 Barked: Mon Nov 5, '12 9:57am PST |
 | |  | | For my 40-60 pound dogs I always fed a can or two as a small meal, usually after "big meal" days. Also indispensable for oops, all the dog food in the house is frozen together in 30 pound case-lots at the bottom of the freezer and I don't feel like going to the store days.
Canned salmon (wild) and sardines great canned fish to feed, only use stuff packed in water, no salt added if you can help it. Mackerel and herring would also be good, and are apparently available packed in water, but I've never seen them offered that way here.
When it comes to the Omega EFAs (3 and 6), it's not only about amount, but about the ratio of one to the other. There's a pretty wide discrepancy on the actual ideal ratio for a dog with recommended amounts ranging from the O-3:O-6 being anywhere from 10:1 to 3:1. This variance comes from what 'they' can get away with when it comes to a shelf-stable commercially prepared dog food, I think, not so much what the actual requirement is. I think reigning it in to a range of 5:1 to 3:1 is probably a good goal.
One thing to take into consideration when determining fish and/or fish oil supplementation for the specific purpose of O3 EFAs is the source of the rest of the diet. Pasture-fed animals have EFA ratios that are pretty much in-line with our dog's needs and if 100% of your diet comes from animals allowed to naturally graze and feed you probably don't need to worry about supplemental O3 at all!
On the other hand, when a cow or chicken or any other animal, is fed a non-species-appropriate diet high in grains and soy (as most of the meat you'll find at the grocery store is), the O:3 to O:6 ratio of their meat accordingly skyrockets to more like 1:20, so you obviously need to do some compensating. Diets that fall somewhere in the middle (say you feed grain-fed beef, but use a lot of truly free-range eggs from a source you know doesn't augment a natural diet, or feed game meat here and there) would obviously have less of a reliance on O3 supplementation.
Ah.... another wordy post from me. I've missed Dogster!  So many great questions and topics of conversation, paired with truly enjoyable personalities and an overall fun dynamic. |  |  | |  |
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