Question to experienced home cookers

[Lalaloopsie]

Dear friends, it is now almost 3 months I started home cooking for my dog. As he had awful allergy, I had to go for very limited component diet. His allergy expressed in severe shedding, interdigital cysts, red runny eyes, red lips and cheeks, sores in nose rope and area under eye. The worst thing is that we planning to leave China, and with issues like this they wouldn't grant us exit permit, that's for sure. So I started with beef and rice, but it didn't improve situation, then we switched to duck and potato, but it seemed to be worse. I went back to beef and potato, and at the same time we got consultation from South African vet doctor, who has a lot of experience with bullies, just with photos. Here Chinese doctors can help you with big problem, like infection, for example, our vet treated parvovirus in Tank successfully, but allergy they don't really know how to deal with. Having pets is still a very new thing for China. So, SA doctor recommended antibiotic cephalexin, and on this we are doing very well. No excessive shedding, no cysts, very good.
But for the last month Tank didn't pick up weight. He is 10 months old, weighs 21 kg. He is in perfect shape, I am myself a crazy sportsman and he has to walk with me at least 2 hours a day at the beach, so he exercises quite a bit for bullie. The amount of food I should give him, as recommended, is 3% of ideal weight, ideal weight I suppose is 25-30 kg. He comes from a Chinese puppy mill, so I never saw his parents and cannot presume, how big he could grow. So, for last 3 months he was eating 900 g of food, divided into 3 meals, plus fish oil, multivitamin, and calcium supplement. Food is 70% boiled beef and 30% boiled mashed potato. I have to cut meat and mash potato, as he never chews. Dry food he ate before he inhaled too. Cannot give him bigger pieces as this little moron will choke. If I give him potato cut in pieces, I see those pieces in his poops still in a shape I cut them
But it seems like he is not getting enough. Last month he also weighed 21 kg.I presume, he cannot stop growing at 10 months?
Also, this weekend we drove to Beijing to get him a chip and vet passport, and drove for 8 hours one way. So, as I didn't want him to become carsick, I didn't feed him while driving. Instead, he ate double dose of food in the morning before trip (2 hours before, to digest properly before we start our way), and seems like he feels very good with 600 gram portion in his belly!!!
Upon return I started giving him 430 gram of food 3 times a day, what makes 1300 gram per day. 900 gram is boiled beef, 400 gram is potato. And he seems to be extremely happy. His poops are perfect. Solid, 3 times a day.
So, dear friends who are experienced home cookers, please, share with me your considerations, is too much?

 

[helsonwheels]

I home cook for Nyala and this is what I do. I boil one hugh turkey about 38 lbs or like in Canada 17.5K. I fill the massive pot almost to the top with water I boil it for 4-5 hrs because like that you get all the minerals from the bones and organs in the broth. I debone the whole turkey. Cut it into cubes. I do portions in Ziploc bags the medium size. This is for 2meals so Nyala gets one bag per day. In each bag I put one cup (220gr) of pack turkey and about 3 cups of veggies. Her veggies are yellow n green string beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, Lima beans. I do NOT give her rice nor plain white potatoes. I dont allow her have starch food. So I take my one cup of turkey and that goes first bottom of bag, add 3 cups of veggies, top it with the broth to the top of the bag and zip it. I freeze all her meals and I take out what she needs every 3 days. When I open the bag, I take half of one side of the bag in the morning and I boil water and top the bowl even though there is broth I want her to get more liquids because Nyala will not drink any yes any water through out the day because home cooking dogs don't drink or barely does. I just want to make sure she gets plenty of liquid. So you repeat for evening meal. Throughout the day she will get yogurt or bananas or berries or apples etc. She weighs 45lbs or 20.5K.

So for Tank im not sure but from what I've read he still has allergies? If so, get him off beef and rice. That's grains and it's white. When Nyala poops you know what she ate. You see it too. Like you I move a lot so she has no choice and will follow. Days I'm stuck seeing buyers for my business so Nyala tags along with me in the truck. I make sure she gets out and moves as 3-5 hrs of driving is long. So you have an active dog and will burn the fat and build muscle so that's great! Hope this helped.

Sent from my XT1563 using Tapatalk

 

[RiiSi]

I feed raw, not home cooked, but from the sound of that he is not getting enough fat. Fat is the main source of energy with dogs so I would at that in some form.

 

[helsonwheels]

Yes [MENTION=3354]RiiSi[/MENTION] is right. I forgot to mention Nyala gets either salmon oil or coconut oil throughout the day and a multi vitamin.

 

[RiiSi]

Beef is usually quite lean meat so you could also add some animal fat in to his diet. My bullies eat all sorts of meat with their fat and and oils on top.

 

[helsonwheels]

Beef is usually quite lean meat so you could also add some animal fat in to his diet. My bullies eat all sorts of meat with their fat and and oils on top.

She cooks it from what I understood. Im not keen on cook beef. But that's me. Raw beef would be better.

 

[Lalaloopsie]

Thank you very much guys for your priceless advice! The reason I keep him on beef and potato at the moment is because we are just recovering from severe allergy, which caused him to lose a lot of fur on his back. At the moment he seems to recover quite good, and I cannot take a risk introducing anything new in his diet. I would like to try pork, as it is fatty, but I'm too scared to do this at the moment. Because fur falls out quickly, but grows back slowly. And we might leave China in around 2-3 months, so I don't have time for mistakes. If he loses fur, then Chinese Quarantine Bureau will not give us exit permission. They are very harsh and difficult to deal with. Many foreigners had to leave their dogs in vet clinic boarding facilities for treatment and fly back in months time to pick up their furry family member. Just imagine what a stress for dog, family and also expenses involved!
I will try to get more fatty beef for Tank. Fish oil with increased levels of EPA and DHA he gets every day, also multivitamin and calcium supplement. What do you consider the best plant oils for dogs? Coconut oil? The data I was able to get is contradictory, in some sources they say that dogs cannot digest plant oils at all, due to their biology - they evolved as predators and their biochemical factory inside cannot use plant oils. They say that plant oils just go transit through dogs intestines. Do you think it is true? In some sources they recommend adding olive oil, but olive oil has not the best Omega3- Omega 6 ratio. And again, can dogs digest it?..
Also, I was a bit nervous that he almost completely stopped drinking when eating normal food, but now I know from you guys that it is normal! Thank you very much again for your answers!

 

[helsonwheels]

Salmon oil is great even cod liver oil.