Since he was a tiddler, our Border Terrier was fed on complete - Hills then Natures Best. He never was very much into food, sometimes I'd put a bowl down in the morning and he would sniff, walk away and come back again a few hours later. He is now almost 18mths, and following illness over Christmas we've changed his diet completeley. He had a very upset tummy, vomiting bile/froth, but no problem the other end at all. It was the second case he'd had and the vet treated him for a month, guessing it was an ulcer or similar. Anyway, he is now fine, but during the week when he was really ill, he wouldn't eat at all. In the end we gave him anything, just happy to see him eat. This mainly consisted of potato, rice etc. Well, now he is almost veggie - I'm forever cooking spuds, swede, broccoli, parsnips - he'll eat any veg except cabbage !. I'm mixing it with tinned food (one tin lasting 3 meals). He his loving his food now and it's wonderful to see. I'm just worried that he isn't having enough meat. Can anybody advise me please. Can he have too much veg ?. I've cut down on peas and sweetcorn (his two favourites !) as I was told they are higher in calories.
Thank you for your help.
Val.

Dogs are carnivores by nature although it is possible for them to obtain nutrition from other sources.  What they DO require is all the essential amino acids which can only be provided by "complete" proteins which, apart from soya, are animal based.  Lack of the vital amino acids will result in ill health of your dog.

Whilst a little veg is fine there can be problems with feeding too much of certain vegetables.  For example onions are toxic to dogs causing a type of haemolytic anaemia, too many cruciferous vegetables can inhibit thyroid function, those high in oxalic acid can inhibit calcium absorption and those of the nightshade family aggravate arthritic conditions.  Added to this a large vegetable intake will provide a huge amount of fibre which can again interfere with nutrient absorption.  Sweetcorn, peas and carrots are also very sugary.

If you want to cook a home made diet it is essential that you understand what, how and why to feed to ensure the long term health of your dog.  Dr Pitcairns complete guide to natural health for your dog would be one book to look at. Another one would be Wendy Volhard's Book.  Both of these are based around grains with meat and will give you the background information that you need.

HTH

That was brilliant an excellent read.  Ive alway been concerned about Vegetarians not feeding their dogs meat. But now I see that it is a problem.  My dog has eaten raw meat when he stole it off the worktop but he was sick straight afterwards.  So I always a little cautious of feeding raw meat so I steam it for a little while. Just so it hold some goodness in the meat.

Emma

The problem was probably that he swallowed it whole and so brought it up again. This was what my eldest dog did when I gave him raw chicken wings the first time :) I started again just giving him one small piece of chicken breast at a time. Sometimes they find the texture of raw meat a bit strange at first :)

Daisy

Thank you for that. When I told the vet that he's enjoying his food now he did say that it is important for him to have meat, I just don't really know how much. I'll certainly look at the books you recommended as I do appreciate that what he loves eating now may not be best for him in the long term.

Thank you

Val

Hi Val,

If you search the web you will find lots of recipes for homemade dog food.

A basic recipe is approximately 2/3 protein (red meat, chicken, fish, or egg), slightly less than 1/3 grain (brown rice or oats) and some vegetables (about 10%) (any kind really, but no onions).  Carrots are great, peas are too. Suggest varying the vegetables.  I would also suggest a very good quality pet multivitamin (like Pettabs) which will make sure you are not missing anything, especially calcium (with phosphorous). 

If you are in the UK you might also want to try Naturediet, which is very close to the above recipe.

Stacey

I'm a vegetarian but my dogs aren't so they get organic meat. I do not eat animals from choice my dogs aren't able to make that choice

I don't want him to be vegetarian, he just happens to love vegetables !. I'm just concerned that he doesn't have enough meat.

Val

Vegetarians will often feed a veggie food to their dogs however this is generally based on soya in order to provide the essential amino acids needed.  The trouble with soya is that it is not a particularly dog friendly food.  Apart from the fact that many dogs are allergic to it, it binds up other nutrients making them unavailable to the dog and can be a prime trigger of gas.

Can't you mix some complete in with the veg etc and gradually wean him off and back onto complete dry food?  Perhaps scent it with a tinge of sardines/pilchards/tuna etc?  Or look into feeding the barf diet?

Stacey x x x