Things I didn't know: Food

A large part of my life has been spent as a dog owner. It all began when 8-year-old me brought home a puppy from my friend's place. She was a yelpy silky terrier and I changed her name about 10 times in the course of her life. When she was Sheila (or was it Suzie?) she gave birth to two puppies, one of whom mated with a fellow neighbourhood silky to produce Trakker. Two years after Traks passed on, came Chassard.

My point? You'd think that after all this time, I'd be a walking encyclopedia on everything dog. Truth is, I'm nowhere close.

To me responsible dog ownership is making sure he's fed, bathed and brought to the vet when necessary. When everyone else was talking about how much effort it takes to be responsible, I nodded my head gravely and wondered what the heck they were talking about.

With Danny, I decided I should do a bit of research...

...I wish I didn't. I'll start with food, shall I?


The BARF Diet

Have you ever heard of BARF? Yes? No? Well, it stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. It's based on the theory that dogs eat raw meat and bones in the wild, hence that is the best way to get all their necessary nutrients. Appearantly dogs on the BARF diet are happy, healthy and free of the usual doggie ailments.

Sounds easy to do? Just get some cheap leftovers from the market and chuck them straight into the food bowl, right?

Haha. It involves a combination of meat, bones, fruits, vegetables, offal (aka spare parts) and other supplements, all mixed in the correct proportions. Specifically, it needs about 60% to 80% of raw meaty bones, such as chicken necks and wings, and 20% to 40% of the rest.

As organs like liver and kidney clear toxins from the body, some people opt for organic offal to minimise the toxins for canine consumption. Others also grind up the meat and bones in a meat grinder to prevent their dogs from chipping their teeth. And where do you get a meat grinder? Why you buy one of course!

There's also an assortment of other stuff like eggs, vitamin E, alfalfa and cod liver oil which supplement the diet.

If you're barfing at the BARF diet, you're not alone. I thought about all the cheeseburgers, goreng pisangs and pizzas that I eat, and frankly, if I put Danny on this, he'll be eating a lot better than I am.

Thus, I decided I'll go back to good ol' kibble (aka dry dog food).


Kibble

Kibble is what we fed Chassard. That's just about all he got. One bowl of Science Diet in the evening and one egg in the morning.

I thought of returning to that with Danny when I opened my big mouth at a pet shop. The staff were very friendly and helpful but I left with more info than I bargained for.

Ahem. Science Diet is generally considered a good brand, although it has its detractors. Chassard was all happy sappy with it and was actually getting fat, so I don't have issues with it. For dogs with skin problems, it's best to avoid the chicken version. However, the only alternative is lamb which results in smelly poop.

The brand some vets and pet shops are plugging now is Fish 4 Dogs. It's appearantly very good for dogs with sensitive skin as it is fish based and hence minimises the chance of allergies. The problem? Your dog gets fish-breath, which, as the pet shop peeps happily pointed out, I can buy a seperate pack of chews which function like breath mints. Yeah, right.

Then, upon a net search, I found people recommending Wellness, Canidae and Orijen. I was told to look for labels like "holistic" and food which does not contain corn, which dogs can't digest. Why is it in the recipe? Well, corn is used as a filler to bulk up the food.

I was also warned against vitamin K or menadione which is a controversial man-made vitamin. It helps stop or control bleeding but also weakens the immune system and induces allegic reactions among others.

So what's a girl to do?

Danny was on a mixed diet of dry and canned food. That's what he was getting at the pet shop. Unfortunately schnauzers come with a built-in beard and we have to wipe his mouth after each meal thanks to the wet food. Fun for him, cos he thinks it's a game; not for us, cos he was getting puppy breath.

Fortunately his canned food ran out. Being the efficient, responsible owner that I am, I failed to replace it. Now, he's left with his dry food (and his breath's perfect). It's ANF though, which contains the dubious vitamin K.

I don't know that to do when that runs out. I'll let you know.

For the record: Things dogs can't eat
Chocolate, garlic, onions, grapes, raisins, cooked bones, tomatoes and dairy products.