Hi Everyone,
Seeing how I am surrounded by knowledge I thought I would ask the question.
I feed my girls a chicken neck (a fat one with heaps of meat etc on it, not the skinny little supermarket type) everynight with their dinner. I started doing this as the vet I was seeing said it would be good for Kelli's teeth as she had some tarter on her back molers. Now my vet has left and a new blow in has come along. He asked me what I feed them and then shot down the fact that I feed them the chicken neck and cobber dry food with doggie mince each night. He told me chicken bones are bad for dogs and that cobber is crap (not in those words though) What does everyone else feed their dogs??? I thought I was doing the right think but this guy told I was not

I am an ex Vet Nurse & worked with 12 vets over 4 clinics that all were telling people to feed raw chicken bones, this new fellow is an idiot IMO. Cooked chicken bones are BAD BAD BAD, but raw ones not only help to clean the teeth better than other bones (as they have varied textures & when chewed have a cleaning action) but they also get broken own safely & the nutrients absorbed by the dog.

I did 3 big seminars from leading international vets on this topic so I feel confident to answer.

I finf however as the dog gets bigger chicken necks tend to slide down the throat rather than get chewed, Chicken Wings are the best option OR like I feed actual carcasses except I get mine direct so they are big meaty flesh ones.

I am no fan of commercial food regardless of brand. I own a breed that can't tolerate dry food & I swapped to a natural diet & never looked back, my Koolies are on this & aren't fat as they work hard everyday but have glossy gleeming coats & look a million bucks.

As long as you cover the main food groups in a dogs natural diet...meat, cereals, vegetables & nutrients.

I actually have a great article on feeding dogs I'll look it up & post it shortly.

I've started a new topic with the articles.

Hey Mushoz, right on.
Nothing wrong with fresh chook bones.
I give the wings, it slows them down as pups and carcasses to the adults when I can get them.
If not then they get their meaty bones from the butchers, beef, lamb, pork, actually they love a good pork head.
Commercial or possessed food is no good for Koolies.
Dry kibble can be tricky; Bonnie Dog food is dehydrated roo meat and chicken meat in the senior's brand, no artificial nothing.
I don't have a lot of time to fuss with the dogs, so I keep it simple and drop them the odd egg or two.
With pups it's different they are what they eat, so to have them healthy you got to feed good stuff like garlic for fleas, rice, chicken, eggs, I like the holistic approach and try to stay away from processed tucker altogether.
I like the article you put up Mushoz, I'll pin it so it stays at the top.
It's good to have information handy for newbie's, it's not how everyone feeds their dogs, but it makes some sound claims that wouldn't hurt to keep in mind.

I like the stuff by Monica Segal (www.monicasegal.com) about fresh feeding. The way she does it sure isn't simple but you can be sure it's balanced.



Libby

Thanks all for you info. I will get chicken wings then. I can not feed Kelli anything too large cos as a pup her mother stood on her jaw now she can not open her mouth fully (she can not even get a tennis ball in her mouth, she just holds the tip of the ball) I have just had a look at the website of the people I buy her mince from and they say on their website that
Our product range is:-

All Natural

Fat Reduced

NO Added Preservatives

NO Added Chemicals

NO Added Colourings

It has meat and vegies in it and I feed them the dry stuff for some cereals. They seem to me to be health and not too fat or too skinny. Their coats look ok to me but I am not expert.

Thanks for all the help!!!

I will say Pork Bones can be dicey even raw. Trotters & heads etc. are great but other smaller bones can be dangerous even when raw (apparently...I know a friend who lost a dog by feeding bones from inside the torso of a pig...the vet said some dogs can eat them some they digest & splinter like a cooked bone).

We feed a complete assortment really, base diet for the huskies is chicken with some cereals/vegies etc. but they can't handle a lot of red meat so that makes it hard.

Our Koolies get everything during a week from pork, lamb, beef, roo, rabbit, duck eggs, chook eggs, ostrich eggs, vegies, hearts, livers, brown rice, apple.....plus we feed herbal supplements especially Seaweed Meal, as it is cheap & all natural containing heaps of nutrients. We feed Brewers Yeast & Garlic & Rosehip & Dolomite etc etc. our dogs get a variety so they don't lack.

I just did some looking around and Boonie and Cobber are made by the same company. From what I read it seems to look OK to me. Fingers crossed.
Thanks all for your help!!! At least I now know I am not the worst dog owner on the planet!!!!! I make biscuits for my dogs to use as treats with eggs and banana's in them. Has anyone got any other health dog treat recipies that I could try????

if you do a Google search on natural dog receipes or diets you should find heaps.

Thanks everyone!!!!! The knowledge on this forum is endless!!!!!

We only give them the pig heads and trotters, but I think they would like to live at your place.
All them eggs mmmmmmmmmmm

Well there you go I didn't know that about Bonnie, you learn something every day.

I like the look of your dogs and they have loads of energy, so you must be doing something right.

My OH always tells me the dogs eat better than him. But the dogs do as they are told most of the time and don't leave the toilet seat up!!!!! LOL