Do you give your dogs people food? (shepherd, bite, poop)

[WaaayUpNorth]

I am thinking of maybe trying Talon on a homemade diet, at least part of the time. Right now she eats just her store bought kibble, and occasionally she will have a "people food" treat like one of my kids extra fish sticks, or today she had a piece of my banana. It's weird because she seems to do better on the cheaper brand dog foods...solid stools, no issues etc. We decided to try her on Pedigree large breed food and ever since she has been on it she has had loose stools at least half the time and a lot of times they are a weird color (like orange or green mainly). I saw part of a show when we were at the animal shelter recently about dogs getting home cooked diets, the people had beagles and gave them a mix of meat/rice/peas. I was wondering if I could try something like this with Talon. I probably wouldn't cook ALL her meals but it might be a nice change for her sometimes. I figured, some people give their dogs table scraps all the time, so it probably couldn't hurt. Just wondering what other people do, as far as giving their dogs home cooked food or scraps.

[DawnMTL]

I'll tell you why Talon probably has loose, odd-colored stools. Because, truthfully, Pedigree Large Breed dog food is crappy food. The first ingredient -- the FIRST!!! -- is corn. Dogs can't digest corn.

I'd suggest that you get her on a GOOD dog food, one that has MEAT as the first ingredient.

I know that there was a recall recently, but Artie eats Taste of the Wild, bison/venison flavor. He does NOT get people food (except for the chicken and hamburgers that I make for him because he's spoiled rotten) but his dog food is a good one.

My suggestion, again, is that you switch Talon to a good food. Look at the ingredients. Make sure that the first ingredient is meat. (And make sure that it's not a meat BY-PRODUCT. Make sure that it's the meat or meat meal, which is simply processed meat.)

ETA: Loose poops can cause other issues, like filled anal sacs which can't be expressed on their own because the poops aren't hard enough.

[robertpolyglot]

We did. Our Australian Shepherd loved to be near the table at dinner time. She looked at us with those "hungry eyes," so we caved in and would give her small pieces of steak and some strands of pasta. She ate her regular dog food, too. She lived to be 12.5, but what took her down was hip dysplasia, a common ailment in herding dogs.

[pekemom]

We feed Caesar Wellness small breed dry dog food but he also gets some of our food, mostly meat.

[foxywench]

agree 100% pedigree is only 1 step sideways from ole-roy..and in all trhuth, eukanuba, science diet, purnia ect are no better despite thier good marketing. read the bags, dogs are carnivores...(and NOTHIGN not even chickens can properly digest corn and soy) first ingredient should be meat or meat meal, there should be NO corn, (and preferbaly no soy or wheat) rice, barley, potatoe or sweet potatoe are realy the only "good" choices when it comes to grain BUT dogs dont NEED grain.

that being said my opinion on "home cooked" if your gogint to go this route you might as well just jump right in and feed raw...cause quite frankly its better for them.
the problem with home cooked...
1: its usually mostly rice/grain (ie otameal) and veggies...when in reality it shoudl be ALL meat with mabe some veggies if you cant feed green tripe) its increidbly difficult to get a home cooked diet "balanced" theres no calcium to balance out the phosphorus from the meat, and unless your feeding all kinds of meat sources your missing out a whole slew of digestable vits/minerals oils ect (dogs dont digest vegatable matter like we do either and by the time you finnihs cooking veggies theres little if any nutrients left anyway, any vegatbale matter should be Raw and then blended to a mush/veggie pudding texture. (dogs only naturally eat greens for the most part, in the form of raw pre-digested greens in the prey animals intestine)
so in order to make home cooked "balanced" yo end up having to add all kinds of fish oil and kelp tablets and a multi vit ect.

honestly, id "go raw" or "go premium" grain free is best but there are some great foods out there with no corn, no soy and no wheet and meat as the first ingredient and while they seem more expensive per bag, she will actually need to eat LESS to get the same amount of nutrition which means you feed less have smaller poops ect.

[WaaayUpNorth]

Originally Posted by foxywench

agree 100% pedigree is only 1 step sideways from ole-roy..and in all trhuth, eukanuba, science diet, purnia ect are no better despite thier good marketing. read the bags, dogs are carnivores...(and NOTHIGN not even chickens can properly digest corn and soy) first ingredient should be meat or meat meal, there should be NO corn, (and preferbaly no soy or wheat) rice, barley, potatoe or sweet potatoe are realy the only "good" choices when it comes to grain BUT dogs dont NEED grain.

Wow, so after reading this I just did a quick search on corn in dog food and found out the majority of dog food has corn as the main ingredient. If corn is bad for dogs, why the heck are they even allowed to put it in all these common dog foods? Obviously the companies are using it because it is cheap. I guess I always thought the "better" brands were better for your dogs, therefore why they are more expensive. In reality I guess they are all the same, regardless of brand, if their ingredients are the same. I definitely will not be buying this dog food again, just for the sole fact that it is obviously upsetting Talon's digestion.

[Cavaturaccioli]

We give my dog finely chopped rotisserie chicken and brown rice. Sometimes we add a little sweet potato. She tolerates it well and loves it.

[steelstress]

I favor a raw diet. If you don't want to go that route, you can check out Natual Balance L.I.D. (limited ingredient diet) dry food. I'd also mix it in with canned food. That's what I give to my fosters. My own dogs eat raw.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by WaaayUpNorth

Wow, so after reading this I just did a quick search on corn in dog food and found out the majority of dog food has corn as the main ingredient. If corn is bad for dogs, why the heck are they even allowed to put it in all these common dog foods? Obviously the companies are using it because it is cheap. I guess I always thought the "better" brands were better for your dogs, therefore why they are more expensive. In reality I guess they are all the same, regardless of brand, if their ingredients are the same. I definitely will not be buying this dog food again, just for the sole fact that it is obviously upsetting Talon's digestion.

It took me years -- YEARS! -- to find out what was bothering Artie's tummy. Even the vet couldn't figure out why his poop was always soft. It was these good people on this forum who taught me about grain-free food. I swear to you that, aside from a few mishaps (my fault -- I fed him stuff that he shouldn't have had), since switching Artie to grain-free food, his poops have been firm and fabulous! (That sounds like a workout slogan -- firm and fabulous!)

Seriously, grain-free, meat as the first ingredient, made a WORLD of difference with Artie's poops, digestion, and overall tummy woes.

The people on this forum made my dog's stomach (and me!) happy.

[Dogmama50]

My dogs eat a premium kibble, but they do get people food. Things like pineapple, apples, carrots, radishes, yogurt, etc... They also get a bite from dinner, fish, tofu, chicken, veggies, we eat healthy and I don't mind sharing as long as it's safe for them to have.