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| Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #18910] |
Sat, 01 August 2009 19:37  |
 b_twin_1
Messages: 2594
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Here be the Saturday Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie
[Updated on: Sat, 01 August 2009 19:38]
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #18922 is a reply to message #18910 ] |
Sat, 01 August 2009 20:13  |
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my boss cooks for her dogs and there are 17 of them but she mixes it with kibble.turkey,chicken hamburger and they have their egg day once a week and boy do they get fabulous coats on them.
Bonnie Holmes the faster ahead I go, the more behind I get
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #18932 is a reply to message #18922 ] |
Sun, 02 August 2009 05:09 |
NotLonely
Messages: 164
Registered: October 2008
Location: SA |
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Wow. I keep thinking about the time this must all take. Something like cooking for a horde of kids, I imagine?
*respect*
Life always, always finds a way.
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #18942 is a reply to message #18910 ] |
Sun, 02 August 2009 11:10 |
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Mrs Redboots
Messages: 943
Registered: October 2008
Location: London, UK |
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Back in the day, before all-in-one dog food had been invented (the term "kibble", for whatever reason, isn't used on this side of the Atlantic and always sounds strange to me), my mother used to cook lights (lungs) for the dogs. I think she had to stop because the law changed and the local butcher could no longer slaughter cattle, so a ready supply was no longer available.
These days, they - well, "he", as there is only one now - get all-in-one, or something out of a tin, with biscuits, and then "nice bits" left over from our meals, but always, always, always served in their dishes so they don't muddle people food with their own.
Mrs Redboots
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #18944 is a reply to message #18937 ] |
Sun, 02 August 2009 13:13 |
NotLonely
Messages: 164
Registered: October 2008
Location: SA |
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| Black Bear wrote on Sun, 02 August 2009 15:14 |
Nice post, Jeanne Marie!
As someone who has friends with rescued pits and pit mixes, let me heartily second your link to PBRC. The breed's reputation in the US as crazy killer beasts is solely the fault of irresponsible owners and sick people who get their jollies off dog-fighting. The great love of my dog life at the moment is a pit-whippet mix, and she's a sweetheart.
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A teacher relative used to say, "There are no problem children. Only problem parents."
I believe this is true of pets too, with very very few exceptions.
Life always, always finds a way.
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #18948 is a reply to message #18946 ] |
Sun, 02 August 2009 17:01 |
b_twin_1
Messages: 2594
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
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| Akai wrote on Sun, 02 August 2009 13:55 |
Have you tried the "sprintcuts" way to peel a hard-boiled egg? It really is a LOT faster, but you have to *make sure* that you have a good seal between the egg shell and your lips or it doesn't work.
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O.O
*speechless*
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #18973 is a reply to message #18969 ] |
Sun, 02 August 2009 22:05 |
b_twin_1
Messages: 2594
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
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| Firebyrd wrote on Sun, 02 August 2009 21:14 |
As for the eggs...wouldn't it be a good source of calcium to just feed the shells to the dogs? We do that in aviculture, particularly with laying hens.
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My dogs won't eat the shells. They love raw chicken wings etc though and they eat the bones (=calcium) with no problems.
And in terms of vitmin supplements - all the dogs that turn feral up in our mountains seem to be able to breed up just fine and healthy with no supplements whatsoever.... (unfortunately!!)
The book by Dr Ian Billinghurst "Give your dog a bone" has some ideas you may find interesting.
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #18975 is a reply to message #18974 ] |
Sun, 02 August 2009 22:44 |
b_twin_1
Messages: 2594
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
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| Black Bear wrote on Sun, 02 August 2009 22:37 |
| b_twin_1 wrote on Sun, 02 August 2009 22:05 |
My dogs won't eat the shells. They love raw chicken wings etc though and they eat the bones (=calcium) with no problems.
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Wow--chicken bones are anathema for dogs round these parts, we're told you should never ever let your dogs have even the smallest of chicken bones because they can splinter and cause intestinal damage in a way that beef/pork/lamb bones do not... Interesting, I'd never really thought to question this.
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The big rule for ALL bones is RAW. Never cooked.
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #18979 is a reply to message #18948 ] |
Mon, 03 August 2009 02:42 |
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I think that method is only for the eggs you are going to eat YOURSELF 
Or at least, if you do it for the church social deviled eggs, better not explain - shhhhh...
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #18982 is a reply to message #18910 ] |
Mon, 03 August 2009 04:14 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2730
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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I understand where you're coming from; if I had small dogs (as in SMALL), I might well cook for them, but cooking for Great Danes wouldn't leave much time over for anything else. I know quite a few people who feed their dogs a raw diet, and that's a career. I am using a grain-free kibble plus grain-free canned meat for the Alpha Bitch; it is expensive, but so calorie-dense that she eats only 1 1/4 cups/meal plus 1/2 can of meat (she eats twice a day), and she is a 130-pound girl. Unfortunately I can't feed the stuff to Teddy until he's older and his growth plates have closed. (He gets the same dog meat, but the grain-free dry food has way too much protein for a puppy.) Come the day, though, and I will switch him over.
Whole Dog Journal has a lot of information about dog food, whether it's rating commercial products or evaluating home-cooked diets. I'm not sure if they sell single issues at retail outlets or if you have to subscribe. They have a web site, too, but because they want to stay in business, they don't post their content on it for free.
Brava you for being a great rescue home. We always need more of them.
As I noted once, many moons ago on this very blog‡‡‡: “Dogs are trouble, I’ve been told/but dogs are worth their weight in gold.”
Absolutely! Although it would be nice if they'd cough up some of the gold to pay the vet bills . . . 
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #18984 is a reply to message #18910 ] |
Mon, 03 August 2009 06:42 |
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i have a friend who feeds her dogs on the raw chicken system and they are healthy but i find they don't put much coat on them which is essential when you are showing them.
Bonnie Holmes the faster ahead I go, the more behind I get
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #18997 is a reply to message #18947 ] |
Mon, 03 August 2009 11:35 |
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Akai
Messages: 76
Registered: October 2008
Location: Seattle, WA |
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| Fake Frenchie wrote on Sun, 02 August 2009 11:59 |
| Akai wrote on Sun, 02 August 2009 19:55 |
Have you tried the "sprintcuts" way to peel a hard-boiled egg? It really is a LOT faster, but you have to *make sure* that you have a good seal between the egg shell and your lips or it doesn't work.
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Is that real?
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Yes it's real. I've done it. We did it because we didn't believe it either. It's pretty funny when you're sitting in a group and everyone's trying to blow eggs out of their shells. Like I said, the trick is to make sure you have a REALLY good seal over the egg hole, and to blow hard. You look like a freak, but it shells a boiled egg in record time.
self respect: the secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.
--H.L. Mencken
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #19004 is a reply to message #18969 ] |
Mon, 03 August 2009 15:24 |
Jeanne Marie
Messages: 320
Registered: October 2008
Location: Kansas City |
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| Firebyrd wrote on Sun, 02 August 2009 20:14 |
Does anyone have any resources they suggest for getting started with making carnivore and omnivore food? I know what to do with my parrots, but I'd like to get my cats off kibble and when we get a greyhound in a few years, I'd like to feed it properly from the start. Is it really necessary to have a meat grinder? Are the vitamin supplements that have started to pop up to add to the home made food worth checking into?
I've been wanting to do this for years, and I've just been so confused whenever I look into it, I never go for it.
As for the eggs...wouldn't it be a good source of calcium to just feed the shells to the dogs? We do that in aviculture, particularly with laying hens.
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There were two cookbooks in the store that I looked through, and they had all kinds of recipes in them. I also checked a general dog health book I have, which gave advice on specific foods to avoid (anything in the allium family (onions, garlic), grapes and raisins, macadamia nuts, things like that.).
I cook things that are indigestible without cooking (like cereal grains, dried beans, and the like), and I cook their meats (there's a diversity of opinions on raw meat vs cooked meat for dogs...I tend to aim for 'medium rare' as a compromise! Of course, I also do a lot of crock pot meats, so those get fully cooked). I cook some veggies for them, but not all, it just depends on our personal trial and error process. For example, they love sauteed bok choy (so do I for that matter), but are not fond of it raw. I sometimes used bagged mixed veggies direct from the freezer as a way to cool down something just out of the crockpot. Both my dogs really like carrots, and Charlie likes beet greens (Cece doesn't like the leafy parts, but she'll eat the crunchy stems if I chop them well.).
As to eggshells, my dogs like licking them and occasionally crunching them up but won't actually eat them. I know this because they root through my compost pile (speaking of ewwwww), and lick and crunch eggshells in all stages of ewwww-i-ness, but don't actually swallow them, just kind of deform them a bit...
I think, much like people, dogs have different taste and texture preferences. I'd say read a few pet cookbooks from the library, then experiment. I think you'll be glad you did! I know I am!
Smiles,
JM
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #19006 is a reply to message #19004 ] |
Mon, 03 August 2009 19:30 |
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Robin
Messages: 6002
Registered: September 2008
Location: England |
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[Hellgoddess] |
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Just to say that I too use Dr Pitcairn and am gearing up grimly to try to cook *more* for the hellhounds again in the hopes that this will help the EATING thing a bit more. But I've been completely demoralised by the two years of chronic diarrhea and am having trouble getting my nerve back . . . especially since these guys are much WORSE eaters than the whippets ever were (they make even Hazel look easy peasy).
Brewers yeast is also good for keeping fleas off, but you shouldn't use it if you're going to use homeopathy. Depends on who you read, about garlic--alliums generally you avoid, but garlic is another fleabane. But again you can't use it with homeopathy. Neem, or the Bach remedy Crabapple, take care of fleas however.
And yes, the CRUUUUUUCIAL thing about bones is . . . *raw*. There are super-super zapped baked bones that come from the pet shop, but that's a whole different thing, and it's only done to huge heavy bones that won't splinter.
I tried raw chicken wings on the hellhounds as puppies and both puppies swallowed theirs whole . . . Darkness got his down and Chaos turned blue and tried to die on me. I tried *once* more about a year later and they both turned all weird and feral and I thought nope, life's too short. Like Jeanne Marie I tend to do the wishy-washy medium-rare thing.
PS: Speaking of *smell*, try feeding/cooking *tripe.* **How** much do you love your dogs--? :)
[Updated on: Mon, 03 August 2009 19:34]
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #19044 is a reply to message #18910 ] |
Tue, 04 August 2009 12:51 |
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Bravo for dog cooking! It is soooo much work to cook for big/multiple dogs, but after switching to a temporary 'bland diet' of chicken, rice and sweet potato following a nasty bout with canine diarrhea a couple weeks ago, I've been blown away by the difference it makes.
Not only did my 'difficult' eater snarf his food down eagerly and completely(like a real dog!-some of this may have been due to the -ahem- emptiness that follows bad diarrhea-but after a day or two he kept it up, something he's never done before), he actually produced two weeks worth of firm, small, bright orange poops-once a day. Unprecedented! My husband was worried about where the food was going, but as Otis passed day after day with a soft belly and no discomfort, it became shockingly obvious that, for the first time in his life-he was digesting it.
Removing any doubt about the source of the transformation, attempts to reintroduce his usual high-end kibble resulted in a return to mush. High volume mush. Four times a day (at least).
I'm happy to hear that your dogs can eat beans and oatmeal-Otis likes them both, but an attempt to substitute oatmeal for white rice one day was disastrous. I didn't even try brown rice, because I've formed a sneaking suspicion that Otis' digestive issues revolve around bran. He has no problems with cereals in general, not even wheat and corn, which many dogs have a hard time with-but he doesn't seem to be able to digest anything involving whole grains.
Two things keep me from making a permanent and immediate switch. First: I still have about twenty pounds of sinfully expensive kibble in my big kibble tub. I feel honor bound to finish it (ordinarily, this would take a little over a week-but as I've decided to mix it in 50-50 with chicken and rice, it will likely take two).
Second: Cooking enough food for a Great Dane is a really serious chore. It's cheaper than kibble, but roasting and picking the meat off of 15 lbs of chicken leg quarters a week is driving me crazy. So right now I'm torn between cereal-free kibble (shuddering with horror at the prospective cost-he eats a lot) and just going to a raw diet, which would be cheaper, but more labor-intensive.
I really give you credit for keeping your dogs on home cooked meals. I know how much dedication it takes. Congratulations on clearing up Charlie's skin issues, and keep up the good work!
[Updated on: Tue, 04 August 2009 12:52] by Moderator
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #19045 is a reply to message #18910 ] |
Tue, 04 August 2009 13:16 |
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p.s. I meant to say this in my first post--I love bully breeds, and I get really bent out of shape when people malign them. Think of it-many of these dogs live in areas of high population density, with lots of opportunities to misbehave- and some are owned by some of the worst people in the world. At any given time, I could pass through neighborhoods in my medium-sized city and see dozens of dogs who are neglected, abused, and deliberately goaded into viciousness. The fact that bad dog attacks are so rare, given these conditions, says to me that these are great dogs.
Of the dozens of AmStaffs, American Bulldogs, and Pit Bull terriers I have met on parks and sidewalks in the past nine months, one was dog aggressive. In contrast, I've met at least six golden retrievers who tried to take Otis' face off for passing too close to them. Otis can wrestle with one of his pit bull friends for an hour, and both will walk away without a scratch on them, but five minutes with any of the six border collies we know, and he will be dripping blood. (He's not allowed to play with them any more-it's not that they are bad, or aggressive, it's just that he is big and fast and instinct tells them that controlling big fast animals requires a bite.)
Whew-sorry about the rant. What I meant to say is that the bully breed dogs of my acquaintance are some of the sweetest, smartest, most loyal, obedient, and gentle dogs that I know.
[Updated on: Tue, 04 August 2009 13:16] by Moderator
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| Re: Guest Blog by Jeanne Marie [message #19088 is a reply to message #19045 ] |
Wed, 05 August 2009 17:57 |
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Melissa Mead
Messages: 990
Registered: October 2008
Location: Albany, NY, USA |
Senior Member |
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My sister and brother-in-law's pit bull cross is one of the gentlest therapy dogs I've ever met.
| stormgoddess wrote on Tue, 04 August 2009 13:16 |
p.s. I meant to say this in my first post--I love bully breeds, and I get really bent out of shape when people malign them. Think of it-many of these dogs live in areas of high population density, with lots of opportunities to misbehave- and some are owned by some of the worst people in the world. At any given time, I could pass through neighborhoods in my medium-sized city and see dozens of dogs who are neglected, abused, and deliberately goaded into viciousness. The fact that bad dog attacks are so rare, given these conditions, says to me that these are great dogs.
Of the dozens of AmStaffs, American Bulldogs, and Pit Bull terriers I have met on parks and sidewalks in the past nine months, one was dog aggressive. In contrast, I've met at least six golden retrievers who tried to take Otis' face off for passing too close to them. Otis can wrestle with one of his pit bull friends for an hour, and both will walk away without a scratch on them, but five minutes with any of the six border collies we know, and he will be dripping blood. (He's not allowed to play with them any more-it's not that they are bad, or aggressive, it's just that he is big and fast and instinct tells them that controlling big fast animals requires a bite.)
Whew-sorry about the rant. What I meant to say is that the bully breed dogs of my acquaintance are some of the sweetest, smartest, most loyal, obedient, and gentle dogs that I know.
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