Luthers food

I just posted something really similar on the cat board, so now I have to think ok dog! Ok When I first moved here (GErmany, for anyone who doesn'T know) I brought some food from America with me, Now I am on my second bag of food. The first one I got at a place that is like a pet store, but also home and garden store, It is a weird store. But it was he first place I had seen dry dog food (I don'T like the canned stuff, my old dog would get terrible diarrahea from it and I don'T think it is so good for their teeth) So I bought it, it was ok food. This other time I was in a pet store (just cats and dogs, no birds, flowers or garden gnomes) and all the food was like the cereal on the bottom shelf that comes only in bags and is really cheap (puffed rice, puffed wheat I forget but do you know what I mean?). So last week I was in the grocery store and I needed to buy dog food and I saw a bag (grocery stores here are not like in America, sometimes they have stuff and sometimes they don'T, the only aisles that stay the same or the milk and frozen and that is because you can't move the freezer, I could go on about how terrible the grocery stores are but I need to stay on topic) So I bought a bag of this stuff which looks like different colors and shapes of kibble plus corn flakes. Ok but every morning when I go to the kitchen (I leave his food out so he can eat when he wants) the corn flakes are all over the floor, not the problem, but I guess he doesn'T like them? but then whe I go upstairs to brush my teeth, he has made enormously (for such a small dog 20lbs, these are almost as big as my lab mix normal poo) large poo and several, they all seem "firm" nothing wrong with them just that they are huge and he can'T make it thru the night. So I asked my bf to tell me what is in the food and nothing sounded to particularly weird. But I started thinking maybe I should just make food for him so I know what goes into it. But different people here have their dogs on diferent diets. Can anyone give me any suggestions. Also with fresh foods we only have a small refrigerator (not normal USA size) maybe slightly larger than a "dorm fridge" and a small freezer also so we don'T have very much room to store food and the stores here close at 6 or 8 and are closed on Sundays so going to the grocery is difficult, can be done, but difficult. So I would prefer something that would be "easier" because I don'T think this would be easy and is it a big switch for the dog? or do they adjust easy? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Here is a pic of the food.

 

Looks like a cheap food with lots of fillers that basically goes in one end and out the other - hence the large poo.

I feed raw, but without a big fridge or freezer that might be hard. Unless there is a market close by that sells meat of any kind?

How about ordering a good kibble online and getting it shipped to you?

Boy, I really need to go to Europe sometime and see how the rest of the world lives.


Jamiya

 

Yea that is what I figured cheap food! Because once when I was out of work and really poor I gave my old dog the cheapest dog food, she ate no problems wasn'T sick or anything, just had to walk her 5 more times a day. Do you know anywhere online that sells dog food I am geting frustrated trying to find something. Most of the bags are between 4-17lbs. I'd rather have a bigger bag than that since I have to pay for shipping over here, or would it be cheaper to buy a bunch f small bags?? probably easier just to go to the butcher everyday (I mean, do we still have any of those in America? we didn't have one in my town growing up or in my college town, only inside the grocery store) How much per month do you usually spend with the raw diet? And do you get fresh or frozen meat? Because today I was in the grocery store and the only "fresh meats" were some sliced deli meats (not really fresh) and some pepper flavored steaks (didn't say what type animal they came from either??) in the frozen dept. the only non flavored meat was pork hamburger. There really isn'T much meat selection in the grocery store and since I don'T eat too much meat I haven'T been to the butcher here, I don'T know of one around me so I don'T know of there prices, but when I have seen other peoples "fresh meat" from the butcher it is always flavored and they say it has to be cooked that day. This whole food thing bothers me here, they complain we are a bucnh a chemie (chemical people) but sometimes I think they way the handle their food is gross, milk and eggs don't go in the fridge, you only buy enough groceries to last you a day or so (although I have figured out how to last a week, don'T think that is necessarily a good thing) and when they make cheese, the cows are iin the next room and flies are every where, so when you eat one of "the good cheeses" (not that stuff Americans call cheese) it to me tastes like I am eating cow poo! Oh I am relly sorry for that rant! :cry: It just bugs me here that I can't be normal!! How is it in Australia? Are things that difficult?

 

ditto what Jimiya said, that doesnt look like good food at all. I would try online buying

honeybear

 

wow, I take things for granted livng in teh US. I did a search that basicly said the best food comes from the vet.

honeybear

 

I try to get my meats for about $1/pound and since Nala eats about a pound a day that works out to about $30/month (times 2 for Bonnie). But I could do it a whole lot cheaper if I would get off my butt and find some local suppliers and buy in bulk, etc.

I didn't think we still had butchers here in the U.S. but apparently there are a few. There are also the places that butcher meat for hunters and farmers, etc.

Talk to your butchers. You may be able to buy things humans don't want. You do NOT want things smoked or flavored, etc. Just meat. You want raw MEATY bones - about 3/4 meat and 1/4 bone. You also want organ meats (should be about 10% of your dog's diet). Whole fish and eggs are good as well. Tell the butcher what you are looking for (you don't have to tell him why) and see if he can help.

If you can buy in bulk the butchers are sometimes happier to accomodate you, but without freezer space that wouldn't work. Also, dogs aren't as picky about their meat as humans are. If it is a little smelly, they are fine with that and it doesn't hurt them. So sometimes you can get good deals on meat that is too old to sell for humans.

Any kind of meat is fine as long as it is raw - the more different kinds, the merrier! As a rule of thumb, start out feeding about 2-3% of your dog's ideal weight per day and go from there - if she is getting chuncky cut back and if she is getting thin feed more.

I looked at the Canidea site but they don't seem to ship overseas. I'll see if I can find anything else.


Jamiya

 

Yea thanks! I'll try talking to the butcher. It sucks because in my school I learn "High German" but the people here speak Bavarian German. It is like going to school an learning old English, but living in Kentucky (or somewhere with an accent, sorry Kntucky people I don'T mean anything by that) I guess I'll make my b/f go with me!