[Rusty T]

Sorry Jo C. The side of the can of salmon will tell you how many calories per serving, and how many servings per can. The calorie content varies based on kind of salmon. But say 200 calories per 3.5 oz can.

Then go here for your total calories per day per your dog. I generally try to balance out an average per week over a seven day period in the calories per day. My Siberian/gsd mix tends to put on weight, so we really count his calories while our GSD must have the most amazing metabolism.

/dog-feeding-tips/dog-food-calculator/

(We’ve a service here where I live which is overseen by a vet with a nutritional background that will custom make your dog and cat food, either raw or gently cooked. All organic, all free range or grass fed. They sell lamb and beef tripe, turkey necks, marrow bones, etc. My two are on a mix of raw diet, kibble, canned food, and cooked foods. Hence my calorie thing. I mix up their diet all the time.)

[Rusty T]

Not to be confused with Turkey Neck Sundays or Green Tripe Wednesdays.

[Rusty T]

Every other Friday at our house is “Fish Fridays.” I give canned wild caught Alaskan Salmon, sardines or very very very occasionally tuna (packed in water). I generally don’t mix it with kibble. It’s the evening meal. There’s the whole mercury thing that you have to be careful of. Just count the calorie content for whatever combination you are doing and substitute that to equal the same for the usual calories for the evening meal. My Siberian husky/GSD mix is wild for canned fish, but won’t it the kibbles that use fish as the base.

[Rusty T]

I have a stray cat that someone threw in my back yard 10 plus years ago. He had three surgeries for blockage, over a two year period. And yes we had him on prescription cat food. The time between the last two blockages was exactly one week. My vet FINALLY gave me a heads up on a procedure known as a perineal urethrostomy. (Why they didn’t mention this with the first blockage is beyond me.) Yes it was expensive, but the cat has been blockage free for 5 plus years. Maybe there is something out there for your female dog that no one has bothered to mention. Yes the perineal urethrostomy (essentially my male cat had a sex change) was expensive, but when I add up the cost of three emergency surgeries, prescription cat food, vet visits for monitoring, and the pain and stress that the cat went through, the surgery was a cost saver.

[Rusty T]

Krista:

I tend to feed kibble in the morning, and kibble with a Topper at night. (I use I and Love and You Nude for the kibble and Holistic Selects Grain Free Canned Food.) I generally also sub out sometimes with left over veggies, or fresh meat. Last Saturday they got kibble mixed with beef tripe that I picked up for them. Monday, I threw in a can of sardines with the kibble. I have a bag of raw turkey necks in the freezer that I hand out from time to time. I generally boil a couple of extra eggs every week, and toss them in for the evening meal. I roast a chicken generally once a week and cut out the backbone before I roast the chicken, and feed the raw backbone to them. (My chicken cooks faster and more evenly if I butterfly it.) We keep a container in the fridge where we throw left over veggies from dinner that are big enough portions for a meal to toss in their kibble. But nothing with garlic in it.

[Rusty T]

I could not get my dogs to eat the Orijen, but I introduced them to it after they switched to the Kentucky Plant. Prior to that, mine were on Blue Buffalo Rocky Mountain Wilderness Red Meat Formula for Large Breed Dogs. I tried different five star brands, but our German Shepard / Husky mix refused everything. (He grew up on the Blue Buffalo, because that was the only thing our Lab, who has since passed would eat.) I’d give up for a while, and then try again. I tried every flavor of the Orijen, and he just looked at me like I was nuts. He’d eat it only in the evening meal when I mixed it with a half can of the Holistic Selects Meat Pate, and even then he wasn’t crazy about it. Then I tried I And Love And You Nude (not the Naked Essentials). He took to it right away. It is grain free and you can buy it on Chewy. Of course our other dog, a rescured German Shepard will eat anything.

Both dogs have been on the I and Love and You Nude for 3 months now, and they are thriving.

[Rusty T]

Alyss:

You might want to read this.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/evr_dg_focusing_on_protein_in_the_diet

[Rusty T]

Mine aren’t working dogs, but they are incredibly active. They run like crazy on a fenced seven acre private dog park, go hiking with me, and are constantly wrestling around in the backyard. I look for food with no grain, high in protein, real meats, no artificial colors, etc. We feed them dry kibble in the morning, and kibble mixed with a high quality wet food in the evening. On Fridays the evening meal is replaced with fresh fish. Once a week they are fed raw food for the evening meal.

Both dogs are two years old and both are high energy with soft shiny coats. It’s the same diet I had my lab on, and until he got bone marrow cancer, he never had a single health issue. I figure for what I spend on food, I save on vet bills. I don’t skimp on my family’s food and the dogs are a part of our family.

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