Help me feed my new dog
DH and I just rescued a pretty bad ass dog. He is some sort of schnauzer/cattledog mutt, and he is awesome. The rescue group wasn't really clear on what they were feeding him in the three weeks they had him, before that who knows what he was being fed at the kill shelter he was at in Miami! When we got him we started feeding him Science Diet for sensitive stomachs (he was having some GI issues, and I know it isn't wise to just switch food cold turkey on dogs, but we had no choice)
In any event, he is doing great now. We have had him for a few weeks and all his GI issues seem to be resolved. I am now looking for recommendations as to what you feed your dogs. We are open to any suggestions. He seems to like the Science Diet brand, but sensitive stomach doesn't seem to be needed anymore.
Thoughts?
Re: Help me feed my new dog
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Just in case you don't know: Make sure you slowly introduce any new food. Just mix a little with his current food and ease him out of that by reducing the amount of his old food in each bowl, each day. Otherwise you may cause stomach issues and be right back where you started.
Of course. . . . unfortunately we didn't have the luxury of slowly introducing the science diet. . . .the place we saved him from was a bit shady and uninformative.
I would try offering a small amount of whatever food you want to introduce, but don't take his old food away cold turkey. Some animals have strong preferences (or sensitivities) and you really just have to spend time figuring out what they like and what works with their digestive systems. I will sometimes swap food or treats with neighbors or friends so I can let mine try something new without committing to a huge bag.
My dogs and cats get Authority brand foods carried at PetSmart. Its quality ingredients with no grail fillers and significantly cheaper then something like Blue Buffalo which is similar in make up.
We feed our pup Costco's brand of dog food. We were told by several people, including the shelter that we got him from that it is comparable in quality to a lot of the higher quality foods and its much cheaper which is really awesome with how quickly he goes through a bag.
http://www.newmansownorganics.com/pet/products/?page=product1
Edit: typo
Why is it so bad for dogs?
My parents have been told by their vet for their lab, as I've been told by my vet for my cats, that anything with high protein and minimal carbs is good. Animals can't process carbs the way we can, so some of the dry foods with a lot of carb fillers may cause weight gain. While wet foods tend to be higher in protein, you also don't want to completely leave out dry food because the crunch is good for their teeth.
All this to say, I'd recommend a mix of both wet and dry food, whichever brands you end up with. As Maggie said, every dog is different and may require different brands.
Look at the difference in food. Science diet is decent, but it's not the best for your dogs. Take it with a grain of salt though because this is from blue buffalo's website. I belong to the sheltienation.com and we often discuss dog food.. I'm trying to find the other link that shows what is all in dog foods, but can't find it at this moment (not biased)
http://www.petfoodratings.org/dry-dog-food/science-diet/ Here's a non-biased one about Science diet. The same product but blue buffalo: http://bluebuffalo.com/dog-food/lp-lamb?pf=1&lifestage=adult&type=dry&animal=dog
Just compare ingredients alone.
ETA: Finally after hunting a little I found the website I wanted:
Science diet: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/hills-science-diet-dog-food-adult-dry/
blue buffalo: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/blue-buffalo-dog-food-life-protection-dry/
Note: there are others out there than just blue buffalo, but it's the only one I have experience with. If you use dogfoodadvisor.com it will show you a bunch of brands and you can even pick based on ratings.
My yorkie is a rescue from a show family that abused and neglected her
Just remember when you switch to do it VERY gradual. It can mess up their stomachs by switching it. At first week do just a little of the new food. Next week do a 1/4th new then the week after that 1/3 then 1/2 then 3/4th then all of it. I would definitely recommend doing it very slowly since they have both had stomach issues.
Sadly, the bad show people give others a bad name. I'm glad you have rescued your kiddos and nursing them back to health
On a side note about the vet/breeder/shower: She rescues a lot. Some of her dogs are ones she bred, bought others are ones she rescued. She actually just took in a golden. Her mini horse came from rescuing. It had an eye that needed to be removed, but it was expensive and the owner wanted to just shoot it and call it a day. She said gimme it and i'll do the surgery and you won't see it again. He's an awesome mini horse. She had to build him a barn and a fence etc but they love each other.