Weetabix for breakfast

hayley11

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

Well, dogs recovering from a general anaesthetic and with a sore mouth are likely to feel pretty poorly - and may be very reluctant to eat or drink to start off with, so you don't want to add to their difficulties by giving them vomiting and diarrhea to contend with too...

As paradigm says, scrambled eggs (no milk, no salt) would be far better for a recovering pup!

Lots of dogs are very sensitive to milk - mine has a pretty cast iron consitution, but will vomit if given more than the tiniest splash of milk. Fermented milk (eg. cheese, yoghurt) tends not to be as problematic, and mine can eat both with no problems.

Yeah my dog loves cheese, he goes through loads of the stuff! My brother was saying about it being fatty but Paddy is really lean, I think he's probably bordering on being underweight so I need to try and fatten him up.

He might have more of an appetite now his teeth are sorted.

I wasn't going to give him the weetabix today btw, I don't think he'll want anything at all today although the vet did say he could have some chicken later if he wants. I'll leave the weetabix anyway and stick with what I know he likes.

Quinny_2

Stella's a cheese lover, and is partial to a bit of Cathedral City and other mature brands. She'd eat it until the cows come home if we let her.

However she has been known to enjoy the left over dregs of the Weetabix, and like FC's hound, seems to have an asbestos lined stomach.

cyberbob

hayley11 wrote: »

M
I didn't realise weetabix was so bad for dogs, I won't give it him if that's the case.

It's not really bad it just has very little nutritional value.

POSSETTE

one of ours used to have weetabix...it helped him as he was little constipated.Kept him regular. If there is salt in them,perhaps a switch to shredded wheat which has no additives in it??

faded_flowers

islanddaughter wrote: »

Now the breakfast meal is being totaly ignored and not touched. Not wanting him to go all the way until evening meal without eating I started to give him two Weetbix with a dash of warm milk, which he is lapping up and liking lips at.

Do you think this is just a fussy dog wanting human food or that he only needs one meal a day in the evening? Further more, is Weetabix ok for him.

Any replies gratefully received or more info can be supplied.

Thanks

So... is he eating 2 weetabix, then the correct daily allowance of kibble in the evening? Or 2 weetabix, then half the correct daily allowance of kibble?

If the latter, I can't imagine weetabix and milk as half of his diet has much nutritional value. If you cut out the weetabix he'll have to eat the kibble, it just takes a couple of days.

devildog

Nutritional value- have you seen all of the rubbish that a large majority of the 'complete' dog food contain (not all though I must stress)!
I know someone who feeds their dog on a complete biscuit that costs £6 for a 15 kg sack (god only knows what nutrients are being given from that)
Whatever you feed, read the label, see what is actually in the food and if you don't understand what something is, look it up on the internet. Do not just go with something because it is a brand name that is common!

Barneysmom

Our dogs are 9 years old, and every day they have either tuna or sardines on toast for breakfast.
I'm not sure Weetabix is really very healthy for them, but it's not for me to say as I don't know your little one.
Our dogs get a carrot for a treat, they think they're getting something really special and our vet says he's never seen dogs of that age before with such perfectly white teeth.

foreign_correspondent

devildog wrote: »

Nutritional value- have you seen all of the rubbish that a large majority of the 'complete' dog food contain (not all though I must stress)!
I know someone who feeds their dog on a complete biscuit that costs £6 for a 15 kg sack (god only knows what nutrients are being given from that)

All commercially produced complete dog food in the UK has to meet a dog's basic nutrutional requirements, whether it costs a fiver or fifty quid a sack. So, even the cheapest 'complete food' will have enough fats, protein, and the right balance of vitamins, minerals etc for the dog's requirements....

A dog is an omnivore and requires 37 essential nutrients.
There are 6 main nutrient groups for all mammals. These are water proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.
To achieve the appropriate balance of nutrients pet food manufacturers blend mixtures of ingredients including meat and fish, with vegetables, cereals, vitamins and minerals to produce foods that will satisfy the nutritional requirements of a pet. Pet owners feeding a complete* commercial pet food can have confidence they are addressing their pet’s nutritional needs.
Over the decades pet food manufacturers have developed the nutritional expertise to ensure they incorporate the latest advances in pet nutrition. Pet food manufacturers produce products in line with the FEDIAF (European Pet Food Industry Federation) Nutrition Guidelines and the NRC Guidelines (National Research Council). These guidelines detail the nutritional requirements of dogs and cats at varying life stages and they are regularly peer reviewed by independent nutrition experts throughout Europe and the United States. There is also strict legislation governing what ingredients can be used in the manufacture of pet food. This legislation is laid down by Europe and also applies to imported commercially prepared pet foods.

http://www.pfma.org.uk/pet-food-ingredients/whats-in-petfood.htm

... so any dog food likely to be a far better choice than weetabix. A dog fed entirely on the cheapest complete food would be in far better shape than a dog fed entirely on weetabix, who would suffer from all sorts of dietary deficiencies.

I think that adding in some leftovers to your dog's diet can add variety and interest and that adding some nutritious extras in (like eggs, oily fish, meat scraps, raw bones etc) can be helpful - but replacing 50% of a balanced diet with a low nutrition food like weetabix is likely to cause problems, especially in a growing pup.

More information on the nutritional makeup of commercial foods is available here - these are the guidelines referred to in the excerpt above:
http://www.fediaf.org/Pages/FEDIAF%20Nutritional%20Guidelines%20-%2022%20September%202008.pdf

devildog

foreign correspondent
Yes I do appreciate that commercial pet food in the UK has to be measured against certain criteria but I understand that it has to pass 'nutritional analysis' and 10/20% are not actually suitable for constant feeding. There is also a large disparity between minimal and optimal levels of nutrition in these feeds.
So I am sorry to say that I have to disagree with you on whether all these feeds contain the 'right balance'
You only have to look at the food standards for humans and there is no end of rubbish that goes into our foodd(despite the standards) and some of these complete dog meals are full of colouring agents/preservatives/fillers/ash (do dogs really care what colour there food is?)
I do agree that a dog should not be fed on weetabix on a permanent basis and would get more nutrition from a complete meal but as an additional supplement(to correct feeding) it wouldn't really do too much harm(unless the dog has an allergy/intolerance.)

Having just read through the bottom link you have provided it states that "Adequate and high quality pet foods can be outside the recommendations based on the manufacturer's substantiation of nutritional adequacy"
The first link states that the pet food manufacturers can add sugar, salt and wheat (amongst other things) to the food (almost sounds like weetabix to me :; )
That is why everyone should do their homework.

faded_flowers

The OP has stated that the dog is on Wainwrights, which isn't bad as nutrition goes