What Do You Feed?

I am frequently asked what I feed our dogs.  And no, its not small children and clowns....

We switched to a raw diet at one time and loved/hated it.  I loved the small amount of poop each dog had.  That was a breeze to clean. Most of the dogs looked relatively good on it, some got super skinny, some looked the same.  The coats in the Lowchen definitely matted MUCH less.  What we hated about it was the cost.  We sourced raw meats from Costco and our local grocery store and averaged a cost of about $1.50 - $1.75/lb.  I know, it doesn't sound TOO bad but when you're feeding around 10 - 15lbs a day, the costs add up dramatically.  

​I'd looked into the remade raw diets as well.  For the Pre-Made raw diets, those were averaging about $2.50+ per pound which was way too expensive for us.  Even still we made due for about a year feeding exclusively raw to our crew. Another expense I didnt anticipate was the brand new chest freezer we had to buy.  Our regular fridge freezer wasn't big enough for even a weeks worth of raw meat.  So we bought a new freezer at Costco.  The expenses keep adding up!  Finally the deciding factor on whether to stick with raw or not came when we had to go on a weekend trip to a dog show. It was ONLY a 3 day show weekend, how much could I possibly need?  Turns out I needed enough raw meat to fill 2 large coolers! Obviously a hotel fridge cant accommodate that much raw meat, so keeping it cold in the coolers was tough for 3 days.  In addition, getting the right amount to thaw out each days for their meals was impossible and then there was the issue of keeping everything frozen for multiple days.  That was pretty much the nail in the coffin for raw feeding.

So I had to look back at our options for a kibble diet and this is what I've found to be the BEST kibble combo around.  We use the Acana Heritage Poultry Kibble and mix that with a small amount of Honest Kitchen Base Mix and add water.  I LOVE the Honest Kitchen because its human grade freeze dried veggies and fruits and its an EASY, cheap and simple way to add fruits and veggies to a dog's diet.  I've noticed glossier coats, better stools and better weight gain and condition on our dogs since adding that to the already awesome Acana Kibble.  For Puppies, we feed and recommend Fromm Large Breed Puppy kibble mixed with Honest Kitchen.  

​When we wean puppies from Momma, I wean them using Honest Kitchen mixed with Goat Milk. I like to mix up the various proteins, sometimes I'll use Turkey or Fish or Beef and switch them between Grain free and Whole Grains, that way their systems get used to various ingredients.  I do this for Lowchen and Corso puppies.  

​I also add CBD to our older dogs' food to help relieve inflammation and pain associated with getting older.