Feeding guidelines help, please

[Dottie]

I share your interest for We Cook for Dogs and if you do try home cooking I would like to hear of your experiences. I have been in contact with the owner and find that he is really enthusiastic about home cooking for dogs. 

You might be interested in a series of webinars by Different Dog. They have been running for the past month and can be found on YouTube. They have covered cooking for dogs including healthy treats. Tonight they have Diane, a dog trainer and behaviourist. It can be found on their Facebook page. You need to be logged into YouTube to comment/ask questions. It is at 7pm.

[gemma]

Yes, a lot of the things he says strike a chord with me and I like the look of his herb blends The trouble is, a lot of the links on his website which I'd like to read don't work for some reason. I'll have to contact him, but, with the current hit and miss availability of ingredients, I'll wait a while - at least until I can hopefully get her weight up.

I think you said earlier that you weren't aware of anything that didn't contain any synthetic vitamins and minerals. I remembered that I'd found a BARF product that made a big thing about not doing so, but couldn't recall the name.  I eventually found it - don't know if you've heard of it, but its Fresco. Anyway, since I last looked, they've introduced a new range of lightly steam cooked wet food, again with nothing synthetic added.  I haven't worked out the carbs/calories, but, as the ingredients are similar to Gemma's Naturavetal, I would imagine there's not much difference.

The thing is, they're only saying 2% of body weight RDA, on average, with perhaps a 50% variation - which is even less than Naturavetal, so I really don't know what's going on.

I know I've been waffling on about how good I think Gemma's food is, but you're the experts, not me, so, if you've any reservations at all about it, I'd be grateful if you'd let me know - in case I don't go down the home cooked route. If you think essential vits/mins, etc. might be lacking without synthetic additives, if I gave her, for example, some of We Cook for Dogs' herb mixtures, could that result in a dangerous excess? Naturavetal list calcium 0.20%, phosphorous 0.14%, so I assume that's an acceptable amount and ratio?

Thanks again for taking the time to help me.

[Dottie]

The food that you are giving looks good. One problem that we have had with wet foods is carrageenan - there is a thread on the forum about this. The substance is usually found in the pate type foods. It is not listed as an ingredient. Fortunately David has done a lot of work on this and has included it in the Directory but it is something to look out for.

Regarding the calcium and phosphorous, we have some threads in which we discussed this. They were pertaining to large breed dogs but nevertheless, might be of interest: Here and here. If a dog is having too much calcium it is usually quite obvious because the stool will be chalky. There is a comprehensive article on calcium from the Whole Dog Journal here.

I have the feeling that the RDA of your food might be something like raw ie 2% to 3% of desired body weight. David is waiting for clarification from the company before he lists it in the Dog Food Directory.

I can’t recall reading about  Fresco so will take a look later - thank you for the information. It seems impossible to keep up with everything as there are so many products these days.

If you talk to the owner of We Cook for Dogs I think you will find him very helpful. Regarding herbs, I assume that you don’t have to use them.  They weren’t included in the recipes that I received from VetChef. IIRC their calcium is from dried, ground organic egg shells.

I think you are right to stick with your current feeding regime until your dog achieves the desired weight. It will give you time to decide on a future feeding plan.

If you want to check out the previous DD webinars, they can be found here.

[gemma]

Sorry, Dottie - I'm not ignoring you - I replied to your last thread yesterday, but I must have pressed the wrong button, as it doesn't seem to have got posted.

I've already checked with Naturavetal about carrageenan and they confirmed there is none present, and nothing comes from China.

I googled Fresco dog food reviews and the first site to be listed was yours - seems you rate their raw at 98% - but I can well understand why you can't remember every product when there are so many.

I've had a better look at their new range of tinned and that, too, seems excellent. I've emailed them to ask about carrageenan and queried their RDAs too, as they're even lower than Naturavetals. I think the quality is about the same, but they've got a large selection, so I might mix products from the 2 companies, as I like her to have variety. (To those people who say dogs don't mind having the same thing every day, I would ask how they know).

I see We Cook for Dogs offer a 50/50 diet plan (50% home cooked with 50% commercial) which might be something I'll consider, but, at £190, I hope it's bespoke recipes.

[David]

Just to mention that, inspired by this thread, I decided to make a Calorie Calculator tool. I hope it comes in useful. Any feedback gratefully received.

https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/calorie-calculator

[gemma]

I've just used your calculator, which is extremely useful & supports what we thought about Gemma's tinned food's RDA being too low. I've been giving her 480g (as opposed to the recommended 240g)  plus a generous serving of oats, and she's gained 500g in 15 days, so now it's a case of trial and error to fine tune the amount. I 'phoned Fresco about their very similar new wet food range (as I'm thinking about buying both brands for variety) and mentioned this anomaly, as their RDA's are very low too, & they just said every dog is different. Perhaps these premium, expensive brands don't want to put people off if they work out the true cost per day. Thanks for all your help - it's much appreciated.

[Dottie]

That’s great news Gemma - 500g is a good gain. I’m pleased for you both. Well done for persevering and doing the research. I agree about the RDAs of these foods. Low amounts appear to make the products more affordable.
Thank you for getting back to us - it’s nice to have good news. 

[Tinyplanets]

500g weight gain is good news. I hope you can work out exactly what is needed to keep the weight stable now.

[gemma]

Yes, I'm just relieved it wasn't anything medical that was the cause. Now that I'm cutting her food down, she looks at me accusingly as if to say "where's the rest, then". There's nothing she likes more than shoveling things down her gob, which she thinks is a dustbin and treats as a receptacle for all manner of non-food items.

[Dottie]

Thank you for the update Gemma. I have two with mouths like dustbins too so I know exactly how you feel.    Glad to hear that your little one is gaining weight.

David - thank you so much for the calorie counter page. I struggle with working this out so am glad that we can now do it fairly easily.

[David]

David - thank you so much for the calorie counter page. I struggle with working this out so am glad that we can now do it fairly easily.

You're most welcome! I've been meaning to make the tool for a long time so thank you for giving me the nudge I needed to get it done.