Hi All,

I am just wondering what people feed their dogs and what they need for the right balance.

We have a 4yr Kelpie x Border Collie who has an acre for a back yard (she doesn't work, just a pet who runs a lot chasing the ball etc).

We feed her once a day a cooked mixture of chicken mince, rice and veg (approx 200g) with some dry food.

Does anyone know if this is giving her a healthy balance for her breed and activity level?

She seems to always be very tired at night and i am wondering if she isn't getting enough of something in her diet or whether she is genuinely knackered??

I have only started cooking for her in bulk recently...before then she used to eat dry and canned food.

Thanks :)

Hi treen
I think a lot of people over fuss with their feeding nowadays, as there seems to be such an increase in problems such as allergies, skin conditions and even personality disorders you just wonder if our dogs are being over done. Koolies are a basic no fuss type of dog and I think they do well on a similar diet. What you are doing sounds fine to me - dry food is a good basic diet, if you want to cook great but chuck in a good raw bone on a regular basis and maybe the odd egg and I think you would be doing fine. Big test is - is she bright eyed and bushy tailed? Can you feel her ribs but not see them? If yes I would say she is having one hec of a fun day and is just pooped at the end of it. Dull coat and disposition needs further investigation particularly if there is no meat on those ribs.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice Silhouette .. i never used to get caught up in the food debate but at the moment it is way cheaper for me to make the food than buy cans :-)

She gets a raw bone every weekend which she'll either bury for later (maybe they taste better with some dirt ) or eat.

She is definitely bright eyed and bushy tailed!! I can feel her ribs but not see them and her coat is always a beautiful shiny black.
She is a constant 17kg which i dont think is too bad for a 4yr female Kelpie X Border collie.

I feel happier now knowing that she is just pooped at the end of the day ... her own fault for wanting to fetch the ball all afternoon

The diet you are feeding sounds very simular to what my guys get. I have two BC x's and a Koolie. I would personally stay clear of canned food. What you are cooking up is way better than what they will get in a can. You could even give them the meat and veg raw. Just stay clear of too much potato and corn.

Sounds like she is doing just fine.

We ocassionally give them a can of food, because they really like it and we think it is nice to give them a change but it's only once a month or so. They also sometime catch a rabbit which everyone enjoys.

The diet sounds fine in what you are giving her. Don't fret, good basic biscuits without too many preservatives as a base and add bits and pieces in there. My girls love sardines and tuna. They also get raw meat and with Ceejay kidney or heart (Izzy turns her nose up at that)once a week, with an egg chucked in now and again. And bones of course.

The coat is the important factor and the eyes. If her coat is glossy and her eyes bright all is well. My two are also suburban hounds and they flake at the end of the day too. Running around on the acre, training, ball throwing and walking is exhausting work. lol.

I reckon a reasonable dry food mixed with meat or whatever you cook is good. Dogs are omnivores so a bit of greenery, and see if they go for it. Tuna, eggs all that. Canned foods good every now and again for variety, as sillhouette said (I confess to the occasional Macca's too-for me, not them ha ha). I reckon they like variety, and you'll work out what they prefer.

Thanks everyone

You have definitely given me some good ideas for bits and pieces i can throw in to make it a bit more interesting for her.

I reckon she has more energy now than she did before.

Thanks again

What? you don't share your Macca's with the dogs Shaunagh! My guys love it! I always have to get a 10 pack of nuggets, 6 for me and one each for them Phtt <grin> I draw the line at sharing my ice cream sundae with them though!

Their regular feed is 2X a day, 3/4 cup proplan for Dice, the welshies get less, being less high energy, and 2 of them are old. Nothing is worse than sad fat old dogs. :-(

They all get with every meal, a couple of spoons of a cook up I do, which starts with minced chicken necks and frames, then I add rice, lentils winter soup mix, some pasta, and whatever veges are around, pumpkin, carrots, etc

like everybody else, an egg now and then, and beef bones fairly regularly. I found Venison bones give them the trots though, too rich it would seem. ;-/

Sometimes I will give them a meal of just chicken necks, and they love that :-) they will often have some fruit as well, Ashley particularly likes bananas, and they often get leftover veges from dinner.

As someone said, they're somewhat omnivorous <grin>

Well Penny-the day they start graciously sharing their Pal with me, is the day they get the ends off my Quarter pounder with cheese!

Perry gets about a cup of food - 1/3 meat or fish, 1/3 vegetables and 1/3 cooked rise or pasta. She also gets bones and a couple of biscuits when she goes to bed. She and I often have the same - roast chicken and roast vegetables being her favourite or grilled salmon and grilled vegetables. She also loves Aldi canned pink salmon with some dry food.

My guys get alternate days of Hills science diet oral care and brisket bones or chicken.
The koolies Kovu and Pixie get 2 cups of dry, Junior get 1 cup (he gets fat just smelling food lol) and Marlon gets 3/4 cup.

Kovu is apparently allergic to life and gets the runs if fed anything else so everyone suffers and eats the same no scraps fed to the dogs here.

FORGOT to add - The best diet for your dog is what it does best on :)

Hey,

Our guys get BARF and Eagle Pack dry dog food power pack which is mainly for working dogs our guys do agility so good for keeping them at a good weight.

Paxy gets BARF (chicken or beef - she turned her nose up at the kangaroo). Or she gets raw of some sort, I don't measure it strictly just use my eye and depends what treats she's had during the day too. Sometimes a chicken frame, sometimes a bone of some sort nearly every day. Dry food is Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken and Rice either by itself or with an egg or sardines, this is usually once or twice a week. I find it's usually a balance of what else she's had during the day, if we've done a lot of training she may only get a tiny amount in the bowl - because she expects to get fed when the cat does!! Sometimes she has to work for her dinner - all part of the training! Occasionally she'll get Chicken Chunks or some such supermarket food due to home circumstances. Haven't tried her on canned food though, just never thought about it!

raz gets biscuits mixed with fresh mince from the pet food shop, im not game to try the hearts and things but mince is good :) raz turns his nose up at kangaroo...dunno y, an egg is supposed to give them a shiny coat? i might add it to raz's dinner occassionally

i try to avoid the canned food, you just dont know what they put in it :/

haha raz does get some of my maccas too, he gets a meat patty off my burger, and some fries... not tooo often though ;)

Having 14 dogs it is a bit complicated as different ones get different amounts and content but basically the majority get Bonnie dry (about a cup) mixed with a hand full of mince (usually beef or chicken but also goat or roo), depending on their leaness (Frazz gets as much as he wants to eat as he is lean as) tin tuna or sardines, eggs, linseed meal and rosehip tea to mix together at night and a bone for breakfast (the young dogs get some mince as well as a bone for breakfast (Frazzle, Nudge, Kelsey, Trapper, Juna and Mallee)

The fatties (which does include Chevy) have advance weight control 1/2 cup and one bone.

Mine get Bonnie dry (about a cup) mixed with a hand full of mince, depending on their leaness (Frazz gets as much as he wants to eat as he is lean as) tin tuna or sardines, eggs, linseed meal and rosehip tea to mix together at night and a bone for breakfast (the young dogs get some mince for breakfast (Frazzle, Nudge, Kelsey, Trapper, Juna and Mallee)

The fatties (which does include Chevy) have advance weight control 1/2 cup and one bone.

Ours like Bonnie too, funily enough they like the Bonnie light which is for Ripper as she is now officially "portly" after 3 times pinching all of the food I had prepared for the pups and left ready to give them when I got back from feeding calves. Obviously I needed to put it higher than I thought a 13yo could reach. We us Bonnie Working for the young and workers.

I'm having issues with Dizzy and food, she seems to be lactose intollerant, milk or cheese gives her the runs. So does normal PAL.
Major bad smell **phewy**

So far have only found supercoat that she hasn't reacted to, but she's bored with this.

Does anyone have any other ideas???

Try Pal naturals. Very very different to Pal and you can buy a small bag form the supermarket and if she works out on it okay then you can get the 18Kg bags from pet shops ( cheap as well).

just a question, is the dog food 'Bonnie' the same or similar to "Lucky dog"?

Similar, a bit cheaper from what I have seen but Dizzy's system doesnt like it, gives her the runs.

YOu normally buy it from the ped/produce stores and generally can only find it in 20kg bags.

The people next door breed goldens and they swear by it.

Thanks Natalie

Have picked up a small bag and both her and Dodg are wolfing it down :) they both love their new kong ball too, might just have to get another one of those

Your welcome. It may or may not work but my brood love it which is strange as I have some really fussy eaters and switched to it when my over priced ( but excellent) food was deleted. Bugs coat glistens even though she has been bathed once in 7 months ( pool swims and dam swims dont count as baths). As far as the Kong's go I have about 7 of them. I do a fill up night and put some roo meat at the bottom, stuff it half way with the pal naturals and top it off with no name cat food. Then pop them in the freezer and you have what we call a "koolie pop". When they were sleeping outside in the warmer weather Bug and Ben both went to bed with one and it takes a while for them to get through as they are frozen. One can never have to many shoes and Kong's <g>

thats an awesome idea micknmol i might get raz some more kongs and try freezing them the night before

yeah - I had never thought of it for ages but once I did I realised how under rated the good old Kong can be. As long as you have something soft to plug the bottom and the top you can put what ever in the middle. Other things to use are Peanut Butter ( especially as the "bottom" plug) as thats really hard to get out and they love it frozen, banana, cat biscuits, cherios to name a few. The cat food was told to me by the puppy preschool lady as the dogs like the smell. If anyone has any other fillers please let us know.

It might be the processing that is the problem, ours are raised with raw milk (dairy farm) but we have had people buy puppies and ask if they should give them milk and we have said yes they are raised on it only for them to have trouble with the "runs". If they go back to farm milk there is no problems. If you have access to a dairy area or someone with a house cow most won't mind selling you a couple of litres. Offer them a dollar a litre and they'll jump at it. Then you'll see a glossy coat.

Hmm might have to call in some contacts with that one. Canberra no lopnger has its own dairy, its been replaced with a 'grass farm' would you believe it!!!

I work out in a semi rural area, might have to put the word out.

Thanks, will give that a try.

Cheers