I should just go all prey model feeding. And try to get enough tripe to freeze....but my dogs are doing great and the other thing is.....

I have a good time making stuff and packaging stuff for them. It does not take too long and I know that as I am working on it, my dogs are SO much better for what I do for them.

To see them more energetic, shiny coats, less shedding, and so on....not to mention eagerly waiting at the gates at meal time is a GREAT thing.

WAY better than the lazy walk to the kibble bowl.

My dogs are doing great too.

I used to pretty much go along with produce being optional. Then (I know I keep saying this) I saw that gray wolves, such a close relative of our dogs, do choose to eat a little produce even in times of plentiful prey, along with the partly-digested produce in the small prey they consume.......

I just don't want to deny them something that I know they would eat on their own in the wild.

Small amount, yes..... and certainly not of the importance of the RMBs and organs and Omega 3s..... but I would rather supply a diet as close as I can get to what appears to be the diet they have evolved eating.

One member here just gives some of their leftover steamed dinner vegetables. IMO, that's a great thing to do.

In fact, variety is great, period. That's the way we come closest to covering the nutritional bases.

JMO.

If the green tripe is mostly to rejuvinate the digestive flora and fauna in the dog's intestines, wouldn't yogurt or anything with the "live culture" for human digestive systems work as well? I could get tripe out here, but not the green stuff, I don't think. I have been giving my little guys bits of the low fat/no fat cheese that is out now with the live cultures in them, can't remember the brand name right now, with their meals and have noticed a marked reduction of grass eating in my two. They don't get many veggies, mostly meat and bones.

 Quote: carol boche

I have a good time making stuff and packaging stuff for them. It does not take too long and I know that as I am working on it, my dogs are SO much better for what I do for them.

Me too. The results are so worth the small effort, in my book.

Fresh food is my "secret weapon" that allows me to adopt dogs who are surrendered because of chronic health issues that the owners could no longer afford (like Pred shots, special prescription commercial foods, constant vet visits.....)..... I'm not rich either; I just know the mysterious secret that many of us here know: appropriate food is the basis of good health. Add exercise and the cessation of "booster" shots, and a dog can be turned around.

 Quote: Janice Jarman

I have been giving my little guys bits of the low fat/no fat cheese that is out now with the live cultures in them, can't remember the brand name right now, with their meals and have noticed a marked reduction of grass eating in my two. They don't get many veggies, mostly meat and bones.

I don't know the cheese you mean.

You guys are too fun. I really enjoy reading your posts. Tonight for her dinner I added some parsley and a couple of leftover strawberries from our breakfast to her chicken and egg, and she has kept it down so far. (Hopefully I won't be wakened again at 5 in the morning, but at least she knows enough to head for the front door).

During the summer months when we had fresh raspberries and strawberries and plums (I would take out the pits for her), Star couldn't get enough of them. I had to limit her so she wouldn't get the runs. It was the only time when she was a puppy that she bit me. I was picking some strawberries for her (she never picked them off the vine herself, she only ate what I picked or what was already on the ground), and when I stopped giving them to her she walked over to me and bit me on the shoulder. It was her little way of saying "give me more". (Needless to say I stopped right then and turned and walked straight back to the house.)

I also give her kefir every morning with her food, so she's getting all kinds of chicken, ground beef, lamb, eggs, kefir, cream cheese in her kong when we go out, salmon treats for training, and the occasional carrot. (along with her fish oil, vitamin E, and vitamin C. I think if I just add some blueberries and experiment with different greens, she'll be getting what she needs. (and thank you, Konnie, for the information about vitamin B). I have never seen tripe here in Estonia - not even sure what it's called here, but now I'm on a hunt to find it.

It's good to know I can give her more variety (as long as she keeps it down) in moderation. I was afraid to give her fruits because of the sugar, although she just loves bananas. I do have a big bag of blueberries in the freezer (fresh frozen with no sugar - they are plentiful here) that I now know what to do with.

Thanks for all of your suggestions and your help and the entertaining reading! :-)

Haggis (Stuffed sheep stomach) is a European dish. Tripe sold here is one of the four beef stomachs. So perhaps you can find it by asking about haggis.

I do strictly limit bananas and other high-sugar fruits.

Your berries (IMO) are ideal for the dog* who loves fruit because they have no downside (no firm cellulose walls; low sugar; easy digestibility; many micronutrients).

BTW, are you sure it isn't the egg that is triggering the vomiting? I have one who is fine with 1/2 egg at a time, a couple of times a week, but who will throw up if he eats a whole yolk at once.


*Except for the biting-the-shoulder part

Edited by Connie Sutherland (10/10/2007 03:17 PM)
Edit reason: add asterisk

 Quote: Debbie Bruce

Haggis (Stuffed sheep stomach) is a European dish. Tripe sold here is one of the four beef stomachs. So perhaps you can find it by asking about haggis.

That's stuffed with oats, right?

What video are you talking about, Connie. Do you remember the title? I've rented a couple of Wolves DVD's from Netflix. Think it was "Imax: Wolves" and "Wolves at Our Door", but they didn't talk too much about their diet.

I don't feed vegetables either. I do give him blueberries, and I fill his Kong with banana sometimes. I also give him little bits of apples, papaya, mango or any other fruit that I get for myself.