Adding Variety To Diet With Meats/veggies/eggs - How To Be Effective A

[Guest minwalker]

Hello All,

 

Dobby has been a champ in the past 11 days that he has been home. We feed him the same food as his foster mom but vary the wet food (so far he has had 3 different brands - ground chicken, salmon stew and ground venison - all grain free). 1 teaspoon of palm oil once a day, 2 cups/meal of Kirkland Salmon/Sweet POtato, Probiotic, Fish Oil, Olewo Carrots (from day 1 at our house) and 2 tablespoons of wet food. He is practically inhaling up his food. Weighed in at 70lbs and today came in at 67.4lbs. Gave him scrambled egg whites the other day and he inhaled that too!!!

 

We have enrolled in training class and were thinking of cooking up some chicken/pork as high value treats - more thinking led me to consider if we want to introduce some direct protein and veggies. Slowly.....

 

Had some questions:

 

- raw or cooked for chicken/pork/beef? any one better than the other?

- how much and how do you calculate the amount of kibble to take out?

- many say veggies add no calories but are good - can dogs really absorb nutrients from teh veggies? Also cooked or raw?

- eggs - cooked/raw? with or without shell?

 

 

Dont want to change a good thing but i like the concept of adding variety.

Thank you!

[RedHead]

- raw or cooked for chicken/pork/beef? any one better than the other?

You can do either, but all of my dogs have handled raw meat better than cooked. Just my own theory, but from experience I think it has to do with cooked fats. My dogs are fine with cooked lean meats, but if I ever cook fatty ground beef or pork they have major issues. I can feed the same meat raw with no problems. So...if cooking, I would especially stick to leaner meats or remove fat.

 

- how much and how do you calculate the amount of kibble to take out?

I have always read that you can feed up to half of the diet with add-ins without worrying about nutrient deficiencies, as long as the fresh food you are adding is relatively balanced.

 

- many say veggies add no calories but are good - can dogs really absorb nutrients from teh veggies? Also cooked or raw?

Dogs don't have jaws that move side to side to grind plant material. They can get nutrients from veggies, but only if the veggies are cooked very well (and ideally mashed up after), or if they are raw and pulverized in a food processor.

 

- eggs - cooked/raw? with or without shell?

I have always fed eggs raw, but you can do either. It is fine to feed the shell if they will eat it, but none of my dogs ever did.

 

Hope that helps!

[Guest DogNewbie]

I am no expert, but I always feed cooked stuff. I am always concerned about bacteria and germs in raw foods. Or maybe if you freeze it, then feed it? I have no idea how it works. I would love to know though!

[Hubcitypam]

I have long touted the RAOUL diet. Reasonably Appropriate Use Of Leftovers.

 

If I have cooked meat left over, they get some in their next bowl. Same for veggies (carrots, green beans and more), rice, soup, etc. If I scramble an egg for me they get one scrambled to spilt. My current guys are not big on raw fruit and veggies but some past dogs were. Axel my first yorkie was nuts about raw bell peppers and Kenny Roo Hoo the greyhound mix LOVED watermelon. It was a hoot to hold up a slice in the yard and watch him eat it.

I don't micromanage kibble amounts and don't add a ton of add ins so can't help on how much kibble to deduct.

[cleptogrey]

i don't add variety, just kibble and water that's it. dh will feel that the dogs don't get enough flavor- so he'll add 1 T of canned food or greek yogurt if we have some, but it's kibble and water at our house.years ago i had a saluki who used to suck the flavor off of his kibble and spit it out, that's when i went to no additives. over the past 40+ years i haven't run into a bored dog when it comes to food- when they are sick then they turn their nose up to food.

 

just watch your dog's stools- too much of a tasty thing can throw it off.

[lukasmom]

I think if you give them too much variety they can become picky eaters and that is a difficulty thing to deal with. My hounds eat kibble which they seem to love and the Olewo carrots and beets along with coconut oil. SInce I free feed the carrots and beets are given in a bowl by itself and they love it.

[juliemac]

As Janice (lukasmom) said, be careful to avoid giving TOO MUCH variety, since you can, indeed, cause your hounds to be picky eaters. I've got that issue in my house, after moving my hounds to a raw (now par-cooked) diet. My next hounds will be kept on a kibble-based diet with some Olewo veggies and toppers that are limited to coconut oil and/or yogurt.

 

If you want a variety, one of the things that worked well for me (prior to my current hounds) is to provide a mix of kibbles. I did that because we frequently visited other homes with free-feeders, and so I kept a blend of the various kibbles so there weren't any upset tummies. The other option is to switch flavors of the same brand of kibble with each bag (Fromm's has several tasty flavors, for example).

 

Good luck on the choices that work best for your hound!