New dogs diet

[Muriel]

Hi, welcome and congrats on rehoming Yasmin.

She will be stressed out of her mind right now and it's good that she's following you, even if you're falling over her, allow it, she'll gradually back off a little as she settles. Flower Essences can help that settling in stage and help her recover from the stress etc. Star of Bethlehem is for trauma, Walnut is for change. Get them from crystalherbs.com 3 or 4 drops in her water, on a treat and rubbed on top of head between ears if she'll allow that without stressing her - hits a calming acupressure point.

The Animal Healing CD from New World Music is lovely, I play that quietly on repeat especially with a new dog and still any time Millie is stressed, it's been on all day today as we had a Tesco delivery and she stresses herself out about that.

Personally I'd wait a week or two at least before you take her to a vet as that is yet more stress for her, she could be close to overload. I'd just let her settle and find her paws in your home - that is unless she is actually ill. Doesn't sound like it though, she just sounds normal for a new rescue.

Normally rescues stay with their new person when out as that new person is the only thing they have to cling to, just have some treats in your pocket as a little extra incentive to return, bribery is a wonderful tool Mine will do almost anything for a bit of Ginger Nut - Tesco 30odd pence a pack. All three of mine have been off lead first walk and stayed with me.

Food - she probably is telling you she doesn't like that stuff. The best food for every species is real food just like you and I eat and all dogs ate until about 50 years ago when some bright spark thought they'd take all the rubbish that we humans will not eat and pour it into a big vat, process it at high temps and call it dog food. Dogs were healthier when they ate real food. Your choice obviously but real is much better for them always. Type into google "What's really in dog food"

Right now as she's stressed and unsettled and likely to have an upset tum - Weimaraner emotional upset normally equates to upset tum, the squits etc, I'd try her with either chicken or white fish with rice or potato and some PLAIN natural yoghurt - Yeo Valley is best but whatever is available. My personal choice with a new dog is fish as it's not chock full of antibiotics and growth hormones as yet and potato tends to not upset stomachs - boiled of course. Let the food cool before you put it down to her, bet she'll scoff that

As Lou said, vets know very little about diet - what little education about diet they get in vet school is a morning lecture from either Hills or Pedigree on how to feed the dry stuff they produce, then they get a commission on selling it. When you have a chance to sit at the computer and learn, you'll find masses of info out there. Start with Canine Health Concern's site. Google about BARF which stands for Bones and raw/real food, raw diet, etc. Good books to read are by Kymythy R Schultz, Ian Billinghurst, Richard Pitcairn etc... Everyone has their preferred method of feeding raw/real just as we all eat differently ourselves. Some people cook, some don't.... I find my latest rescue can no longer tolerate raw meat or fish so her meat and fish is now cooked lightly but her veg is still raw as is her fruit. Her favourite food is raw carrot - as it comes, with or without soil on it Next in line are apples and pears. The only foods to avoid in quantity are grapes, raisins, onion. All are ok a little so don't panic if one or two are stolen, just keep an eye if a pound is stolen and eaten. Chocolate is not good for them, it's toxic - dark chocolate in particular. I don't give pork or ham. Beef can be too strong/rich/whatever for some dogs so try that in small portions first. Lamb is usually well tolerated but can be too rich, Millie only has a little mixed with turkey or chicken. You'll find out what suits as you go along.

Naturediet is a "dog food" which is better than most - comes in a plastic tray and is supposedly pure meat, rice and veg, they generally love it!

You'll get there, it's a big learning curve, but for now just be there for her, love her and allow her to settle at her own pace.

[Julies]

http://www.dogaware.com/articles/wdjhomemade2.html is a good site for feeding raw.

Basically you feed 2-3% of the dog's body weight in raw meat and bones every day. I feed one meal of chicken carcasses/necks a day (occassionally replaced by meal of lamb breast) , and one meal of meat - mainly beef but occassionally veal/pork. You're supposed to feed around 10% of offal too. You can also add in eggs, natural yoghurt, and veg/fruit that has been pulped in a mixer (mainly to help the 'passage'). Some people feed fish but my dogs won't eat raw fish. You need a big freezer to be able to stock up on the meat but there are some good suppliers in the UK, I'm sure someone else will be able to advise. It isn't for everyone but I have been really pleased since I switched the dogs over and it doesn't work out more expensive I find as I was feeding the Nature Diet stuff due to Elly's sensitive stomach problems. If you decide to give it a go you need to start slowly - miss one meal completely then feed just chicken meat for a few meals (that's the expensive part) and when you see that the dog copes OK you can start adding in different meat types and a bone meal, one thing at a time. Lots of dogs seem to be intolerant of beef, but mine both eat it with no problem. The best bones are the 'soft' ones - ie the ones that don't carry weight so chicken necks/wings/carcasse, lamb breast etc. Apparently it isn't a good idea to mix kibble in the same meal as raw meat/bones as they are digested at diffferent rates.

[Lisa Coull]

You must be absolutely bamboozled with all this dietary advice

When we say soak the food, some soak it until it's soft, some splash it with water and feed straight away - that's what I do. I don't see the point of wetting it then throwing out the water though

I personally think you need to decide what type of diet you want to feed her that will fit in with you and your family - be it dry, wet or raw. Millions of dogs do perfectly well on a commercial diet and they are not all rubbish contrary to some advice Good dry foods are Arden Grange, Burns ( though mine struggled to maintain weight on it ) James Wellbelved and many here ar efeeding Challenge now, good wet foods are Naturediet and Forthglade. If you want to feed raw do your homework - a good book is 'Give Your Dog a Bone' by Dr Ian Billinghurst.

[trustno1]

Well i took her to the vets yesterday and all is ok with her. She suggested changing her onto hills lol which i am not going to do.
I soaked her food last night and she ate it and then saoked it again this morning and she ate it. She is going a funny thing with her head now....nose in the bowl, nose out the bowl, nose in the bowl, nose out the bowl, nose in the bowl. She kept doing this for about a min before she started eating then every so often while she was eating!

[Lisa Coull]

Great that she is now eating - she was probably just checking that you were still around, she'll have got used to you watching her

Yes some vets will try and push Hills - commission

[Enzo's Butler]

When we say soak the food, some soak it until it's soft, some splash it with water and feed straight away - that's what I do. I don't see the point of wetting it then throwing out the water though

I don't throw all of the water out. I put water in so that it covers all of the kibble, but I don't want it swimming in water so I get rid of some of it when it's all wet on the outside.