of the the first 5 ingreidients is yellow corn, toss it in the compost pile, dogs wern't made to eat corn chickens and hogs were. i used to feed my labs the cheap stuff and we would sweep the floors a few times everyday just to get pails of dog hair where they shed so much. we switched to the pricey stuff,lamb and rice- about 34 dollars for 40 pounds, now the dogs don't shed, only when they're shedding their winter coat.
we never feed table scraps,mashed potatos,pasta ect. but when i butcher rabbits, i do cook and feed them the rib cage and bones.


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## Vertigo (Aug 6, 2009)

First of all, reading my comments again that I wrote late last night, I kinda have to agree there is a hint of my opinions being skewed for being in the industry. (hey, someone in the pet food industry will worry about animals, a doctor will tell you better not to eat that sausage )



gypsysue said:


> Quote from "vertigo": If it's not healthy enough for dogs, why are WE eating it? :scratch


Well exactly, why would we be eating all that fat, sugar and processed foods...? Because, unlike dogs, we do not all have a master telling us what to eat and what not to eat (Luckily!). But rest assured that the food we eat, is either not very healthy or 'too expensive' compared to its nutritional content. But again, despite those issues, the biggest problem are the dogs themselves. Because of all the inbreeding, they just happen to be more sensitive to their diets. They cannot be compared to a wolf or a coyote.



gypsysue said:


> "If you do happen to give some scraps as a treat for your dogs, remember never to give any bones!"


I understand that for dogs that grew up in the outdoors, having them eat some bones shouldn't be that big of a deal. What I was referring to however, is to family pets who consider the grass in the back yard of the house, to be all the nature there is. In which case, they do not learn to work with bones or more difficult foods. If the owner then decides to 'give the dog a bone' from the food the owner just ate, it is possible that that bone can cause problems. (If you have never used cutlery to eat until you are 20 years old, and then get presented with them at the table, you might have problems too). Just one more added remark, bones from poultry truly are a no-no in my book. That is because those bones will splinter rather than break, meaning that a dog might get hurt by those splinters. Again, a family dog is no wolf.



gypsysue said:


> If all we stored was dog food, then what? :dunno: Find someone with puppies, I guess!


Then what? Add a little water, cook it some, and you'll have very nutritious (although disgusting) soup! 



mdprepper said:


> You say not to give them table scraps, but it is okay to feed them rice, beans and broth. Those things are table scraps in my home. So what would be the difference?
> A few of them loved chocolate.


My point was that the food we cook exclusively for ourselves, contains too much grease, sugars, unnecessary additives, etc. Which, if at all possible, we shouldn't expose our dogs to unnecessarily. Especially the extra sauces, fatty meats, etc. can be bad for your dogs. What I meant is to purposely cook those foods for your dogs. And referring to the broth, if you do happen to cook some meat, if you mix the broth with some water, it can give some flavour to the rice and beans for your dogs.

I hope this helps, but remember this has been our experience from years talking to vets, breeders, policemen using working dogs and pet food nutrition experts. You don't have to take my word for it. And remember that a little common sense will go a long way. It is not that a dog will die for eating those scraps just once. It's the long term effects. (especially on more sedentary dogs)

best regards,

V.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Vertigo, I think we, in general, should take that same advice with our own diets! Too much grease and sugar and additives and preservatives...

Question then. Why is rice okay but not corn, for dogs? (Asked for information purposes, not judgement!)

Ewwww, puppy soup! A comical yet disturbing mental picture! 

Our lovable and wonderful dog is probably not going to be with us a whole lot longer, and that's a hard thing for us. We think about future dogs/puppies, and it seems traitorous, but we don't want to be without a canine buddy very long, when the time comes.


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## Vertigo (Aug 6, 2009)

lotsoflead said:


> I think Vertigo is trying to say, do not feed your dog the cheap food that you see at a lot of stores and i could name a dozen where the cheap stuff is 40 pounds for 17-19 dollars


This is basically what I was trying to say, thank you for clarifying! (Ma engrish not soo gud  )



gypsysue said:


> Question then. Why is rice okay but not corn, for dogs? (Asked for information purposes, not judgement!)


I am not entirely sure about this, but as I understand it, it has to do with dogs not being able to process corn as easily, while rice is very light on their digestive tracts. Btw, cattle for that matter is also much better served being fed grasses, not corn. Corn makes them bulk up faster, but it is not as healthy as what they used to eat.

Don't forget that all of this is to be used with common sense. Your dog will not drop dead because it got fed some corn, it's just in the long term that it might be smarter to switch to something else.



mdprepper said:


> A few of them loved chocolate.


I am sure they did, but a dog cannot process a certain nutrient/chemical in chocolate. Over time this will build up in their livers and have the same effect as slowly poisoning your dog. Again, one piece of chocolate will do no harm, but giving them some everyday will.

V.

(lol 200th post on PS !!! :beercheer: )


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## nj_m715 (Oct 31, 2008)

I am not entirely sure about this, but as I understand it, it has to do with dogs not being able to process corn as easily, while rice is very light on their digestive tracts. Btw, cattle for that matter is also much better served being fed grasses, not corn. Corn makes them bulk up faster, but it is not as healthy as what they used to eat.

Don't forget that all of this is to be used with common sense. Your dog will not drop dead because it got fed some corn, it's just in the long term that it might be smarter to switch to something else. 


I'm by far no dog food expert, but it makes sence to me. Have watched the movie about the 2 guys that leased an acre to grow corn. It is along the lines of supersize me about fastfood. They followed the corn all the way through the process until it reaches our house. Much of it was about the use ofcorn as cattle feed and how it slowly kills the cows and need to be on antibiotics to eat the stuff. The rancher said ifthe cows didn't goto slaughter that they will die anyway. I forget the name, but it was good to watch. 

When I was younger I wanted to try my hand at breading some puppys, so we got a pure bread rottie with papers. The bread recommended that we feed her mostly rice with some chicken for the first year than slowly switch to dry food. They said it will give her better nutrients while she needs it the most. She was a great dog and we ended up never breading her (breading my wife got in the way )But we couldn't get her out of the kitchen anytime we made rice. She always thought it was for her.


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## smaj100 (Oct 17, 2012)

We have a deaf american bull dog along with the other 4 motley furballs. She recently got into a bag of chocolate candy and ate and defended it from the others like it was her puppies. My wife got extremely worried and called our vet. His answer was as follows, " normal candy chocolate like we eat in a candy bar type won't hurt them. Our 60lb bull dog, would have to eat about 10lbs of bakers dark unprocessed to do her any harm or start making her sick." He said the chocolate thing was an old wives tale.

We still don't feed to furry kids chocolate, but just thought I would share his much higher educated insight, than mine.


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

Every dog that I have ever had has gotten EVERY bone available to him. From Bear to Duck. The first dog I had lived 16 years before we had to put him down because he could not get up and walk any more. He got everything under the sun from the table (Except the cows got the potato salad) and was only fed Friskies dry dog food. He ate every kind of bone including chickens.

The problem is that maybe and that is MAYBE 1 dog in 100,000 or more will be hurt by bones or by one splintering.I have 2 now that are 3 years old and they get bird bones all the time. They also get everything else that I eat. They do get dry food but whatever I do not eat they get. These dogs are beautiful and healthy.

Of course I do not have packaged meals or cook with sugar etc. The fats I use are Butter and lard for the most part and those are good for the dogs but like everything else, in moderation.

One dog got hurt because a bone splintered and all of a sudden it is not good for them. You might be killed or hurt driving your car so that must not be good for you.


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## dirtgrrl (Jun 5, 2011)

My GSD is 18 months old and has been eating RAW whole chickens since she got her big girl teeth. I emphasize raw because cooked bones will splinter. Raw bones crumble and are easily digested. Before she got her adult teeth I would chop and grind the bones simply because she couldn't chew them herself. A wolf or coyote mother will chew up and regurgitate food for her pups, but I just used a meat cleaver.  Now that she can do it herself food prep is a lot easier. I taught her how to chew her bones by gradually introducing them in bigger and bigger pieces. A dog that has never eaten bones may hurt itself because it doesn't know enough to chew its food and just gulps.

My dog gets raw meat, mostly chicken, with cooked root vegetables and a supplement. I feed grain-free kibble sometimes for convenience. Dogs are facultative carnivores, which means that they _supplement_ meat with other foods, but those other foods are not (or should not) be the primary diet.

My girl is 85 pounds, and a whole 5 pound chicken lasts her about 4 days. It really doesn't cost any more to feed her a raw diet than it does premium grain-free kibble, and it certainly doesn't cost any more than feeding another child. I have a freezer and buy chickens on sale sometimes as low as $.69 per pound, and buy $.75 - $.80 per pound turkey at Thanksgiving. I have 6 turkeys in the freezer now and with other meat stored could feed her for several months with just what I have on hand. My dog's diet will be easier to maintain after SHTF too. Rodents are gooood dog snacks.

I feel that grains, including rice, oats, and barley, but especially corn, wheat, and soy, have no place in a dog's diet. They are cheap substitutes for the quality protein that they should be getting. I started researching raw diets before I brought my pup home from the breeder. The breeder gave a 2 year health guarantee on the dog, with one condition; that I not feed her any kibble with wheat, corn, or soy in it. She fed grain-free kibble, but preferred to feed raw meat and vegetables. She had 15 large dogs, but her breeding bitches got as much meat as she could afford.

Now a bunch people will come back and say that my dog ate blahblahblah dog food and was just fine. Well, maybe so, but the fact is, our dogs are living shorter and less healthy lives than they should be, mostly due to diet. They did not evolve as grain eaters, and do not have the digestive enzymes for them.


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## alwaysready (May 16, 2012)

dirtgrrl said:


> My GSD is 18 months old and has been eating RAW whole chickens since she got her big girl teeth. I emphasize raw because cooked bones will splinter. Raw bones crumble and are easily digested. Before she got her adult teeth I would chop and grind the bones simply because she couldn't chew them herself. A wolf or coyote mother will chew up and regurgitate food for her pups, but I just used a meat cleaver.  Now that she can do it herself food prep is a lot easier. I taught her how to chew her bones by gradually introducing them in bigger and bigger pieces. A dog that has never eaten bones may hurt itself because it doesn't know enough to chew its food and just gulps.
> 
> My dog gets raw meat, mostly chicken, with cooked root vegetables and a supplement. I feed grain-free kibble sometimes for convenience. Dogs are facultative carnivores, which means that they _supplement_ meat with other foods, but those other foods are not (or should not) be the primary diet.
> 
> ...


Well said Dirt my dogs get raw too and yes it is cheaper than the kibble I use which cost 1.73 per lb. Have you noticed that with raw there is no tartar build up on your dogs teeth. Not only do they not have the digestive enzymes their digestive tract is too short for grains.


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