Who uses ruff greens or dinovite?

[krismoriah72]

I listen to talk radio while im driving and i hear alot of ads on ruffgreens and dinovite etc. I love my dogs but i just cant wrap my head around much of anything that makes sense in the dog food world.

If my dogs were allowed to be themselves without my help, i think they would hunt small game, and eat whatever dead stuff they could find.

I see people buying either the cheapest cheapo dry dog food, and i see people buying cases of canned dog food. And i know some people cook for their dogs. I think on Bob and Tom i heard where Tom feeds his green beans.

Also im curious about tapwater. For those of us that do not drink their own tapwater do you give it to your dogs? If you wont drink it..why do you give it to them?

I personally feed mine mostly chicken.. and occasionally hamburger. I feel as if those are things that would likely happen in nature. I cook it though... whereas they would eat it raw or rotten.. i guess i never really feel good about giving them raw meat. I buy gallons of distilled water.. even though they would drink out of a mudhole. I do see them eating grass on rare occasions.. my thoughts are that its how they deal with constipation...not for lack of nutrients but i could be wrong.

Obviously humans have had dogs as companions for many years...way way before dog food was invented..im guessing that they fed theirs wild game? Did they cook the meat or give them the carcass raw?

So what do you do? Boutique dog foods? Ol' Roy? Supplements? Cook for them? Why not raw meat? Do they need greens or grains?

My personal take is that if i was a dog that only got Ol Roy and tap water...ruffgreens and dinovite would taste great..and i would probably be happier and healthier. As the ads state.

 

[wpod]

When I was 18 I got my first Dog of my own a Dalmatian and the vet was into nutrition of the animals so he recommended certail premium foods and the same with our horses. good hay , healthy horses. My daughter has a $100,000.00 horse and she is incredibally picky on the hay she feeds the horse. Animals and people eating healthy foods seem to accpmpanied with good genetics seem to be healthyier. Carbs bad !

 

[Pew]

My GF buys the expensive Redford dry food for her 2 dogs and 1 cat. Very rarely do they get small pieces of table food or wet food. She does notice a big difference with them for her cat's fur and her dog's farts though.

 

[UncleDave]

When they are young we feed them a premium kibble, as they get to about 12-13 and up their teeth start to go or get cracked we cook a veggie/ turkey combo for them that you would be comfortable feeding your kids.

City/Well water works for us and them.

 

[AZjeff]

You should read the book "Give Your Dog A Bone" by Dr. Ian Billinghurst. It was the start of the natural/raw diet movement for dogs. Lots to think about and consider. The author's idea that perfectly nutritionally balanced kibble is unnatural and harmful makes sense when you read his thoughts and experience. We tried giving our dogs raw bones to eat and chew on and it's just too messy not to mention expensive and hard to find. If you had a real butcher nearby it would be much easier. Our dogs' diet is a premium kibble from PetSmart with vegetables, fruit, and protein. We tried a no kibble diet and it's expensive with two 50 lb dogs. I'd give the dogs raw meat but wife won't allow it. Like you said, they'd hunt, kill, and eat small animals whole if they could.

 

[wpod]

My GF buys the expensive Redford dry food for her 2 dogs and 1 cat. Very rarely do they get small pieces of table food or wet food. She does notice a big difference with them for her cat's fur and her dog's farts though.

Dog farts are mostly from grain in the food.

 

[pbm]

I feed our dog regular dry dog food with some can food (or a little of our food) added. I won't feed dry food that uses corn as the main ingredient which would include most of the supermarket brands like Purina Dog Chow, Kibbles n bits. etc....I feed dry food that has beef, chicken or turkey as the first (main) ingredient. These higher quality dry foods can be found at Costco (Kirkland), Tractor Supply (4Health or Diamond Naturals) etc..for not much more than corn based feeds at the supermarket...Purina ONE is a supermarket food that is high quality.

I look at Dogfoodadvisor.com and stick to the 4 and 5 star rated dry foods...

 

[krismoriah72]

You should read the book "Give Your Dog A Bone" by Dr. Ian Billinghurst. It was the start of the natural/raw diet movement for dogs. Lots to think about and consider. The author's idea that perfectly nutritionally balanced kibble is unnatural and harmful makes sense when you read his thoughts and experience. We tried giving our dogs raw bones to eat and chew on and it's just too messy not to mention expensive and hard to find. If you had a real butcher nearby it would be much easier. Our dogs' diet is a premium kibble from PetSmart with vegetables, fruit, and protein. We tried a no kibble diet and it's expensive with two 50 lb dogs. I'd give the dogs raw meat but wife won't allow it. Like you said, they'd hunt, kill, and eat small animals whole if they could.

My Krogers have started carrying bags of sawn bones in the frozen section. I think they are $5/lb Has marrow and a little meat left on the bone.. my dogs enjoy it but cannot penetrate the hard cattle femurs. I think natures way is to let it rot and break down so that they can break them down..which is tough in the house. I take a hammer to them and that way they can get the marrow and lick the bone til they get worn out.

 

[2005jettatdi]

Our dog is getting old, over 14. Eating dry dog good hurts, so we started buying canned food. More recently we have made our own, basically 1/3 cooked pork, 1/3 cooked rice and 1/3 cooked broccoli and other vegetables. He likes it and it has to be healthier than anything at the stores. We discovered decades ago that uncooked corn just goes right through cats and dogs and cooked yellow corn is not much better. Corn is not good food for humans or pets. BTW, he does like to eat a raw rabbit on the rare occasions he can catch one.

 

[Ed_Flecko]

Ruff Greens and Dinovite is probably better than nothing, but I would guess they're either "feed grade" (in the case of Ruff Greens) or synthetic vitamins (in the case of Dinovite). Just like you, if you can give your dog fresh foods (meats, vegetables and fruits), they'll get all of the vitamins and minerals they'll need...and they will be SO much healthier.

Most commercial dog "food" is flash baked (i.e. "extruded"), is typically made from what's known as "feed grade" food (which is simply "food grade" waste deemed unfit for humans consumption), which likely contains genetically modified ingredients, which *may* include such ingredients as dead, dying, disabled, or diseased (i.e., "4-D" animals, i.e, meat from dead, dying, diseased, and/or disabled animals - https://bit.ly/3iO8zxi and https://bit.ly/3apVXaS NOTE: Fortunately, the FDA seems to have changed their policy on allowing such materials in the manufacture of pet foods) animals, and *may* include sodium pentobarbital that's routinely used to euthanize companion animals by FDA admission (https://bit.ly/30ifdp5) and is allowed to be contaminated with rodent, roach, or bird excreta (https://bit.ly/30ifus7) even though the FDA itself acknowledges are "vectors for microorganisms deleterious to the health of animals, including such things as parasite eggs, salmonella, leptospira, or other pathogenic organisms" and despite “The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) requires that all animal foods, like human foods, be safe to eat, produced under sanitary conditions, contain no harmful substances, and be truthfully labeled.” - https://bit.ly/3mHFEfd .

Just something to think about.

Ed

 

[dlundblad]

I tried Ruff Greens for our senior GSD. He didn’t like it.

 

[AZjeff]

Our dog is getting old, over 14. Eating dry dog good hurts, so we started buying canned food. More recently we have made our own, basically 1/3 cooked pork, 1/3 cooked rice and 1/3 cooked broccoli and other vegetables. He likes it and it has to be healthier than anything at the stores. We discovered decades ago that uncooked corn just goes right through cats and dogs and cooked yellow corn is not much better. Corn is not good food for humans or pets. BTW, he does like to eat a raw rabbit on the rare occasions he can catch one.

You bring up 2 good points. Raw whole veggies are hard to impossible for dogs to digest. I grind up a cup of frozen veggies in a small food processor and put that in the dishes with other things. Also you dog eats rabbits whole probably, hair, bones, flesh, guts, etc. That's one of the things brought up in that book I referenced, the author advocates feeding raw chicken, skin, bones and all. Kinda freaks me out, always hearing about not giving dogs chicken bones but apparently raw bones don't splinter. I'd try it but wife says absolutely no way. Chicken hearts/livers/gizzards are inexpensive when you can find them. They love an egg cracked into their food.