what other usless info do you have to share i love knowing those kinds of things!

jbealer wrote:

Would it hurt to just always mix the Kirkland food with a new food, just thinking about keeping food cost down and having it last longer, I am doing that now with Sierra, mixing her lite food with the Kirkland food as I was hoping to wean her on to it completely when her lite food runs out?

As Tori said, it would not hurt to feed your dogs a mix so long as the dogs can tolerate it. I am a strong believer in a rotation diet for nutritional reasons, however with both of my dogs having super sensitive stomachs rotating their kibble is simply not an option. So to deal with this I feed a mix of kibble and canned food and rotate the canned food since the wet portion does not make up the bulk of their diet which makes it easier to rotate without issue.

A bit Curious Here: I have taken Sinatra to 3 different Vets since I have had him. Each Vet has asked what food I feed him, and when I respond with Iams; they say "Great" or "Good." Some my curiosity is how much better are these "premium” brands really are? Sinatra seems really healthy, gets a clean bill of health from the vet, has plenty of energy, and has a wonderful shiny coat. What am I missing?

jbealer wrote:

what other usless info do you have to share i love knowing those kinds of things!

Jen thats the thing with knowing useless information - you don't know its useless until you have used it and someone tells you its useless

TyphonInc wrote:

A bit Curious Here: I have taken Sinatra to 3 different Vets since I have had him. Each Vet has asked what food I feed him, and when I respond with Iams; they say "Great" or "Good." Some my curiosity is how much better are these "premium” brands really are? Sinatra seems really healthy, gets a clean bill of health from the vet, has plenty of energy, and has a wonderful shiny coat. What am I missing?

I don't go by what most vets consider a good food is. Most vets don't have a lot of education on dog food anyway so I don't put much stock into their recommendations are...again I say MOST. My holistic vet recommends I switch to raw but it is just not for me right now.

How old is Sinatra? I've seen time and time again people feeding Iams, Pedigree, Ol Roy, Eukanuba, Beneful, Purina, etc. say they're dogs are very healthy and overall look and feel really good. Then decide to give a premium food or even try raw and they can't believe the difference. You did not mention what his stools are like on Iams or how much you feed him.

So, how much better are premium brands? That's a tough one to answer b/c ultimately it really depends on what you're comparing. A good place to start, and I recommend any pet owner do, is first find out what is in your pets food and then go find out what should and shouldn't be in your pet's food, i.e. what ingredients are desirable or not, why and in what quantities. This is why, while websites that rate pet foods are all well and good as a GUIDE, I still think it is a pet owners responsibility to learn what should and shouldn't be in their food so that they can make informed decisions for themselves and not just rely on what he/she said.

A personal example, I fed my sibe Taste of the Wild and he was very active and his coat looked great and he was overall a healthy, great looking dog with moderately softish stool. Then I put him on Innova Evo and his energy skyrocketed and his coat is so incredibly shiny even I am finding it hard to believe. I've also had him on Natural Balance when I first adopted him from the shelter and again he was active and healthy but after switching him to Evo his hot spots cleared up, tons more energy, and very firm, tiny stool.

I will keep my ears open then

Huskyluv wrote:

How old is Sinatra? You did not mention what his stools are like on Iams or how much you feed him.

Sinatra's age is a guess as he is a rescue dog, but the Vet thinkss he is around 5, and I put his 5th "birthday" on Feb. 14th.

Stool - Not an expert here, but I would claim that they are firm, and "mid size" for an animal of his weight. He has droppings about every ~36 hours. It's common for him to skip a day, but not two in a row.

I mentioned in my 1st post in this thread that he gets 1 cup in the morning and 1 cup at dinner time.

I know my local neighborhood may not be the best measuring stick, but of the 20+ dogs we come into contact with on his daily walk/runs (I'm the limiting factor on how far/fast we go.) I feel he has the best coat, and as much/more energy than the other quad legs. Not sure I would want for him to have more energy. oh boy...

TyphonInc wrote:

Not sure I would want for him to have more energy. oh boy...

LOL You sound like my husband! After the huge increase in energy (and I mean it was a night and day difference! Man I thought he had endless energy before ) hubby said maybe we should put him back on TOTW just so he would have less energy.

Evo (our GS/Husky) has been on raw food since he was 8 weeks old. His German Shepherd tummy won't allow any kibble and he is healthy as can be. He's grown slower than other dogs his age who are on store bought kibble but at 11 months is now 100+ pounds and about 35" in height - and still growing! On a side note - is it common for Husky (or Husky mixes) to go off food for a day or so?

Our Jack Russell had coat problems for most of her life and we switched her to raw and she doesn't itch anymore. No grains was a good thing! She's excited about her food and she hasn't been that way for years!

The cats all eat raw - they will kick the dogs to the side for their food! It's unbelievable! We find it is about the same price to feed raw as it is to feed the Human Grade kibble such as EVO, Innova, Orijen... and our dogs enjoy it more!

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I tried feeding my kids the premium dog foods and they would just turn their noses up at it. They seem to like Purina the best and I free feed them all. I give a raw egg to everyone once a week and I will mix some Bill Jack in with their food once in a while as well. They get Brewers Yeast pills everyday as well.

I give the two wolf-dogs a raw turkey leg each once a week as well.

Tonight I am going to try mixing in some plain yogurt with their food.

Everyone has a nice shiny coat and maintains a good weight.

harmonytime wrote:

Evo (our GS/Husky) has been on raw food since he was 8 weeks old. His German Shepherd tummy won't allow any kibble and he is healthy as can be. He's grown slower than other dogs his age who are on store bought kibble but at 11 months is now 100+ pounds and about 35" in height - and still growing! On a side note - is it common for Husky (or Husky mixes) to go off food for a day or so?

Our Jack Russell had coat problems for most of her life and we switched her to raw and she doesn't itch anymore. No grains was a good thing! She's excited about her food and she hasn't been that way for years!

The cats all eat raw - they will kick the dogs to the side for their food! It's unbelievable! We find it is about the same price to feed raw as it is to feed the Human Grade kibble such as EVO, Innova, Orijen... and our dogs enjoy it more!

[img][/img]

I have a Husky/German Shepard myself but he is definitely not as big as yours. I was told at the shelter that he is probably done growing... He is a medium sized dog, goes about up to my knee and I'm only 5'2". When I first got him he weighted 40 pounds but has since then gained about 6 pounds in the last month I've had him. Most people tell me he seems to be in perfect shape, although the vet had told me it wouldn't hurt for him to gain 15 pounds.

In Gunny's dish I've been using Hill's Science Diet, both dry and wet. I feed him 2 cups of dry and 1/2 can of wet twice a day. But he does not always eat his dry portion, somehow he can lick off all the wet food off the dry. Sometimes he'll finish the dry food throughout the day but not always. His coat has remained soft and silky and his stool seems fairly normal.

I think Gunny just likes to eat like a bird and then if he is really hungry he will eat whatever he can get his teeth on. I have been reading Siberian Huskies for Dummies and it says in there that Huskies don't always eat much.

By the way you should introduce yourself in the Doggie Door! I wanna see a picture of your Husky/German Shepard!

So Gunny hasn't been eating his dry food lately. Does that mean I need to try a dog food consisting of smaller pieces or a different brand? He still favors wet over dry but I'd like him to eat dry as well.

Koda doesn't always love his dry food, which is why I try to mix it up. I'll throw in some chicken broth, eggs or yogurt to entice him to eat it. However, I find that if I do this, he will eat the dry regularly without an additive once in a while too.

I think some dogs just like variety.

Ever since I've had Sitka he's controlled his own food. He may not eat it all at once, but if I leave it out he'll pace himself with his eating. I'm fairly certain that it's a husky trait. They're not really known to scarf down their kibble, rather take a few bites when they're hungry.

...YouKnowWho wrote:

Ever since I've had Sitka he's controlled his own food. He may not eat it all at once, but if I leave it out he'll pace himself with his eating. I'm fairly certain that it's a husky trait. They're not really known to scarf down their kibble, rather take a few bites when they're hungry.

I'm with you on that - I could chuck a whole chicken down for Evo Knievo but if he's not hungry, he'll only eat a bit or not at all. However, when he is growing -which has been about every 3 months or so, he scarfs down his dinner so quickly it's unreal!

Now with treats - takes him FOREVER to eat a treat! Rolls it around in his mouth, drops it on the ground, bites it into a million pieces and proceeds to eat each one slowly! Takes away the purpose of using treats as a reward! By the time he's finished the damn thing, he's forgotten why he got it! LOL

My brother brought down his golden retreiver and got to meet Gunny for the first time. He was wondering why Gunny wasn't eating his dog biscuits or dry food right away. I figured it was probably a Husky trait that I couldn't explain to him. He did bring Gunny a present, a stuffed goat with a squeaker.

The Dentist wrote:

My brother brought down his golden retreiver and got to meet Gunny for the first time. He was wondering why Gunny wasn't eating his dog biscuits or dry food right away. I figured it was probably a Husky trait that I couldn't explain to him. He did bring Gunny a present, a stuffed goat with a squeaker.

So the stuffed goat is dead, right? LOL

harmonytime wrote:

The Dentist wrote:

My brother brought down his golden retreiver and got to meet Gunny for the first time. He was wondering why Gunny wasn't eating his dog biscuits or dry food right away. I figured it was probably a Husky trait that I couldn't explain to him. He did bring Gunny a present, a stuffed goat with a squeaker.

So the stuffed goat is dead, right? LOL

Thanks for a good laugh! I needed it... Been stressed lately out. Thanks again!

Glad it helped! LOL I'm adding a couple of pictures of what a Gerberian Huskard is capable of in my house - although, the Jack Russell killed the squeaker. By the way - this is a green hippo they received for Christmas...

Note the missing nipples - thank the JR for that! She's a squeaker killing master!

Very funny, especially the nipple part. Unfortunately, unless you're feeding your dogs stuffed animals we're getting a bit off topic. Feel free to start another thread regarding stuffed animals if you wish, but it doesn't really belong in the "Nutrition and Feeding" section.

Sorry, I'll step off my forum Nazi soapbox now.

LOL - Sorry. Evo only eats raw and not always on the schedule we feed him.

The Dentist wrote:

My brother brought down his golden retreiver and got to meet Gunny for the first time. He was wondering why Gunny wasn't eating his dog biscuits or dry food right away. I figured it was probably a Husky trait that I couldn't explain to him. He did bring Gunny a present, a stuffed goat with a squeaker.

Danielle has Gunny always been like this or has he just started to go off his normal food? It could be a husky trait if he has always been like this because most huskies are not greedy dogs at all and sometimes they will go a day or two without eating much or anything at all. If however he has just started to not eat his usual food its probably his way of saying he has gone off it and 'I want something different Mum! I think sometimes they are like us and just fancy something different.

Good job the stuffed goat didn't come here - stuffed toys only last a couple of minutes in the hands of Dino

Catherine wrote:

Danielle has Gunny always been like this or has he just started to go off his normal food? It could be a husky trait if he has always been like this because most huskies are not greedy dogs at all and sometimes they will go a day or two without eating much or anything at all. If however he has just started to not eat his usual food its probably his way of saying he has gone off it and 'I want something different Mum! I think sometimes they are like us and just fancy something different.

Good job the stuffed goat didn't come here - stuffed toys only last a couple of minutes in the hands of Dino

Gunny has stopped finishing his dry food. But when I put his bowl of dry food out and my brother's dog was there, he started barfing it down. Maybe that was the GS that came out of him then. But after a while he might eat up that dog biscuit or food on his own. Just never know when. I have tried sprinkling some cheese and that helps. I'll try yogurt tonight. Yummy!

Mine used to regularly not finish his food or just altogether skip meals every now and then. That's no longer the case with a second dog around. Now he finishes everything he has and they check each others' bowls to see if the other left something behind. I will say I don't miss having to put away uneaten food.

Aside from that I've always mixed in a little bit of canned food with my dogs' kibble and I rotate the flavors of canned food to keep their dinners yummy and exciting.

I don't know if any of you have fed Old Mother Hubbard's Cupboard Creations canned food but that stuff smells divine. I swear one of these days I'm going to have a taste myself it smells so good...and of course the dogs love it.

Isabel, our 9 month old Sibe has had a bit of trouble with food. We went through a new food every month like Bil Jac, Eukanuba & Royal Canine, due to diarrhea. Finally started catching on that these "premium" foods were full of corn meal, by-products and all kinds of other junk. I finally got her on Innova Evo and she did great for about 4 months. However, a month ago she started have diarrhea and gas issues again. Tired of going to the vet every month and getting more antibiotics and more advice, I finally just went the natural route and solved the problem. ISabel eats steamed chicken and fish with sweet potato and brown rice, along with raw apples, carrots, blueberries, dandelion, parseley and a mix of supplements like cod liver oil and wheat germ, etc. She seems happy as a clam now!