I've been meaning to share this for a while, but I don't always think about it- most likely because it's just a part of my life, not really significant to me since it's just normal, but possibly odd to others.
My pooch, Apollo, the St. Bernard, gets fed a 'human' diet.
(apparently he makes a great pillow for my 22 month old- this picture was taken just a few weeks ago)
We adopted him in June from a shelter in Billings, and he has been a part of the family from day 1. There was never any question that he fit with our family.
This picture was shortly after we got him. Tommy was about 14 months here. I mean, from day 1, ok, well, maybe day 7 after Tommy got over his fear of this huge, furry monster, Apollo let Tommy climb all over him. Instantly he became Tommy's puppy. And a puppy he is. He's the same age as Tommy, so they will both be 2 in May, and Apollo's puppy tendencies are still very prevalent.
It took a while for both of them to get used to each other. As I said, Tommy was deathly afraid of Apollo- but can you blame him? He was about 135 lbs when we first got him, and taller than Tommy by at least 4 inches. Tommy would run crying to the couch and climb on it to get away from Apollo. It took him about a week and a lot of coaxing to get him to not run away from Apollo. Unfortunately it took a little bit longer for Apollo to realize where Tommy was at and stop plowing him over. The poor dog had NO conception of how big he was (sometimes still doesn't) and would literally just bowl right over top of Tommy with no idea what he was doing. It's taken months of work to get him to pay attention to Tommy, but Apollo has been doing MUCH better in that department.
Apollo was neutered a few weeks after we got him and started filling out. At last estimate he was about 160 lbs, but I'm guessing he's closer to 170-175 now.
Apollo used to get kibble. I was feeding him Beneful, because it was the best I could find without spending $50 for 35 lbs. This dog eats around 6 cups of food in one day, so I was buying a 45 lb bag of Beneful every other week.
But he was still growing. And I was worried about how fast it was happening. I did quite a bit of research on Saints, since he is a giant breed dog, because they are more prone to joint problems, hip dysplasia, bone development issues, and bloat. Saints are also susceptible to entropion, which is a problem with their lower eye lids, since the Saints already have droopy lids to begin with.
One of the best ways to protect against joint and bone problems is monitoring their diet. When dogs grow too fast, generally from too much protein intake, their bones can become weak and brittle, making it painful for them to walk or carry all that weight around. This worried me, because he is still very active, and was growing at a fast rate, AND was eating as if he'd never been fed before.
Our last dog, an Australian Shepherd, had a lot of skin problems, so I started her on a human food diet and it proved to be exactly what she needed, as her skin became MUCH healthier, and her hair started growing back. I also had less behavior issues with her after the diet change. So I knew the human food diet was successful, I was mostly worried about the cost of feeding a dog the size of Apollo. Was the benefit worth the cost? I wanted to feed him better kibble, as Beneful is decent food, but it's still a 'middle' quality kibble. But the kibble I was wanting to buy him was upwards of $20 more per bag, but the bags were 5 to 10 lbs smaller!
So, one grocery trip I forgot to buy dog food. And, of course, he ran out of food a couple of days later. It was then that I decided I would just go ahead and make the switch. I already knew which foods to avoid- onions, chocolate, cooked bones, fish bones, grapes/raisins.
I started out feeding him raw chicken leg quarters twice a day, and a mixture of food in his bowl twice per day. Instantly the chicken was making him sick. After a bit of research I decided that it would be OK for him to eat boiled chicken. Also, I have a bunch of deer meat from a friend that's been frozen for a few years, and knew would be great to feed him! So he gets a variety of venison, chicken, and cow meat, as well as pasta, rice, raw or frozen vegetables, peanut butter, raw eggs, oatmeal with milk, cheese, plain yogurt, fruit, leftovers that don't have onions in it,Tums (for extra calcium), and 2 different types of vitamins. I read that cooked meat can be a carcinogenic, but that was only from one source, and I can't verify it anywhere else- it seems to work for him- and keeps him from vomiting. He's been on his natural food diet for at least 3 months now and I don't miss the stench of the kibble, the insane amount of poop, or the horrendous stench that eeks from his butt after eating whatever fillers are in the kibble.
While the mixture may not look or sound appealing, it's definitely healthy for him, and he doesn't seem to mind the taste!
For breakfast he gets a full bowl in a mixture of the following:
raw eggs
Peanut butter
cooked oatmeal
fruit
plain yogurt
For lunch I've been giving him about half a bowl of any of the following mixed-
small amount of meat
cooked pasta or rice
raw or frozen veggies
cheese
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a special treat!
And for dinner he gets a full bowl of -
meat
cooked pasta or rice, or shredded tortillas/bread
fresh or frozen veggies
fruit
and/or anything we happen to be eating for dinner if it's safe for him.
Initially I didn't feed him a lunch- it was just breakfast and dinner, but he recently began begging at the table as if he was not getting full. So I have recently started adding a lunch in to keep him fuller. I still have to shoo him into 'his room' when we eat, but it's gotten better.
No comments:
Post a Comment