Thanksgiving for Dogs? (toy, chew)

[Pilot1]

Yes, our dog is having Thanksgiving. I mold his wet food into the shape of a turkey. He thinks its something special.

[APBT_Samara]

Originally Posted by Viralmd

PLEASE:

The kindest thing you can do is NOT to give your dog a 'special meal.'

One of my best friends is a vet and she thinks of Thanksgiving as 'pancreatitis' day in her practice. Too many people thinking they're kind by giving their dogs mashed potatoes, gravy and lots of other fatty foods.

Pancreatitis can be FATAL. REALLY.

Just be thankful you have such a wonderful friend and spare the 'special meal.' You might be saving your dog's life.

Those are not meats. Meat isn't bad for dogs, its actually part of their diet. If people fed their dogs meat on thanksgiving or everyday they wouldn't be having such health issues. When people want to feed their dogs the other human foods pie, stuffing or even meat with added seasoning there can be problems of all different sorts. A lot of people give their dogs unhealthy table scraps without thinking twice about it. I know dogs given chips and oreos, they are overweight and have a few different problems. One developed diabetes (or was diagnosed with it anyway) around age 7yrs.

Originally Posted by Viralmd

Actually, no. Many dogs can't tolerate even a little dark meat. It's very fatty.

And, APBT-Samara, you should NEVER give poultry skin of any kind to dogs.

A friend of mine gave her dog a little chicken skin the other day and the dog is now in the hospital battling pancreatitis.

Bette safe than sorry.

Yes I should, that is what I feed my dogs. If you don't want to then you should never but my dogs have been healthy on a prey model diet including poultry. They eat chicken, then a few times a week other meats. Again there are fattier cuts of pork and beef and I'd think the thicker skin would be harder to digest then that of poultry.

Kibble isn't made with chicken breast/white meat, yet people are feeding this everyday to their dogs which contains plenty of dark meat.

I'm sorry for your friends dog. It is true a dog with a pancreas problems can be aggravated by additional fat. They will usually be given a low fat diet whether fed raw or kibble. Sometimes it is not found out until the dog is given too much fat at once because no symptoms were present. If they are fed kibble then one with a low fat content will be given and if fed raw then they will be fed lean meats which does include skinless poultry. It seems she just gave her dog chicken skin as a treat, not as part of a balanced diet.
Pancreatitis can occur after such a thing (giving a high fat food) but is not considered to be simply because they were given fat, it is only a contributing factor. Some dogs will have issues when fed a high protein/high fat kibble and others will have issues if they are not fed that, it is no different with a raw diet.
I just gave one of my males 2 days ago some extra chicken skin as I was preparing their meals. I was measuring out each dogs portion so I trimmed the excess skin off a few and I threw to him to catch. He is now doing fine, just as always. I do not keep my dogs overweight either which is often seen in correlation with dogs who have pancreatitis among other things. They are lean, fit, muscular, healthy dogs, some of whom have been fed this way for years.

I know people who have been feeding prey model since the 70s and none of their dogs have ever had pancreatitis. I also know vet/vet techs who feed this diet. Dogs fed a prey model diet have shown to be healthy with vet checks, bloodwork and overall their general health (having less ailments or ones that cleared up if they were on kibble before and switched to raw). There are many sources of information on this and studies done too, most of the well known vets/drs, the ones who say this is fine who actually have creditials have literature available and even willing to answser question via phone or email.

BTW I feed this diet because of just that. I'd rather be safe and sorry. With my own dogs I've 2 very sick dogs who were on kibble. I do not have to worry about possible accidents happening with tainted food, food recalls, low meat content, high carbs and overall can know exactly what my dogs are eating. I've made my decision based on experience and research because I want the best for them. I don't take their diet lightly at all and don't want to do something careless.

I can assure you that canids do not deskin poultry, nor do they eat the white meat only. People with creditials, unlike myself, could verify this. All or most parts of the animal are consumed and contain different essentials for their diet.

As well since this is a the subject of poultry there was a study which took place in Australia with a litter of dogs, some fed raw and some fed kibble. The dogs which were fed raw were healthier, had fewer vet bills and the ones fed kibble had average cost in vet bills. They did periodic checks on the dogs (testing done by a vet) to compare them. The dogs fed raw were given poultry, yet healthy. At 10yrs the raw fed dogs were still healthier. I've had some who've been fed raw their whole life so I would like to similarly compare mine to others for my own personal "research", just need the funds.

There is so much info left out of the picture when saying a dog ate chicken skin and now has pancreatitis. It is only one contributing factor. A good vet that truly cares will recommend not to give skin again to that dog but will also do further investigation into the reasons for the pancreatitis and give other recommendation to decrease the likelihood of another episode.

You are more then welcome to feed the way you chose, I'll do the just the same. Those who don't feel comfortable giving their dogs skin are free to remove the skin or buy skinless meats. Although I can tell you this isn't common practice at all, so I'd rather not start doing it myself.

For those interested in feeding meat to their dogs here is fat/protein (for 16oz, which can typically feed a 40-50lbs dog)
Turkey Drumstick 24.3g / 105.5g
Chicken Drumstick 36.5g / 81.1g
85% Lean Ground Beef 68.2 g / 84.5g
Beef Brisket 16g / 90.9g
Pork Shoulder 52.7g / 85.2g
Venison 32.4g / 99g

I wouldn't recommend giving the ham with all the extra salts and seasons in some. You have to read to see if it is simply ham or has 20% or more added liquad with salt/seasons.

[Woof Woof Woof!]

Originally Posted by 2goldens

I wouldn't give my pups anything that is unfit for myself. A few pieces of white breast meat mixed in with the dry food is okay. Never skin or bones. No gravy. No sweet potatoes w/marshmallows, just chopped white turkey meat is okay once a year.

Actually, bones are an excellent source of nutrition for dogs and cats. That's where they get their calcium from. So that my dog could digest it easier, I would put chicken bones through a grinder. Now that she's old and I have to practically feed her baby food, I still add bone meal to her food.

Vegetables are also okay. I give my dog mainly plain steamed veggies and baked squash.

[AlisonL]

I made my dog a crockpot full of what I call "doggie stew". Leftover chicken white meat, ham beans (precooked), brown rice, peas, diced tomatoes, potatoes (white & sweet), ground beef, and green beans. I add just enough water to cover and for the rice to absorb. When its her mealtime, I mix in 2-3 Tablespoons of plain yogurt. I will substitute various veggies and sometimes put in steak instead of chicken or ground beef.
She only eats the foods we eat. Processed dog foods contain food items that are not fit for human consumption per USDA.
Her snacks are apple and carrot slices, which she loves. She does get the occasional dog treats, but not on a regular basis.
She's been on this diet for well over a month and looks great. Her coat is nice and shiny and she has gained some weight, but is not fat.

[pugluvr]

My girls get chicken skin as part of their raw diet. I switch it up between chicken wing, thigh, back and neck. Some have more skin on it then others depending on which part of the chicken it comes from but they do get chicken skin. It's all raw, not cooked. So giving dogs a part of the skin (uncooked without the oils, grease, etc) is fine as long as a dogs digestive system can handle it.

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by Woof Woof Woof!

Lisa,

That's so sweet. I'm glad to see someone is doing something special for their loved one. Do you have any pictures of Niki? How old is she?

Here is the princess. She has a really tough life. She is 5 1/2 years old.

[pugluvr]

Originally Posted by younglisa7

Here is the princess. She has a really tough life. She is 5 1/2 years old.

She is adorable!!! Course, I have 2 pugs of my own so of course I think all pugs are cute!! She looks as spoiled as my 2 are. And I see you live in East Tennessee. You have the best of both worlds. I'm wanting to move to East Tennessee VERY badly. Will do so eventually but probably not for a few more years.

[Dashdog]

Back to the subject of diet. I think it depends alot on what the dogs normal diet is. A dog that gets a raw diet or even a home cooked dinner or even meat and veggie table scraps mixed in their food on a pretty regular basis is use to chicken, turkey and often the skin so that fat is a normal part of the diet. A dog that is eating a kibble that is usually pretty high in carbs may have problems and develop pancreatitis from a large serving of turkey skin as that would be a a higher fat meal and their pancreas may not be able to handle it well. I say this because when Dash developed Calcium Oxalate stones the vet put him on UD which is high fat he cautioned me to add it slowly to his innova to get him use to it and to make sure that Jazz never got into his bowel as the sudden digestion of fat for a dog that is not use to it CAN cause pancreatitis. My next dogs I will probably raw feed.

My brothers old Sharpei Buster got cheap dog food I would never feed my dogs but he also got all left overs of any meals his family had as my sister in law hated left overs and so decided to just make it part of Buster's diet. My jaw would drop when I saw some of the stuff they gave Buster and often in large amounts, he was like the walking garbage disposal. Well he made it to 13 which is old for a sharpei and had no health issues until the last few months of his life when he started having seizures, he had no fatty tumors, no cataracts and at 13 was still walking around and and very with it unlike some old dogs so I figure that was his normal diet and he was use to it so he thrived well on it.

I will throw in my grandma and her identical twin as they tended to eat alot of foods we are told to avoid. They really had a sweet tooth so always had donuts or pastries with breakfast, cookies with lunch, a dessert of some kind with dinner. There was always boxes of candy. They tended to like high fat foods in other words a diet that would cause cardiac and other issues in most of the population! They also never missed cocktail hour and I am tallking strong drinks and my grandma smoked most of her life ( which I am totally against as most of the patients I see at work are there because they do or did smoke). Looking at all of that they should not have had long lifes but they were very healthy and active and Grandma died at 103 aand her twin just a few weeks short of 105! So who knows some people and dogs seem to not be as effected by diet as others Which goes to show how we are all individuals and what is bad for one may not be bad for another.

[GypsySoul22]

Yesterday was my dog's 1st birthday.


She got 2 great meals--they both included meat (sardines and beef with kibble for breakfast), dinner was the insides from the chicken (we had chicken not turkey) plus 2 eggs and peas, and kibble).

It is okay to feed your dog real food. I know this is a debate here but I think it's fine as long as it is not too spicy or fatty.

Whatever works is fine.

[Dashdog]

Gyspysoul,

The dogs and I would like to say Happy Birthday puppy, your a real DOG now! Jazz would throw in " so knock off that silly pupppy behavior" despite the fact she was well past 5 before she " matured" but now at the ripe old age of 12 she does not appreciate the puppy behavior.

If I had to give a caption to the photo and keep it with the food topic it would be " Don't even think about messing with my food, I love what I get"

Is that one of her birthday gifts in her paws?