feeding pets on a budget

melt71

Pollybear wrote:

Apparently you can give a dog cat food but you shouldn't give a cat dog food. Cats need more vitamins or something.

Yes I heard that. I think it can cause cats serious health problems and I also heard that the lack of these minerals/vitamins can make them go blind eventually.

Most dogs can cope with basic human food; meat, veg (although not too much), rice pasta etc. It's junk food that causes problems, sugar is really bad for them.

My ex's mum used to feed her rottie toffee! Needless to say it eventually died a very horrible and painful death which the vet said was purely down to it's bad diet. My ex had warned her for years but she wouldn't listen.

tankgirl1

Pollybear wrote:

Apparently you can give a dog cat food but you shouldn't give a cat dog food. Cats need more vitamins or something.

Yes. cats are true carnivores, and need an extra essential acid (taurine) which is only found in meat products. Dog food doesnt neccesarily contain it, and that is why you must feed cat food. It can cause health problems otherwise.

Dogs however CAN eat a vegetarian diet and be perfectly healthy.

However, I would ALWAYS recommend a complete dried food for dogs- its cheaper than tins, better for their teeth, easier to handle, and it usually means that you won't have a fussy eater. Before I started working as a vet nurse, I fed my pooch all kinds of fancy pouches and things, and she became really fussy. Of course I thought I was doing the best for her. It took some time and effort to wean her onto dried food, but she now eats it fine, and is a much better eater all round for it. I used to see lots of pets who had been fed extravegent diets, who, during old age developed the need for a specialised prescription diet- and getting them to eat it was a nightmare as they had had a lifetime of best mince, and roast chicken!

Another thing to remember is that in the wild, and animal would often eat all different parts of the carcass, including internal organs and some bone tissue. They cannot have a healthy diet eating just meat. Commercial pet foods take this into account, and are perfectly balanced (well, some are!) to be healthy for your pet.

I would recommend any of the following brands, as they all brands which I have seen good results from:

hills
iams
chappie
james wellbeloved

autarky- although i havent used this one myself, having read the blurb on the site, it seems a good choice.

also remember that cats can be prone to urinary problems if fed an exclusively dry diet, so it can sometimes be beneficial to feed them a half and half combination.

caeser etc are just macdonalds for dogs im afraid

ps if anyone wants to pm me, feel free

tg x

tankgirl1

oh- and dont forget - chocolate is poisonous to dogs- a 200g bar of bournville is enough to be fatal to a labrador! Special doggy chocolate is ok though.

grapes and raisins can also be toxic to pooches, although mine has the odd handful every now and then, and shes ok. I think theyd have to eat quite a lot to cause problems. But chocolate is a real problem- used to see LOADS of dogs over christmas who had eaten all the choccy from under the tree!

x

MrsTinks

tankgirl1 wrote:

oh- and dont forget - chocolate is poisonous to dogs- a 200g bar of bournville is enough to be fatal to a labrador! Special doggy chocolate is ok though.

grapes and raisins can also be toxic to pooches, although mine has the odd handful every now and then, and shes ok. I think theyd have to eat quite a lot to cause problems. But chocolate is a real problem- used to see LOADS of dogs over christmas who had eaten all the choccy from under the tree!

x

According to some sites then as little as a dozen raisins could be fatal depending on the size of the dog in question... but there seems to be no real information on the exact quantity that will cause damage.

I know someone who'd dog sadly died from raisin poisoning but he managed to consume a very large amount (this was 2 years ago just before x-mas and he'd managed to get a hold of a bag of raisins just purchased and not yet put away - meant for the christmas pudding). Sadly the vet didn't know about raisin poisoning and although he was brought to the vet within the hour was merely given something to "help him pass them"... after 2 days of the dog getting worse and worse, vomiting and ending up on a drip, tests showed his kidneys had failed and his owners felt it was kindest to put him to sleep.

Feeding your dog human food is fine most of the time, just try to avoid feeding them junk food

Human painkillers... if your dog looks unwell or has any inflamation etc do NOT be tempted to feed it one of your painkillers. Ibuprofen and paracetamol can kill your dog with just ONE pill (or for a cat 1/2 of a 500mg paracetamol could be enough to be fatal...)

As Tankgirl says then a 200gr bar of bournville (which has a higher contents of coco and therefor theobromine which is the substance that is poisonous to dogs) is enough to be fatal to a lab size dog. 400gr of milk chocolate would also be enough... or 100gr bar would be more than enough if you had a yorkie sized dog. The darker the chocolate, the higher the teobromine level and the less you need for the dog to eat before it's fatal...
THERE IS NO ANTIDOTE - if your dog eats chocolate or you suspect it might have then call your vet! They will give them something to make them vomit and hopefully prevent the absobtion into their system. If in doubt then don't risk it!

Also as few things to not include in their diet:
• Coffee
• Onions
• Garlic
• Salt
• Yeast dough
• Avocado
• Alcoholic beverages
• Chocolate
• Raisons and grapes
• Citronella candles
• Vitamins
to mention a few...

have a look at this site for a pretty comprehensive list: http://www.aspca.org/

Feeding your dog a natural diet is in my eyes the best thing to do, but I work full time and frankly I don't always have time to do a full BARF meal for my dog. SO I have chosen a dog food with the least possible additives I can find and the most "genuine" ingredients and this odly turned out to be Costco's Kirkland food (something like 15 kg for £9 or some such... sorry I forgot how much it is now ) and then supplement it with stock and left over chicken and so on. Same for the cats exact one is a fussy eater so they are on go-cat dry food with cat milk served occasionally and maybe the occasional tin of tuna in spring water

Anyway I seem to have hogged this thread so I'll creep back over to the christmas lot now

tankgirl1

great post tine :beer:

tankgirl1

Human painkillers... if your dog looks unwell or has any inflamation etc do NOT be tempted to feed it one of your painkillers. Ibuprofen and paracetamol can kill your dog with just ONE pill (or for a cat 1/2 of a 500mg paracetamol could be enough to be fatal...)

sadly ive worked for more than one vet who STILL advises owners to give their pets a paracetamol ... grrrrr!

MrsTinks

tankgirl1 wrote:

sadly ive worked for more than one vet who STILL advises owners to give their pets a paracetamol ... grrrrr!

It's infuriating isn't it? My mate is a vet and it was her who warned me about ibuprofen.
There are so many things people don't think about as poisonous to their pets but can be fatal... like washing your floors with dettol (well infact ANY disinfectant/cleaner that turns white or cloudy when you put it in water) can slowly but surely poison your dog or cat...

I've run an animal rescue forum for more years than I care to count, worked with rescues and animal welfare organisation and still every year without fail animals die needlessly because people just don't know what they are poisoned by...

tankgirl1

tine wrote:

It's infuriating isn't it? My mate is a vet and it was her who warned me about ibuprofen.
There are so many things people don't think about as poisonous to their pets but can be fatal... like washing your floors with dettol (well infact ANY disinfectant/cleaner that turns white or cloudy when you put it in water) can slowly but surely poison your dog or cat...

I've run an animal rescue forum for more years than I care to count, worked with rescues and animal welfare organisation and still every year without fail animals die needlessly because people just don't know what they are poisoned by...

indeed.......and don't even get me started on bob martins spot on :mad:

ive seen more cats than i can remember die a needless, slow painful death thanks to that stuff :mad:

arnie&caseysma!

If we are splashing out, or if I'm on a days warehouse shopping(!) and it is on special offer then we will buy Butchers Natural Nutrition for the weans! They do love it but most of the time we do give them the Lidl stuff as per my previous post.

angchris

my cat used to eat a can of cheapo white label tuna in brine once or twice a week , she absolutely loved it and it was cheaper than a tin of catfood and probably better for her....