Food for a springer

ronn

I’ve a 5 month old springer, I’m currently feeding him a mother & puppy dry nut, small amounts twice a day, I’m thinking of adding a small tin of tuna to his feed one night a week(Sunday), any thoughts/suggestions or tips on this would be a great help,
Thanks

cavan shooter

I would routinely feed sardines and they love it. Be carful that you feed only oil based products and not brine. You can also buy fish oil and pour a spoonful over their kibble

meathstevie

A bit of beef heart goes down a treat as well. A serious amount of lean good meat for a few euro a pop. Cut it up and freeze it in portions.

123shooter

Fresh cooked chicken (no bones). Minced beef raw or cooked. Sardines in oil or tomato sauce. Tuna in oil. Mackeral. Boiled eggs mashed with shell. Anything natural like that............together with just a small amount of mixer nuts/biscuits.

Never feed bones, onion, garlic, chocolate..............these are bad for dogs.

ronn

Thanks all for you’re tips, do you cook the meat(heart) or feed in raw, would you reckon one night a week is enough to add something to the nuts at the moment and up it slightly when he’s working,??

123shooter

I feed my dogs cooked meat or tinned fish every day with just a small amount of mixer and a bonio. When I can I will give them a boiled egg in shell every day as well but got no hens at present.

Never give them tinned dog food or just feed them nuts.

ronn

Never give them tinned dog food or just feed them nuts.[/quote]

Are ya saying you put something in with there nuts everyday, you never feed them nuts on there own,

123shooter

I am one of those people who believes natural food is best and nuts/biscuits are made from wheat and other things.

Dogs eat basically meat and vegetation. They need calcium which they can get from the nuts/biscuits, egg shells, cheese milk, but they need meat and protein.

So with my now 3, I cook 3 large chickens and take meat of bones and give them that with few handfuls of plain mixer/nuts/biscuits...........usually lasts the week....15.00 euro.......this main meal.

Give them a bonio for breaky and boiled egg in shell mashed for dinner or another bonio.

Give them tesco mincemeat 1kg makes 5 meals raw or cooked cost 4.00 euro and a tin of sardines in oil .49cents each at other times when no chicken all with nuts/biscuits plain mixer.

All this cost no more than buying good tinned food or the expensive full meal nuts.

They might get the odd boiled spud or chip off our plates as well.

As a pup always gave my dogs porridge and milk or cooked spuds and milk until they were big enough to crunch stuff.

Rows Grower

123shooter wrote: »

Fresh cooked chicken (no bones). Minced beef raw or cooked. Sardines in oil or tomato sauce. Tuna in oil. Mackeral. Boiled eggs mashed with shell. Anything natural like that............together with just a small amount of mixer nuts/biscuits.

Never feed bones, onion, garlic, chocolate..............these are bad for dogs.

Never feed bones, they are bad for dogs?

Chicken bones can potentially be harmful, but what is the issue with lamb, venison or beef bones?

123shooter

Rows Grower wrote: »

Never feed bones, they are bad for dogs?

Chicken bones can potentially be harmful, but what is the issue with lamb, venison or beef bones?

Cooked bones of any animal are brittle and will shatter into sharp pieces then stick in the guts piecing them and costing you an almighty vet bill and your dog pain or even death.

Raw bones are ok but can still cause problems by breaking teeth, getting stuck in teeth or throat or stomach. Those big thigh bones which they gnaw on could be ok as the dog isn't powerful enough to break them.

ronn

What times dinner at, I might pop up,
Thanks all

123shooter

ronn wrote: »

What times dinner at, I might pop up,
Thanks all

Around 6 o'clock but I dont fancy your chances of getting any nosh.........they would have your arm off.

Rows Grower

123shooter wrote: »

Cooked bones of any animal are brittle and will shatter into sharp pieces then stick in the guts piecing them and costing you an almighty vet bill and your dog pain or even death.

Raw bones are ok but can still cause problems by breaking teeth, getting stuck in teeth or throat or stomach. Those big thigh bones which they gnaw on could be ok as the dog isn't powerful enough to break them.

I don't agree with you but it's not because you seem to lack belief in your points!

I've never had an issue and have been feeding bones to my dogs over many decades.

Tikka391

Hey lads,
I have fed my dogs top quality food for free for years now.
I have an arrangement with my local butcher, he separates all his trimmings, stripped carcasses, and unsold produce. He keeps all the other waste (paper, plastic, twine )separate.
It’s really great stuff, always a good mix of meat.
I get it home and bag it up into daily sized portions and freeze, feed one and take the next days out to thaw. I get about half a black bag or a little more p/w, with 3 springers it works well.
I feed it all raw. As in cooked bones crush up when chewed and cooked boned crack and splinter. I don’t know why but the amount of droppings has gone down by 75% I’d say.
The dogs are bursting.
Bets part it’s free, it saves him fees on waste disposal, and I get him a nice Xmas drink.
Now some weeks depending on what he gets in there can be a lot of fat or other in wanted trimmings, but this isn’t wasted either, I bag it up in portions freeze it and use it for fox bait stations. Through the year.

123shooter

Rows Grower wrote: »

I don't agree with you but it's not because you seem to lack belief in your points!

I've never had an issue and have been feeding bones to my dogs over many decades.

Thats ok. My info comes from vet, my own dog being sick on raw lamb bones and what I read on the interweb when cooking bones and what happens to cooked bones.

I just try to be safe.............on this point. My other dogs loved indian curries and had loads of left overs. They lived to be ripe old ages except for one who died in an operation. But I am told by all vets that onion and garlic is very bad for dogs.

So you can only judge for yourself.

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

Dubs1990

Raw all the way , for a springer it won't be to expensive at all , I have a 35kg dog and it costs me 50 euro a month for 900g of meat a day , he gets chicken , duck , Turkey mince , any raw bone especially fatty meat on the bone it's a dogs fuel , salmon heads (free) just make sue you freeze them for about a week , I add porridge in just to bulk it up but there's no real need. You can pick up frozen bags of sardines in most fish mongers. I'll pm you a site to read up on.

electrichunter

Dubs1990 wrote: »

Raw all the way , for a springer it won't be to expensive at all , I have a 35kg dog and it costs me 50 euro a month for 900g of meat a day , he gets chicken , duck , Turkey mince , any raw bone especially fatty meat on the bone it's a dogs fuel , salmon heads (free) just make sue you freeze them for about a week , I add porridge in just to bulk it up but there's no real need. You can pick up frozen bags of sardines in most fish mongers. I'll pm you a site to read up on.

send me on link please also , thanks

ronn

My dog is coming up on 10months and I’m down to a half bag of mother n puppy nut, I was thinking of starting to mix in some red mills engage(adult)with his puppy nut, is it too soon to start adding that in, red mills do a mother and pup also, should I start with that then progress Up to the adult nut in a few months,??
Any info and tips appreciated,

Springwell

Ten months is fine to switch - just mix it in slowly. The Engage duck and rice or Salmon and rice are much better feeds than the chicken or beef varieties (i.e. they're not filled with grain fillers)

Rows Grower

ronn wrote: »

My dog is coming up on 10months and I’m down to a half bag of mother n puppy nut, I was thinking of starting to mix in some red mills engage(adult)with his puppy nut, is it too soon to start adding that in, red mills do a mother and pup also, should I start with that then progress Up to the adult nut in a few months,??
Any info and tips appreciated,

Give the dog a bone.

ronn

Rows Grower wrote: »

Give the dog a bone.

?

Rows Grower

ronn wrote: »

?

It was a tip, I got the impression from your post that the dog has being eating nothing else but nuts.

ronn

Rows Grower wrote: »

It was a tip, I got the impression from your post that the dog has being eating nothing else but nuts.

I thought you were taking the wee wee, I give him tuna, chicken, but mainly nuts,

gooner99

I was told that you shouldn't feed your dog sardines in oil or tomato sauce and that you should only feed them sardines in brine. But in this thread it's said the other way around?

ronn

gooner99 wrote: »

I was told that you shouldn't feed your dog sardines in oil or tomato sauce and that you should only feed them sardines in brine. But in this thread it's said the other way around?

The brine is salty,

transit260

i feed the dogs all raw,chicken mince,beef mince ,beef hearts ,sardines 4 times a week,plus goat meat when I shoot a billy or unsuitable table animal..if you read this piece it explains it all

http://www.barfworld.com/html/barf_diet/barfdiet_benefits.shtml

Eddie B

transit260 wrote: »

i feed the dogs all raw,chicken mince,beef mince ,beef hearts ,sardines 4 times a week,plus goat meat when I shoot a billy or unsuitable table animal..if you read this piece it explains it all

http://www.barfworld.com/html/barf_diet/barfdiet_benefits.shtml

Yep spot on. Most comercial dog foods are pure shi*e

garv123

I've started giving my lab and springer pups (10 & 8 months) on a tin of sardines in tomato with their nuts after reading this thread.

A whopping 34c per tin in aldi.

transit260

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD4TyezvUks

this man is spot on...and cuts through the ****e

Tommyaya4

I vary their diet during the week dry food as a mixer only during the week they get sardine or mackerel in sunflower oil duck eggs twice a week off cuts of venison and once a week they don’t get feed at all once a week I mix a little turmeric fish oil and milky water to the nuts

Eddie B

transit260 wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD4TyezvUks

this man is spot on...and cuts through the ****e

Interesting about the bone. Thats something i need to include more often.