Advice on homemade dog food needed

[citylife]

Your right about my comment about pumpkin and probiatics.... I was typing faster then my brian or vise versa.........
The pumpkin has been wonderful for my dogs and has helped transition the standard poodle I am fostering. My sister gave me info from her Holistic vet in Denver who is a firm believer and raw and all natural medicine. I can say nothing bad about it added to their diet. My one cocker spaniel has always acted older then he is and has ups and downs re: his energy level. Since feeding him a TBSP -1/4 cup of it per day he acts like a puppy again in the morning and throughout the day. This is a big deal as he is only 3 1/2 yrs old. I have his brother also, who is on the same diet and has always been extremely athletic but is still quick to gain wieight.
When it comes down to eggs I have 4 city chickens who take care of us there... and I will give up to 4 eggs per week with my dogs that do well with it. I also, give them the entire egg and crunch up the shells before I feed them to the dogs. It give them the balance of phospherus and calcium.
I have fed ACV and do not have anything to say on it. I did not notice anything good or bad....... but still have an open mind.

the lady w/4 dogs, 4 city chickens, 5 meat rabbits, their kits and a lizard
and a fostering std poodle.

 

[Beekissed]

Wild dogs will eat herbivore poo, which can still contain a fair number of nutrients. For a year I was dumping horse manure where I would be putting my pasture, building compost piles to later be spread once we were ready to plant grass. During that time, the coyote scat was often mostly horse poo!

They will eat grass, as all cats and dogs do, and the intestinal contents of their prey. They will also eat things when hungry that they might not normally eat. I see apple bits in coyote poo in the winter when prey is scarce. They don't digest the vegetable matter well, as it is very recognizable in their poops. I have been monitoring the local coyote population for years this way....

I have dogs that consume apples constantly and any other vegetables or fruit they can get, whenever they can get it. Even if its right after they have just eaten a belly full of meat scraps. I've read about foxes stripping corn stalks when the corn is young and tender, eating grapes and berries as they ripen.

From everything I've read, carnivores don't just eat fruits, nuts, berries, etc. in the wild when they can't find anything else...from what biologists say, it is an important part of their diet. As I understand it, wild dogs and wolves are much like their domestic counterparts and will usually be opportunistic eaters....whatever tastes good and provides some nutrition is food to them.

If they don't digest it well, it may be because they don't consume these foods on a daily basis and only when in season. Sort of like people who are vegans have trouble digesting meats and people who rarely eat salads that get diarrhea when they do so.

One of my dogs is very much an opportunistic eater....he eats corn, tomatoes, potatoes, apples by the hundreds, grapes..yes, he eats my grapes and he doesn't die from it ...watermelon is both of the dog's favorite, and they will often fight my sheep for some choice lettuce scraps.

Both of these dogs get a variety of food...some days they get a raw meat, bones, rice mixture that I made. Some days they get regular dog food and other food scraps, along with raw eggs~as many as they can find and consume. Each day is a grab bag for my dogs and they don't have stomach upset, nor stinky large poops, or any other health maladies often listed about dogs who aren't eating raw meat diets.

As much as possible, their diets are ever changing and as varied as I can make them. They supplement their own diets with small game they have caught, tons of apples, chicken poop...you name it, they forage it.

I like the simplicity of it all and they seem to thrive on it.

 

[FarmerDenise]

Bee, I kind of feed my dog a very irregular diet also, similar to yours. She also helps herself to whatever she can get on our little farm. She will dig out carrots, play with them for a cuple of days and when it is really gross and nasty looking, she eats it. Our previous dog also ate lots of vegies and fruit. Our previous dog was in bad health when we got her and she ended up living for many years and doing very well.
Our current dog has always had allergy issues, possibly because she was taken from her momma too soon. So we are always keeping an eye on what she eats. We just try to keep it divers and avoid the grains. She helps herself to sweet corn and millet though. And sometimes she gets into the chickens' feed.

 

[Beekissed]

I know what you mean...this is the time of year I find corn stalks strewn across the yard where Jake manages to steal them from the garden.

They DO love their corn, don't they? Even my cats love to steal corn.

 

[freemotion]

Bee, I was referring to what a truly wild dog would/does eat, excluding what they would get from living near human populations (corn, etc.) I feed my dog wild grapes on our walks, and he knows how to test wild raspberries for ripeness, gently nibbling the darker ones and only eating the ones that come off easily! Smartypants!

Dogs do not break down cellulose so although they will eat all those plant products, they won't get enough nutrients from them to thrive. I have no problem with dogs munching carrots, etc, whole, but they will show up in the poops essentially in the form in which they were swallowed. Raw bones, on the other hand, are so well-digested that visible bone is rarely to never seen in the poop.

The coyotes here only eat wild apples in the dead of winter, not when they are in season. Although one year a pack accidentally left a pup behind and he survived a few days on fallen apples in the fall, until they came back and got him again. That was about a quarter mile from my house, at another farm.

 

[citylife]

Here are my two boys that eat raw and have for over 2 years. I use womens hair ties and put them around their ears when they eat. The white/tan cocker likes to pick the yard for anything good to eat. I have a mulberry tree and I discovered it only by wondering what he was eating. Sure enough... the berries were ripe. He is also my only jalepeno thief. He has little giraffe lips when it comes to the jalepeno's. And no, he does not like serrano's. The boy cracks me up.

His brother in the picture is also a character. He will only eat liver and fish if it is frozen.

My rotty takes black walnuts and crushes the shell and eats the nut out of it. The boys will follow behind her hoping she leaves them a bit of nut as I am sure they can not break them open.

My dogs all eat raw, protect the chickens, and hang out around the rabbits. I wonder what my neighbors think? LOLOL
As if I don't know.

the lady w/4 dogs, 4 city chickens, 5 meat rabbits, their kits and a lizard
oh... and the STD poodle I am fostering

 

[Wildsky]

Wow citylife, they look gorgeous!!.

 

[freemotion]

I wonder what my neighbors think? LOLOL
As if I don't know.

 

[citylife]

Wow citylife, they look gorgeous!!.

Thank you wildsky. I rescued them from the same lady just 6 weeks apart. The black one was the last to come to my house. All matted up, ear infection and flea infested. He is now a spoiled brat like the rest of them. It takes commitment to brushing and combing on a weekly basis to keep a cocker spaniel in those kinds of hair cuts and looking that good. But, I like them to look a certain way... so, we all sacrafice.

Here is another spoiled dog and her chicken. Dog is just over a year in this picture. She was weaned on raw at around 6 weeks. Ironically her first meal was a chicken breast.

 

[Wildsky]

My girl is also spoiled rotten, and eats her chicken with chickens watching her through the sliding door

I wanted a short haired dog, because I know I don't have time for all that brushing that goes with the medium/long coat.
Ginja is pretty much wash and wear.