[krystina alayne]

i want a top-of-the-line, highest-quality food, short of feeding raw. my fridge barely holds a gallon of milk, so raw food isnt very possible for me.

my dog, winston, just turned 11 months yesterday. he is half lab, a quarter walker hound, and a quarter border collie. he is long, lean, and picky picky picky. it seems the only food he will happily eat is food that isnt intended for him. for the bulk of his life, he was fed taste of the wild. then i went through a tight-budget phase and broke down and got him del's brand food, full of grain. now im back on track and determined to give winston only the best.

now, i know that the price tag doesnt always mean the best quality. the brands i have in mind are acana and orijen. are they basically the same?

i have a few other questions too. when introducing a new food, winston eats it up. but after a couple days he gets tired of it and sometimes skips or delays meals because he isnt interested anymore. my friend suggested mixing his food with broth. but for all his meals? would that be too much sodium or too much extra calories?

also, the debate about eggs. if theres one thing winston will never decline, its an egg. right now, im giving him about 3 or 4 a week. id like to give him one a day. i hear some people say 1 a week is more than enough. winston gets 1 cup of food in the morning, 1/2 or 1 cup in the afternoon [depending on how much he plays in the morning], and 1 cup for dinner. he doesnt get many treats and is never fed table scraps. how many eggs do you think is appropriate for him? he loves them soooo much, but i dont want him to lose that hound-ey body. i hate when people let their dogs [and cats] get obese.

 

[Goldens&Labs4Me]

Acana and Orijen are made by the same company and very close. With that said, Acana would be my choice...better variety and a little bit less expensive between the two.

As for skipping meals, etc--you could always rotate a couple of foods even from feeding to feeding, as long as they are similar. (you could do chicken one bag and beef one bag, for example). Or you could add a little broth, a little canned (I add a tablespoon rougly to my dogs food), a tablespoon of yogurt, etc etc. The quantities I use are not enough for me to be overly concerned about those extra calories.

On the eggs, I am not a big egg feeder--I give mine some scrambled eggs on average once a week, or maybe not even that often. Usually when my son doesn't finish them all they will get them and sometimes I cook extra for them. Do you guys give them raw? Or am I assuming?

 

[krystina alayne]

i looked at that website and the acana and orijen said almost the exact same thing. im interested in personal opinions between the two. how exactly are they different, why is one more expensive than the other?

and yes, i give him the eggs raw, shell and all. up until a few weeks ago, he got free-range, organic-fed, organic-raised eggs from my moms chickens. but now he is getting store-bought eggs til i can get my own chickens in the spring. :]

the yogurt is a good idea.. he loves yogurt! a store in my town has regular sales on this organic greek yogurt. even better, there is a "plain" variety.

 

[Willowy]

I think at his size one egg a day wouldn't be bad. Will he eat his kibble if you mix an egg in? Of course that would only solve one meal a day, LOL.

 

[krystina alayne]

oh, yes. he will gobble up the kibble when i mix the egg into it!

he is 53-55lbs. he definitely doesnt look like it though! lol so one egg a day wont hurt him?