[Travis A]

Ok well they are at a healthy weight right now, they don’t get a whole lot of exercise so may need to increase that but alright, thank you all for the helpful information i appreciate it very much, yall have a blessed day.

[Travis A]

Are there any precautions I should be taking as far as diet and exercise go?

[Travis A]

haha oh ok I understand, But on a more serious note- what kind of complications can arise from my boys being neutered too early?

[Travis A]

ha wow i’m trying to say male siblings the definition for that.. opposite of sister and it edit’s it out what’s up with that? I promise i’m not cursing haha.

[Travis A]

Hmm on my last statement i just said litter brothers and the word “brothers” was edited out??

[Travis A]

Thanks for all the info, and @ akari, I assume them to be a mixture a few breeds, i got them from a questionable source so could be anything. They are litter brothers and IMO neutered too early as i got them about maybe 4-5 weeks they were pretty small and they were already neutered and healing up which the vet said looked good but may have been too early, what problems can be associated with doing that too early? One of the boys has a coarse redish/brown Shepherd coat and the lighter one is a fawnish softer Lab type coat slightly longer but both have longer coats than a pit or boxer. Their snouts are kind of dark but not to the extent of a boxer and they don’t have the short boxer snout, but def pit mouth and jaws with the wrinkles in the cheeks so my guess would be pit/lab/shepherd/golden maybe idk, they do have webbed paws too and their eyes are a gold emerald color with kinda droopy ears but i’ll let ya know what the DNA test finds when i get one done.

[Travis A]

Ah i see, thank you. And i’m sure the higher quality food the less that is needed. They still won’t really want to eat the Rachael Ray stuff either, normally i’d get better food but $$ a little short at the moment. My boys are about 45-50 lbs right now at around 8-9 months old so i’m not 100% on how big they should be at this point for feeding. Like I mentioned they are mixed and what i was told was Pit/Boxer at first but they don’t really seem to have Boxer in them their snouts are much too long for that i think they are more Shepherd or Lab. Based on coat texture/color and the shape of the face and ears are fairly droopy. They do have the white underbelly and on their paws and their paws are webbed so maybe more lab than shepherd idk i’ll get a DNA test eventually to narrow it down but they will probably be around 70-80 lbs maybe by adulthood i would imagine.

[Travis A]

Well thank you I feed close to 4 lbs a day with just my 2 dogs. I give them 2 cups in the morning and 2 cups in the evening and they aren’t overweight at all in fact i feel they could put on some weight actually but I will keep a lookout for coupons and such, thanks again….. I’m wondering how you manage to feed only 2 lbs for 3 dogs when i feed around 4 lbs with my 2 dogs ha, granted they are pit/shepherd or lab mix so good sized dogs but maybe my measurements are off but aren’t about 2 cups in a Lb? I know it’s volume and weight so it doesn’t convert but it should be around 2 cups = 1 lb I think.

[Travis A]

Thank you for the helpful info I appreciate it, I’ll try some soft food to mix with it, I’ve done that before when i have it but they just recently started being picky about their kibble. I too am on a “the best i can afford” thought but my budget isn’t very high so i try to stick with the cheapest best quality i can find for my price range. But i’ll try to mix some things up, again thank you all for your information.

[Travis A]

No I havent heard of that, I’m a little hesitant with Purina anything though. But thank you for the advice I appreciate it. I just picked up a temp bag until I get paid again of the Rachel Ray stuff which i know isn’t the best but still better than Kibbles N’ Bits and my dogs still don’t eat it up, they will go for the Kibbles everytime though so idk but i gotta get them to eat some better food. They’ll eat the food i give them but it will take them a long time of picking at it here and there. I’d like to go raw but that’s expensive too and i don’t have the time to prep it all myself so idk what i’m going to try next but i appreciate the suggestions, thank you very much.

[Travis A]

Thank you all for your advice, i actually didn’t have my dogs on Kibbles n bits it was my roommates dogs so they just got a taste here and there because i knew it was crap food. Although our other Pit eats it and seems to be pretty healthy so idk but i will try and mix in some soft food or yogurt or something more tasty until i find a good replacement, i’ve tried Several brands such as Zach’s Quality dog food which i really like but it’s pricey to ship a 50 lb bag so they only had that once then it’s been, Authority, Simply Nourish, Ideal Balance, Wellness, Iams, Pure Balance, and Exclusive so they have had a variety of decent foods throughout i’m just trying to find a nice rotation of affordable food they will eat. I’m in OKC, OK so Victor isn’t around my area but i’ll look into yall’s suggestions, thanks again and god bless.

[Travis A]

Ok thank you very much, we did have some of the marrow fille bones you mention and they do like those quite a bit. I may hold off on the antlers till they are closer to a year or older, are Raw bones from a butcher the best for them or do they still pose a risk of splintering and bacteria and what not?

[Travis A]

Thank you for the advice I appreciate it, my boys are 8 months old right now but over 50 lbs could be over 60 idk i haven’t weighed them in a little while. The horns i was actually trying to look into as well, i’ve seen those around i thought they would be more likely to break into sharp pieces though. IDK i’m just not a big fan of what i hear on the bully sticks not to mention smell and any mess they leave of course i’m sure there are good and bad ones as such with all products. They currently have chewed on generic cheaper rib bones and regular bones, but honestly those were from the dollar store so i don”t want to continue with those. The rib bone actually is still going they seem to like the marrow in it so they chew it slower. I may try the horns or a sampler of the antlers, i’ll probably steer clear of the bullysticks for now though.

[Travis A]

I see i’ll have to give them a look, i was really curious about the Antlers i have read the preference is Elk Antlers and of good Grade and they are great for your dog supposedly but was hoping someone could clarify further with their experiences. With me having 2 growing big boys i don’t want to have to buy a new $20+ bone every other week so i liked the Antler idea and longevity of them from what i’ve read.

[Travis A]

Ha well thanks again for the assistance.

[Travis A]

Thank you are you a Victor Rep?? haha I will look into it I promise and let you know how they like it if I do try some out.

[Travis A]

Thank you for your suggestion, those at the moment however are a bit out of my price range for the time being. So I’m looking around for 4 star and above food for a good price I can afford, with that said my intention was really not to have this food for my dogs I just ran across it and didn’t find a review for it so with it being new and diff ingredients I figured I’d throw out a suggestion in case someone else was interested in the same thing. Also every dog is different so what works for your dogs may not work for mine, but I appreciate the advice, thanks again.

[Travis A]

Ok great thank you very much.

[Travis A]

I also was curious about another new product of the Purina Beyond: Adventure Grain Free Tuna and Egg as well, I see it on Target online but I couldn’t find a review other than their own site yet as it just came to selves June 2014 so I was interested in how good their Grain Free would be.

[Travis A]

Yea we actually have a special needs dog too so it is a bit challenging at times but still worth it in the end. But I haven’t looked into the Victor line-up yet but will do so for sure. That’s exactly what i was wanting to do is sub a grain free with a non grain free if it doesn’t affect them in a negative way with the switching, but i did want to get something like a neck or other raw treat more or less to add into their diets and see if they like it and do well with it. But with a larger breed dog i know i need to focus on Calcium consumption so how do i measure that, not all brands give that info on their products. Thank you all so much for the assistance as well i really appreciate it, i will upload some photos soon of my boys as well.

[Travis A]

Ok i will check those threads out in the Raw section, but I have 2 pit/(boxer/lab) mixes, I’m guesstimating the boxer/lab part as i took them off a friend’s relative who was in a bad spot so didn’t really have all the background info i wanted, she said pit/boxer but they are for sure pit/ either Lab/boxer mix or may just be lab their snouts are narrower and longer than our other pit. But they are in the middle of their 5th month and about 35-40 lbs. Also on the first bag i did feed our other pit some of the time too so that didn’t help in conserving but that was temp. Unfortunately my roomies don’t care what they feed their dogs so he gets stuck with the worst of the worst Purina Puppy Chow…. 🙁 They just don’t care to buy a better brand i give them plenty of info but still no changes. And i can’t afford the better food for 3 big dogs.

[Travis A]

Thank you all very much for the suggestions, and I understand affordable is relative to my means, so that 50 lb bag lasted right at a month for my 2 boys so all i spent was the $33 for that month on food which is pretty good for a decent food, i’m having a friend pick up another bag of the Zach’s in Lubbock,TX so that will save me on the shipping but it’s also not grain free and while my dogs seem to be ok with it, i’d prefer to use grainless food to prevent any issues. I will look into the victor brand though along with the other suggestions, thanks again for the assistance. I know it’s the wrong forum but i was also looking into some sort of Raw diet that won’t break the bank either, any starting place suggestions on that? And is it ok to start my 5 month old’s on it?

[Travis A]

Thank you very much i have heard that brand thrown around when looking for a bigger bag of quality, i’ll check it out. Any other brands you have had experience with that are grain free and not too expensive? Doesn’t have to be in a huge bag just wondering what brands i should look into.

[Travis A]

Thank you all very much for the advice i will stick to it and hopefully they will be quick learners. When should I attmept to walk them together? We also have 2 other dogs, 1, 8 month old pit who’s better and more used to walking and a young adult shepherd mix who is actually special needs so not the greatest walker either ha poor guy has cerebellar hypoplasia, he was a rescue dog but still manages fairly well.

[Travis A]

Yes i’m a fan of the game, their custom tags for a Bishop and Rook piece are in the works lol but I have them on a harness with the clip in the back so they can still pull on it, i suppose a clip in the front would make it harder for them to pull, but i use a short leash and have used those techniques you mentioned so hopefully they set in. I also hear to leave the leash on them in the house as well and to tire them out before walking, hopefully they will get used to it all fairlly quickly. But i’ll stick to those stratagies and see what happens, they really are just getting started on their leash so i expect some time is needed just wanted to make sure do it right ha, so thank you much for your advice I really appreciate your time and thoughts.

[Travis A]

Zach’s Quality Dog Food is $0.66/LB for their puppy food and their most expensive is still only $0.75/LB and their food is rated 4.5 stars on here and ingredients only have 3 red: Brewers dried yeast, beet pulp, and garlic. That’s the same with all their products. I currently have my 2 boys Pit/(boxer/lab) mixes and they love it and are doing well on it. I purchased their puppy product and it was $32.50 for 50lb bag. For a 4.5 even a 4 star food that’s unheard of, i did the research as it seemed questionable for that price but it all seems to check out as a good quality company and product. I have posted this brand recently on a few blogs but that’s because i do believe it to be a good quality kibble that’s extremely affordable and way cheaper than other comparable products at least in my recent findings, hope this helps.

[Travis A]

Cassandra, sorry to hear about your little one’s issues, I have recently discovered Zach’s Quality Dog Food out of Breckenridge, TX. On this site it is rated 4.5 stars, the cost at the most is $37.50 for a 50lb bag, which you cannot beat anywhere for a good quality food. I had to order mine online and took about 7 days to get here and i paid no shipping cost. My 2 pit/boxer/lab boys- i believe i am not 100% on the boxer/lab part but they are about 5 months and have been on it now for about 3 weeks and they eat all of it everytime, seem to not have any issues, stool is good, coat is good, and they are putting on weight at a healthy rate. I was too looking for a budget quality good and this seems to be the best deal i have came across, they have a direct site under their name so i would check it out along with the review on this site. Hope this helps.

[Travis A]

Well good deal hopefully if you try it out it won’t be too difficult to obtain. Yea same here i’m already about half way through my bag, although i was feeding some to our other pup too but i’m not the owner of the other 2 dogs living with me so i can’t really control what they want to feed him. It’s hard because i give the owners all the details and research i find on dog food and they simply don’t care enough, they love their dogs but just too lazy to actually find a good food for them. I’m working on persuading them though, mixing in some of my better food from time to time ha. But yea Zach’s is actually rated 4.5 on here, the only problem is it’s the ONLY review i could find that’s recent on the brand so I really will have to just let yall know how it turns out, so far they love the taste and no issues yet. I’ll keep yall posted though. Thanks for all the feedback as well.

[Travis A]

Also they should be carried at a lot of Costco’s, we don’t have any in Oklahoma so it wasn’t an option for me but if they are in your area you won’t have to worry about shipping costs.

[Travis A]

Yea the shipping was free i believe, upon check out they didn’t charge for it and they used Fed-Ex, although i had to email the owner Daniel Willis about getting a tracking number to see where my shipment was at, their website could use a few improvements in that regard but other than that i don’t think they charged for shipping as i didn’t ever see a charge on my statement so i assume they didn’t, I’m in Oklahoma and they are out of Breckenridge, TX so it wasn’t too far so not sure if there would be at a further location. But it really is a good deal they have 3 types to choose from at the moment and their Black Label Performance is the highest but still at $37.50 for 50lb bags, that’s all they sell are the big bags though. But i’d look into it if your looking to save money and still have quality food, might be a good rotation food to cut costs down in the long run.

[Travis A]

I will keep those in mind thank you very much for the tips, yea mine get a little jealous over attention but nothing too bad i actually think they like time apart so they can steal all the human attention ha. I will have to increase the variety to their diet with the extra canned foods as you mentioned. They seem to enjoy Zach’s so far and if you located in the south it’s fairly easy to have shipped to you from their direct site. The review here gives it 4.5 overall so for the price i was honestly skeptical if it was a scam or something but so far so good i would recommend it, not the top tier of foods per thee ingredients but far from a sub par food so i’m happy with it for now. Thanks again for all the advice.

[Travis A]

I will see about getting some on here, I can understand on the litter mates and raising 2 puppies is def more challenging, but mine are the same way they play and rough around a bit, not too much but we have 2 other dogs as well a 8-9 month old pit and young adult shep mix but has cerebellar hypoplasia so he is special needs and they all play with each other but i will def heed to the advice of seperating them as they get older i could see a toy or bone causing an issue at some point. Thanks for sharing yours as well, i would like to stick with a grain free for their next food, any suggestions that won’t break the bank? i do also mix up some soft wellness or blue buffalo food in their diet usually once a day and i’ll give them some eggs here and there along with some organic coconut oil as a topper, so i’ll for sure stick to a rotation of some kind.

[Travis A]

Thank you for your response here, I have seen the review and comments on there but seems to be riddled with the “troll” comments, so not sure how helpful it would be but i’ll see. And I have had them on Castor and Pollux, Wellness CORE grain free, then had to switch to cheaper temp food as i ordered the Zach’s so was waiting on that but I’ll go through the bag and then switch to something else afterward to help their tummies as you mentioned. Yes they are brothers, I’ll have to share pics at some point they are precious and a handful at times too ha, thanks again for the response.

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