Vicky Steadman 328 Posted June 11, 2013 Report Share Posted June 11, 2013 (edited) I'm currently feeding my lurcher bitch a diet of 1-2cups of raw minced chicken/rabbit, 1 cup of Wilsons of Dundee "extra choice" muesli plus vegetable scraps, twice a day. she looks good on it and I vary how much she eats depending how much exercise she's done that day but I'm wondering if its worth switching back to a quality high protein kibble, as i'm going to start lure racing her. The club race by weights so it's important she finds a good weight and maintains it, which means I can't just throw together a bit of this and that...or can I? she's just starting some training, I hope to get her out with the local clubs once or twice a month. what do you find works with your dogs? Edited June 11, 2013 by Vicky Steadman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonah. 775 Posted June 11, 2013 Report Share Posted June 11, 2013 a well balanced mixture is the key to all healthy diets, not just the mutts. there's is a sub-forum for the barf diet plan, in working dog health, lots of info in there. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BORDERSCOT 3,816 Posted June 11, 2013 Report Share Posted June 11, 2013 I'm currently feeding my lurcher bitch a diet of 1-2cups of raw minced chicken/rabbit, 1 cup of Wilsons of Dundee "extra choice" muesli plus vegetable scraps, twice a day. she looks good on it and I vary how much she eats depending how much exercise she's done that day but I'm wondering if its worth switching back to a quality high protein kibble, as i'm going to start lure racing her. The club race by weights so it's important she finds a good weight and maintains it, which means I can't just throw together a bit of this and that...or can I? she's just starting some training, I hope to get her out with the local clubs once or twice a month. what do you find works with your dogs? Seriously, I would ditch the Wilsons...muesli...dog's just ain't meant to eat that stuff...it's truly vulgar... Up the raw...add some veg and pasta, tinned oily fish and a good quality complete that has meat as the main ingredient...play around a bit...what works for someone else's dogs might not work for yours... Dog looks well...but it'll look even better if you ditch the Wilsons... This is worth a read...I certainly wouldn't feed it to my dogs... http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1961&cat=all 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
beast 1,884 Posted June 11, 2013 Report Share Posted June 11, 2013 dog looks well enough, but i personally am not a great fan of cereal based feeds. a bit to add fibre to the diet, but thats enough for me. when you say training i assume you mean fitness training, so as the exercise increases you will need to increase the protein levels to allow muscle development, and increase the fat to keep condition on the dog 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vicky Steadman 328 Posted June 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2013 I'm currently feeding my lurcher bitch a diet of 1-2cups of raw minced chicken/rabbit, 1 cup of Wilsons of Dundee "extra choice" muesli plus vegetable scraps, twice a day. she looks good on it and I vary how much she eats depending how much exercise she's done that day but I'm wondering if its worth switching back to a quality high protein kibble, as i'm going to start lure racing her. The club race by weights so it's important she finds a good weight and maintains it, which means I can't just throw together a bit of this and that...or can I? she's just starting some training, I hope to get her out with the local clubs once or twice a month. what do you find works with your dogs? Seriously, I would ditch the Wilsons...muesli...dog's just ain't meant to eat that stuff...it's truly vulgar... Up the raw...add some veg and pasta, tinned oily fish and a good quality complete that has meat as the main ingredient...play around a bit...what works for someone else's dogs might not work for yours... Dog looks well...but it'll look even better if you ditch the Wilsons... This is worth a read...I certainly wouldn't feed it to my dogs... http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1961&cat=all thanks for that info mate, I got a sack a couple of months ago to try bulking out the meals and it seemed to keep her fuller for longer and the different textures made her chew instead of bolting and choking... recently got another sack and not used much yet, can't afford to chuck it so i'll use it up and change to something better! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vicky Steadman 328 Posted June 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2013 dog looks well enough, but i personally am not a great fan of cereal based feeds. a bit to add fibre to the diet, but thats enough for me. when you say training i assume you mean fitness training, so as the exercise increases you will need to increase the protein levels to allow muscle development, and increase the fat to keep condition on the dog she eats a lot of grass and silage/haylage on the farm so I assumed she wasn't getting enough fibre, what should I feed her to help that? yeah I mean fitness training as well as lure training - she's already fit but needs to be fitter to have a chance against the proper racers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
B.P.R 2,798 Posted June 12, 2013 Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 if in doubt..... GET THE GAIN 28 OUT 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
taffey 1,278 Posted June 12, 2013 Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 Don't feed dry as a rule but have a bag of gain 28 in to mix with raw for a change gain record breaker would be good choice for racing dogs atb taffey Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vicky Steadman 328 Posted June 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 Don't feed dry as a rule but have a bag of gain 28 in to mix with raw for a change gain record breaker would be good choice for racing dogs atb taffey is it safe to mix dry with raw like that? read elsewhere that they digest at different speeds so dogs can get upset tummies if mixed together... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LaraCroft 863 Posted June 12, 2013 Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 I've read the same thing, and have always avoided doing so, but have read that lots of people do and have not had any problems. I can see the science behind the "different rates of digestion" but then dogs cope with mince and bone, fur, skin etc etc that all gets digested at different rates, so I am thinking there isn't much difference. Some dogs are prone to digestive problems - diet change, volume change, something new etc, will upset things. Some are just recycling machines and you can shove anything in, and it won't cause any problems. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Giro 2,648 Posted June 12, 2013 Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 I'm currently feeding my lurcher bitch a diet of 1-2cups of raw minced chicken/rabbit, 1 cup of Wilsons of Dundee "extra choice" muesli plus vegetable scraps, twice a day. she looks good on it and I vary how much she eats depending how much exercise she's done that day but I'm wondering if its worth switching back to a quality high protein kibble, as i'm going to start lure racing her. The club race by weights so it's important she finds a good weight and maintains it, which means I can't just throw together a bit of this and that...or can I? she's just starting some training, I hope to get her out with the local clubs once or twice a month. what do you find works with your dogs? Seriously, I would ditch the Wilsons...muesli...dog's just ain't meant to eat that stuff...it's truly vulgar... Up the raw...add some veg and pasta, tinned oily fish and a good quality complete that has meat as the main ingredient...play around a bit...what works for someone else's dogs might not work for yours... Dog looks well...but it'll look even better if you ditch the Wilsons... This is worth a read...I certainly wouldn't feed it to my dogs... http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1961&cat=all thanks for that info mate, I got a sack a couple of months ago to try bulking out the meals and it seemed to keep her fuller for longer and the different textures made her chew instead of bolting and choking... recently got another sack and not used much yet, can't afford to chuck it so i'll use it up and change to something better! How did you know your dog was fuller for longer ?? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vicky Steadman 328 Posted June 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 I've read the same thing, and have always avoided doing so, but have read that lots of people do and have not had any problems. I can see the science behind the "different rates of digestion" but then dogs cope with mince and bone, fur, skin etc etc that all gets digested at different rates, so I am thinking there isn't much difference. Some dogs are prone to digestive problems - diet change, volume change, something new etc, will upset things. Some are just recycling machines and you can shove anything in, and it won't cause any problems. good point, I think she has a stomach of steal cos she's eaten everything from chicken madrass to kitkat chunkies and 2month old rotten calf corpse (that she dug out of its burial ground) lol! I may give it a try and see how she goes... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vicky Steadman 328 Posted June 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 I'm currently feeding my lurcher bitch a diet of 1-2cups of raw minced chicken/rabbit, 1 cup of Wilsons of Dundee "extra choice" muesli plus vegetable scraps, twice a day. she looks good on it and I vary how much she eats depending how much exercise she's done that day but I'm wondering if its worth switching back to a quality high protein kibble, as i'm going to start lure racing her. The club race by weights so it's important she finds a good weight and maintains it, which means I can't just throw together a bit of this and that...or can I? she's just starting some training, I hope to get her out with the local clubs once or twice a month. what do you find works with your dogs? Seriously, I would ditch the Wilsons...muesli...dog's just ain't meant to eat that stuff...it's truly vulgar... Up the raw...add some veg and pasta, tinned oily fish and a good quality complete that has meat as the main ingredient...play around a bit...what works for someone else's dogs might not work for yours... Dog looks well...but it'll look even better if you ditch the Wilsons... This is worth a read...I certainly wouldn't feed it to my dogs... http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1961&cat=all thanks for that info mate, I got a sack a couple of months ago to try bulking out the meals and it seemed to keep her fuller for longer and the different textures made her chew instead of bolting and choking... recently got another sack and not used much yet, can't afford to chuck it so i'll use it up and change to something better! How did you know your dog was fuller for longer ?? she's a beggar and dirty thief, but less so when she's had the muesli/cereal... it's quite bulky so I figured the reduced begging was down to her not being so hungry 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BORDERSCOT 3,816 Posted June 12, 2013 Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 I'm currently feeding my lurcher bitch a diet of 1-2cups of raw minced chicken/rabbit, 1 cup of Wilsons of Dundee "extra choice" muesli plus vegetable scraps, twice a day. she looks good on it and I vary how much she eats depending how much exercise she's done that day but I'm wondering if its worth switching back to a quality high protein kibble, as i'm going to start lure racing her. The club race by weights so it's important she finds a good weight and maintains it, which means I can't just throw together a bit of this and that...or can I? she's just starting some training, I hope to get her out with the local clubs once or twice a month. what do you find works with your dogs? Seriously, I would ditch the Wilsons...muesli...dog's just ain't meant to eat that stuff...it's truly vulgar... Up the raw...add some veg and pasta, tinned oily fish and a good quality complete that has meat as the main ingredient...play around a bit...what works for someone else's dogs might not work for yours... Dog looks well...but it'll look even better if you ditch the Wilsons... This is worth a read...I certainly wouldn't feed it to my dogs... http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1961&cat=all thanks for that info mate, I got a sack a couple of months ago to try bulking out the meals and it seemed to keep her fuller for longer and the different textures made her chew instead of bolting and choking... recently got another sack and not used much yet, can't afford to chuck it so i'll use it up and change to something better! How did you know your dog was fuller for longer ?? she's a beggar and dirty thief, but less so when she's had the muesli/cereal... it's quite bulky so I figured the reduced begging was down to her not being so hungry I have an alaunt bitch here...she's a greedy b*****d and would eat whatever you gave her...I know when hunger's getting to her as she starts to hover around the kitchen in the hope something gets dropped... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
beast 1,884 Posted June 12, 2013 Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 dog looks well enough, but i personally am not a great fan of cereal based feeds. a bit to add fibre to the diet, but thats enough for me. when you say training i assume you mean fitness training, so as the exercise increases you will need to increase the protein levels to allow muscle development, and increase the fat to keep condition on the dog she eats a lot of grass and silage/haylage on the farm so I assumed she wasn't getting enough fibre, what should I feed her to help that? yeah I mean fitness training as well as lure training - she's already fit but needs to be fitter to have a chance against the proper racers. sorry, what i meant was that a handful of cereal based feed added to meat would be enough fibre. some dogs get a bit bound up if they are getting a lot of bone, for example. i give mine a spoonful of bran mixed with cod liver oil if they are having issues in the poop department...... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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