(Our freezer for dog food)
Nutrition of the dogs and puppies in my care is an important part of my breeding/raising puppies program and I encourage all new puppy families to think through this serious matter when making these choices in their own homes.
Our puppies are fed TLC puppy food. and the serving size is 1/3 - 1/2 c. three times daily.
The adult dogs are fed a raw meal that I prepare twice a month in batches and freeze or buy from Bone Appetit (boneappetitrawdogfood.com) or from WAzzuOR which is a raw food co-op for Washington and Oregon families. I feed my dogs a raw meal and a kibble meal (TLC brand) daily. They also get a NuVet vitamin and meat bones from the local butcher. (The B.A.R.F. diet by Ian Billinghurst is where I first got inspiration in feeding the adult dogs a raw diet. On YouTube, The Canine Classroom-BARF, for videos or a great website is dogaware.com)
Bone Appetit is a pre-packaged balanced raw dog food at human grade quality. I feed goat milk (when goat milk is available or thawed from frozen) or Foster Care puppy formula (from revivalanimalhealth.com) to the puppies when weaning them from their mama’s milk and incorporate TLC puppy food. The puppies are primarily on kibble when they go to their new homes. Many families continue their puppy on TLC food with raw or real food as treats. Puppies do not need to continue with goat milk or puppy formula after 7 weeks old. I encourage you to read about the different ideas out there on dog nutrition. I don’t think that I have found the only or best way to feed but I am very interested in the topic and have decided to take the “middle ground” by giving both raw and kibble meals to my grown dogs.
NuVet Plus vitamins are a high standard quality product to insure a healthier puppy that I use and recommend.
Stocked up with Goat milk for 2020 (We used it all up!)
Growing puppies get goat milk starting at week 4
We are grateful for this year’s supply of healthy goat’s milk (frozen until ready to use) as a supplement for our puppies. (2021 update: We restock each year.) The mama dogs will still be nursing but goat milk helps the mamas with the growing puppies demand for more milk. Our mama dogs and the puppies all love goat milk! (Shout out to Becky who adopted Suzy-a Goldendoodle from us. Becky has supplied us with our wonderful goat milk and we are very grateful for the high quality.)
Gently heating up the goat milk on the stovetop.
Double Helix Farms-Becky’s top quality goat milk.
Double Helix Farms-Becky’s top quality goat milk.
Double Helix Farms-Becky’s top quality goat milk.
Double Helix Farms-Becky’s top quality goat milk.
Double Helix Farms-Becky’s top quality goat milk.
Raw goat milk is healthy for growing puppies!
Double Helix Farms-Becky’s top quality goat milk.
Raw goat milk is healthy for growing puppies!
Recommended Resource for puppy/dog “real” food
Picture of dog food ordered through WAzzuOR
WAzzuOR is a raw dog food co-op for anyone living in Washington or Oregon to be able to buy raw dog food in bulk to save money. They have a lot to offer and a low member fee.(WAzzuOR.com)
Cooked food for some meals
I have been making big batches of cooked food for my dogs second meal of the day because feeding all raw meals can get expensive. I alternate between dry kibble and home cooked meals as my schedule permits. There are many recipes online but they are not all of the same quality. I prefer to use recipes with equal parts cooked meat and alternative grains (couscous, quinoa or oatmeal). I add in mackerel or sardines for the EPA and DHA and bone meal, fermented veggies as well as fresh. (Wholesome cooked meals for dogs is a step up from kibble in my opinion but this is an area that’s often debated.) I recommend the documentary Pet Fooled (on Amazon Prime t.v.) I also switched to TLC dry food as I try to find a good kibble for the dogs/puppies.
I recommend the blog dignblog.wordpress.com for recipes under nutrition. There is other great information throughout the blog as well. Dog Aware.com for much information on dog health.
When looking at the many choices for commercial kibble, I wanted to go with the best ingredients as possible (quality meats first, animal fats, vitamins and minerals) while still being affordable. TLC has free delivery and they formulate their recipes with the high quality standard of no by-products, corn, wheat, fillers, artificial colors or flavors.
The company started in 1994 and have had no recalls.
Feeding time
My car filled with a raw dog food order, omega scrambled eggs with cheese for nursing mamas demand for extra nutrition and puppies drinking goat milk
Think “add ins” for healthier meals
Here are some of my go-to mix ins...
Low-sodium beef broth, cubed cheese, canned mackerel, whole fat-plain yogurt, hard boiled egg, goat milk kefir, canned pumpkin.
Healthy oils
We also use Wild Salmon oil and coconut oil frequently for added health benefits. A spoonful a day is an easy addition to mix in.
A large TLC puppy food order has arrived!
Let’s feed quality kibble and good vitamins to our pups!
Raw feeding ideas (there’s a wealth of info online:)
We sometimes run out of bulk raw meats from (WAzzuOR and other) co-ops and buy the big packages of hamburger and ground turkey from Costco. I repackage it into baggies and freeze them. Then by taking some out day by day as needed, it’s simple to give my dogs some meat which they very much appreciate! (You can also easily pick up raw beef liver at grocery stores and add it in 10 % ratio along with chicken wings. (Raw bones are good/cooked bones are NOT). I find raw beef liver in the frozen section at Fred Meyer or ask your grocery store butcher where to find it. If you want to try raw food when your puppy is older or not at all, that’s fine too! An interesting book is Give Your Dog a Bone by Ian Billinghurst.
Training puppies
Puppy Culture gave me the idea to use these fruit pouches as training treats for puppies...just squeeze a little bit into puppy’s mouth. You can also get the single serving cream cheese pouches to use in the same way. Yes, applesauce and mango are great for puppies!
Comment from Micheal who adopted Brynlee in ‘21
The documentary he refers to is "Petfooled"on Netflix.
Danell with Finley (Love My Puppies Goldendoodle) and their family.