An assortment of food, that’s what!
- Flint River Ranch (oven baked) Trout and Sweet Potato formula or Duck Meal and Oatmeal Formula
- Kefir drizzled (ok …poured) over their food regularly
- Animal Natural Products
- Brewers Yeast and Garlic (fleas and ticks)
- Apple Cider Vinegar (not Apple Cider Flavored Vinegar)
- Sojos Turkey or Beef Grain-Free dog food that is rehydrated
- Raw chicken backs and feet (raw bones ok), raw meat, raw liver, raw eggs (with shell), etc.
- Sardines/tuna, hard boiled eggs (with shell), cooked meat (cooked bones NOT ok), pizza, whatever I eat except for the things they shouldn’t have like raisins and chocolate.
- Fruits and vegetables, pumpkin or sweet potatoes from the can and other good healthy stuff. Much if it is fed on a spoon or fork to teach them patience.
- Hot dogs and any other meat cut up for training treats
- And finally an occasional trip to McDonalds for a double cheeseburger, fries and and ice cream cone is a great treat for them!
The Animal Naturals and Brewers yeast and Garlic is in powder form so I soak their food with the vitamins on it. At their evening meal I make enough for morning and then stuff some in a Kong, put it in a stainless steel bowl, put some more liquid around it if needed and freeze it! Do they love that!
What don’t I feed my dogs… kibble other than Flint River Ranch and especially kibble that has “byproducts” in the ingredients, regular dog biscuits (I say “no thank you” at the bank), grapes, raisins, chocolate, cooked bones and rawhide, greenies and that kind of pet store treat…
So here are some pictures. Brita would gulp her food all the time and Jake was starting to do it also. I saw the picture of the dog bowl to slow down eating for I can’t remember how many $$ and thought it looked remarkably like a ring pan so off to the thrift shop I go. It kinda worked but do you know how quickly a German Shepherd can destroy one of those aluminum pans?? Then I can across a bundt pan – solid, won’t scratch and has little crevices that make it hard to get the food out and WOW.. this is my favorite!! Under $1 at St. Vinnies! My second favorite is below but it’s lots easier for the dogs to eat fast so… again… to slow them down… Kongs to the rescue! Now they each get a kong in their dish filled with food in addition to one in the morning!
That’s about it! If I forgot something I’m sure I’ll remember it after I’ve gone to bed!
As a post script. Brita used to be really stressed at mealtime – pretty much drove me nuts. Kobie would sit at the kitchen counter (in a beautiful sit I might add) staring at her food bowl as the enzymes for her pancreatic insufficiency soaked into her food. The dynamics in my house have now changed without Kobie and Brita will “settle” quietly in the kitchen along with Jake while I prepare the food… interesting, huh?
3-1-12 As another post script – all those bowls above – done – gone – chewed… This is the latest…. Nordicware classic – platinum collection heavy duty… made of “Heavy Cast Aluminum” he has yet to make a dent in it!! And I’ve become the queen of freezing kongs with food in them!
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