Author Topic: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)  (Read 4300 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« on: July 14, 2017, 10:41:41 AM »
I don't know what name he will use to sign-up, so I will just call him "Pug Parent" for now.  :)
Hope this thread makes it easy for him to get started with any questions about feeding pugs raw.   ;D
« Last Edit: July 14, 2017, 11:36:51 AM by Lola »
Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Offline Pookie

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jul 2011
  • Posts: 5441
  • Country: us
  • Proud member of the Wet Food Club
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2017, 10:49:21 AM »
 welcome3 welcome3 welcome3 welcome3 welcome2 welcome5 welcome4 welcome1
2-4-6-8  Please don't over-vaccinate!
"Pass on what you have learned."  -- Yoda, Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi

Offline DeeDee

  • P-F's Twitter-er
  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 6013
  • Country: us
  • Barkly & Vlad
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2017, 12:47:48 PM »
purplekat tiggerbounce welcome4 welcome5 welcome4 tiggerbounce purplekat
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #3 on: July 14, 2017, 05:01:10 PM »
A few tidibts of info first...thoughts off the top of my head.  :)

We will forget about the ingredients of kibble for a moment.  With that said, dogs don't chew.  They can't.  Their mouths only go up and down.  They crunch kibble carp.  The pieces then swell in their stomachs.  Imagine how great that must feel!
Pieces also get stuck between their teeth and under their gum line.  The "best" (and I use that word very loosely) kibble does not and canNOT clean their teeth. 

Our member DeeDee feeds an awesome balanced raw diet to her dogs.  Meat, organs, and bones that her dogs can tear, gnaw, etc.  No icky ingredients.  A species appropriate diet.  Good for their teeth. 

I feed our Lacy mostly *ground and some very small chunks.  One reason is due to Lacy swallowing everything whole.  Not the best raw feeding, but better then kibble or canned. 

If you want to know "easy," I'll give you more info.  If you want to know how to feed raw the best way... talk to DeeDee.  :)   

I don't want to overwhelm you with info, without knowing first where your head it at! 

*Ground meat sold at your local grocery store...not recommended.  I grind my own.  However, I do often buy beef, chicken, and pork at my local grocery store and grind it myself. 


« Last Edit: July 14, 2017, 07:23:23 PM by Lola »
Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Offline DeeDee

  • P-F's Twitter-er
  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 6013
  • Country: us
  • Barkly & Vlad
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #4 on: July 14, 2017, 06:45:18 PM »


Our member DeeDee feeds an awesome balanced raw diet to her dogs.  Meat, organs, and bones that her dogs can tear, gnaw, etc.  No icky ingredients.  A species appropriate diet.  Good for their teeth. 



Correction. That's the way they used to eat before Vlad got sick. Vlad can't have bones. His stomach won't digest them anymore since he developed Addison's, and he ends up with a glued section of bones coming out of him. There's too much risk of him developing a blockage, so bones have left the house except in ground form. Vlad has to have a Calcium Citrate supplement because he can't eat over 5 oz of the meat with ground bone. They get liver and a turkey heart at every meal. I know it's the cats that Taurine is SO important for, but I'm following the old wisdom about eating hearts liver making healthy hearts and livers. I'd feed them even if you didn't HAVE to feed 10% secreting organs, though hearts aren't secreting organs.

They get gizzards and whole chicken breasts, but I remove the skin and bone for Vlad b/c of the pancreatitis he had during crisis. I save the little breast bones for Barkly since he can eat them without Vlad seeing that he's got them. I used to just give sections of necks and backs, but those are big enough for Vlad to see, and he would want them. Believe me, he watches EVERY single thing that I put in both bowls at every meal. I hide the part with the bones for Barkly when I'm defrosting everything, and I know it's all hidden down the marked, left side of the pan. I don't give beef chunks anymore because it seems to also be too much for Vlad to digest easily, but red meat is always harder to digest than white meat.

I also feed vegetables and fruits. Most holistic vets that encourage BARF instead of prey model say 25% of meal should be vegetables. I try to give greens (collards lowest in potassium) + orange, red, yellow colors at every meal. I make a puree b/c once again, Vlad now has problems digesting it if it's not pureed. The Cortisol that Vlad is now missing is a huge part of digestion. I could keep his diet the way it was if I gave him about 10mg of prednisone a day, but I'm not willing to do that. The extra prednisone would be more of a danger than the modified diet.

They get either a small amount of dried cranberries or blueberries every meal. It's no more than maybe 3-to-5% of the meal, but they're good antioxidants. They also get probiotics and Vlad gets digestive enzymes to keep his pancreas in check.

A lot of things have changed around here since Vlad's Addison's diagnosis, but it doesn't seem to have affected them since they've both had blood tests since the changes. Barkly DOES get some banana every meal with a VERY tiny smear on top of Vlad's (remember I said he watches everything?), because the low potassium vegetables and fruits seemed to be TOO low for Barkly.
« Last Edit: July 14, 2017, 06:52:59 PM by DeeDee »
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline DeeDee

  • P-F's Twitter-er
  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 6013
  • Country: us
  • Barkly & Vlad
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2017, 06:49:14 PM »
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2017, 06:59:24 PM »
He will be a BEGINNER, DeeDee.   Silly7

Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Offline DeeDee

  • P-F's Twitter-er
  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 6013
  • Country: us
  • Barkly & Vlad
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #7 on: July 14, 2017, 07:05:34 PM »
He will be a BEGINNER, DeeDee.   Silly7



 :D :D

That's why I recommended that book. I really wish Dr. Karen Becker's book was still available, but no sign of a reprint, and people are charging outrageous amounts for it now.

It's just easier to make decisions when you know what they need; why they need it; and how to give it to them. I've read a lot of them, but IMO, that's one of the best for beginners.
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #8 on: July 14, 2017, 07:24:58 PM »
I think Mr Pug is on a short vacation right now.  It may take him a while to get here... assuming he will join us.  :)

Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #9 on: July 16, 2017, 04:29:13 PM »
I think a good easy start is buying good meat (not ground) from the grocery store.  Cutting it into bite sized chunks, and adding it to Honest Kitchen BASE. 
You will find half the world states that dogs do well on just meat, bones, and organs... no fruits and veggies.  The other half says the opposite.  I find Lacy dog does best WITH fruits and veggies in her diet.  I rotate some meals with... and some without.

I feed a variety of proteins from various sources. 

Honest Kitchen is one that is in our rotation. 

Just about ANY commercial raw is going to have something that a person is less than thrilled about feeding.  One reason that variety/rotation works for me.  :) 
« Last Edit: July 16, 2017, 04:30:49 PM by Lola »
Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #10 on: July 17, 2017, 04:31:45 PM »
Welcome PugDad!  :)
Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Offline PugDad

  • Yapper
  • Join Date: Jul 2017
  • Posts: 21
  • Country: us
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #11 on: July 17, 2017, 05:27:16 PM »
Thanks! And thanks for all the information and the places I can start!

Offline PugDad

  • Yapper
  • Join Date: Jul 2017
  • Posts: 21
  • Country: us
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #12 on: July 17, 2017, 05:52:17 PM »
Where can I get the Honest kitchen base?

Offline DeeDee

  • P-F's Twitter-er
  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 6013
  • Country: us
  • Barkly & Vlad
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #13 on: July 17, 2017, 07:52:38 PM »
Where can I get the Honest kitchen base?



There are several places like chewy.com online that you can get it, including the Honest Kitchen Website.

Or their store finder is here: http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/find-a-store
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

Offline PugDad

  • Yapper
  • Join Date: Jul 2017
  • Posts: 21
  • Country: us
Re: Welcome Pug Parent - Start Here :)
« Reply #14 on: July 18, 2017, 07:50:35 AM »


There are several places like chewy.com online that you can get it, including the Honest Kitchen Website.

Or their store finder is here: http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/find-a-store

Thank you!

Tags: