Re: [pyrnet] Re: Supplements

["Tracy Bassett" <espinay@dynamite.com.au>]

Hi Bridget

<< What type of "raw" meat are you feeding your dogs?>>

I feed all sorts: Chicken wings/necks/backs, lamb necks/ribs, oxtail,
kangaroo tails, liver, heart, kidney etc etc.  All raw (NEVER feed cooked
bones).  If you want to learn more about this way of feeding, their are two
good books I could recommend for starters.  Ian Billinghurst's "Give your
Dog a Bone" or Kymythy Schultze's "Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats: The
Ultimate Diet".  Both can be found at www.dogwise.com .

I also run a list at www.egroups.com called BARFPyrs for Pyr owners who feed
or want to know more about feeding a raw, natural diet. BARF by the way
stands for 'Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods'.


<< Does it make them have the taste for blood?  I had a cat that I started
feeding raw meet and he decided to kill my birds when before he had not
really noticed them.  He was an inside cat that went out to potty.>>

Cats have very strong hunting instincts.  I think you may have found that he
would have started killing them anyway, whether you fed raw meat or not.
Remember that kibble is quite a new invention.  How do you think all those
working Pyrs guarding stock in the French Pyrenees actually did their job
successfully if raw meat had made them 'killers'?  Believe me, no farmer
would purposely keep a dog that was a stock killer.  This sort of thing has
everything to do with natural instinctual prey drive and nothing to do with
what they are fed.  Retrievers who are fed raw will still bring birds back
to the hand, Pyrs who guard sheep will still protect them, and dogs (and
other animals) with a strong prey drive will still excercise that drive by
chasing and killing if that is in their nature.


<<Bear is 11 mos., 88 - 93 lbs, @28" at the shoulder.  We feed him Nutro
Choice (I think that's what it is).  It has glucosamine and chondroitin in
it.  Is that a good brand of food?>>

I can't really comment on whether it is a good food or not.  Here is a
website that may help you determine that:
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/wolfepack/food.html

Of course (as most people know ;-) ), I am not really in favour of cooked,
rendered and processed foods.

The inclusion of glucosamine ect in commercial foods these days seems to be
a 'popular' thing to do.  I am not sure how useful it would actually be, as
you can not have any control over the quality or the quantity of the
supplement in the product.  How much of it would the dog actually be getting
in a meal?


<<I came back inside and found him looking like a big pumpkin!!!  As I was
washing him off I asked him if he was getting ready for Halloween.  I
couldn't resist.  The girls and I got a big laugh out of it!!!!  He was so
"orange.">>

Oh LOL, this is funny!  I can just imagine it :-/.

Tracy Bassett
Canberra, Australia
espinay@dynamite.com.au
visit my webpage at http://members.dynamite.com.au/espinay/index.htm