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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on March 24, 2011 at 10:00am

How about hiring a licensed professional and let them do all the work and design a plan that works for you? Just like human MD, vets only get a unit or two on nutrition, diet plans are referred and designed by a licensed dietician.

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on March 24, 2011 at 9:17am

 Congratulations on your soon to be addition! I feed Taste of the Wild (needs to be salmon for a pup because they need the lower protein since Corgis are considered a large breed pup). I have tried several kinds over the last 2 years and am now very happy with TOTW. It is grain free/all life stages and does have canned food. I have pups occasionally and so my adults and pups can eat the same. When your pup gets to be a year there are at least 3 other flavors but the protein level is too high for now. If you check out their web site they have a dealer locater(sp) so you can punch in you info and they will give you places near you that caryy the food.

I found mine about 20 miles away at a fleet farm/hardware store. I now have my vet order it for me also. It comes in 15 and 30# bags and I use a  handful 3 timesa aday which ends up being about a cup and 1/2. So it lasts awhile.

The word natural is overated and really means nothing so read the labels and check out previous discussions on here:)

 

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Permalink Reply by Jane on March 24, 2011 at 9:58am

With corgi puppies it is usually recommended to put them on a large breed puppy formula or an all life stages food. The brands listed here already are all pretty good, I would just buy a small bag of whatever you choose to go with and make sure it agrees with your pup. Sometimes a dog just doesn't do well on a certain formula, even if it's an excellent one. Henry did okay on Wellness but it gave him HORRIBLE gas, so we switched.  

I feed my guys Fromms Four Star Nutritionals and have been very happy with it, it's an all life stages food.

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Permalink Reply by Lynne Cerny on March 24, 2011 at 10:02am

FYI

This is the title of the news letter that I received today;

Considering the Switch to Homemade Food? 5 Things You Must Know

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/03/24...

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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on March 24, 2011 at 1:23pm

I started off like you-- wanting to feed my dog healthy kibbled foods--and somehow I am here with a tiny freezer stuffed full of meat for my dog.  :x

 

 I started feeding Waffle what his breeder recommended-- The Honest Kitchen dehydrated food.  I still have some of that, but Waffle doesn't eat it much any more.  It is more vegetable than meat, which is something I don't particularly agree with.  BUT, the best thing you can do for your dog is remove it from commercialized kibble-- so the less I have to feed him kibble, the better, even if I have to force the THK down his throat.  I used to really like Wellness until I compared it to higher quality dog kibbles.  The recent recall on cat food (due to insufficient thiamine) also made me think twice about Wellness for my dog. It is better than a lot of other dog foods, though.  "Natural Balance" is something I would stay away from because I have tried their treats and cat food, and no one in my family cares for their foods (cat turns his nose up, dog won't eat treats... I can imagine the kibble would be bad, too). Nature's Variety kibble is also a product I have tried and did not like because of the nasty, greasy feel of the kibble and the awful stench typical of crappy dog foods.  The kibble I like the most is Orijen's 5 fish formula.  I feed this when I forget to defrost meat for Waffle.  My mice also agree!  I want to try a product, Timberwolf Organics, but I don't have the money to be ordering dog food online right now.  The moral of this story is, be wary of products with "Natural" or "Nature" in the name.  It is a gimmick word that has almost no meaning in the pet food industry.  It is only used to lure in customers.  

 

When looking for a kibble, you want a product that uses no by-products, has named meat, has alternative grains (no corn-- oats and barley are "meh", I follow the "no grain" thing so go for [sweet] potatoes if you agree with that philosophy), has NO ethoxyquin, BHT, or BHA, and has the meat as the first or second ingredient in the list.  The fewer ingredients, the better.  Less vitamin supplements means a better quality food, because the food itself is providing the vitamins and not just the taste.  As far as puppy food, don't get puppy food. ... Puppy food often promotes too-fast growth, which permanently damages the joints.  Go for a food you can feed your dog's whole life.  On that note, it's good to mix up the diet, too.  Regularly rotating protein sources/ingredients, some believe, will prevent your dog's intestinal system from becoming too sensitive.  It will get used to eating different things, and then you don't have to do that stupid 2 week transition period for a new food in case one food isn't working out. I also recommend supplementing with salmon oil and a digestive enzyme. If you're really into it, add some vitamin E and Vitamin C.  But don't add vitamin C without Vitamin E; the antioxidative effects  aren't significant enough without Vitamin E to justify using just Vitamin C.  However, Vitamin E alone is fine.  There is actually debate about whether Vitamin C is helpful at all, but it doesn't hurt.

 

There is a great rawfeeding Yahoo!Group that is very educational.  If you want to learn the basics of feeding whole prey model raw, I can send you some stuff I wrote up for my friends who saw how I was feeding Waffle and wanted to give it a try.  But, just a warning, dogs CAN get sick from being fed raw food.  Waffle did.  :|  That hasn't stopped me from trying though, because he had gone a very long time without getting sick from it.  I'm being careful to feed a probiotic with every meal to prevent an infection.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on March 24, 2011 at 1:52pm

I used blue buffalo for a long time, I switched Frank to the Wilderness and he liked it for a while. After about 6 months he quit eating it and went 3 days without eating and he isn't a picky eater. I switched him to taste of the wild and he is happily eating that now. Its cheaper but still one of the top premium dog foods out there, and grain free. I also fed Frank raw for a few months, for us it wasn't a good plan. He ended up with long term diarrhea and it took a while to get him over it. I know it was caused by the raw diet because it started to improve as soon as I switched back to kibble. Just my personal decision to stick with kibble until at least majority of vets support raw.

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Permalink Reply by Heather and Ella on March 24, 2011 at 5:35pm

this should help you: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

You can look up the foods that are available at your local store, and see how they rank.

We feed Ella "Taste of the Wild", they have dry and wet and it ranks well on the advisors list.  She likes the "wetlands" flavor which is bird based (turkey, quail, chicken, etc). For some reason, Ella hates wet food so I've not tried the can food.

Each dog will like different stuff, so buy a small bag of whatever food you pick to try.  Be flexible because you just never know what each dog will like. 

They say that feeding raw is pretty easy once you give it a try, and there's nothing that says you can't give it a try later on. 

I'm kinda a germ-phobic so the thought setting raw food out grosses me out, so I've not tried it myself.  

Good luck.

 

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on March 24, 2011 at 5:48pm

I had no idea that you should feed Corgis as a large breed when they are puppies.  My newfoundland we had to do that with, but I never imagined a Corgi!  Makes sense with their legs.  Wish I'd known that when Seanna was a puppy.

I use Taste of the Wild.  I also used to feed Wellness, and liked it a lot too.

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Permalink Reply by Emily Trupiano on March 24, 2011 at 8:44pm

I highly recommend Blue Buffalo Wilderness, that's what I feed my dog, and what I fed my last dog too. I've Wellness too, it's great, and between the two, the ingredients are comparable enough that either one is fine. I choose Blue Buffalo because it's a bit cheaper.

When I adopted my dog, he had a weird odor and he had tear stains under his eyes. They also said he got the runs often. I don't know what they were feeding him before, I assume junk. Now his coat is shiny, he smells good, and his eyes cleared up. His stools are normal and small too. 

 

I've tried the whole raw dog food on my last dog, and honestly, I didn't notice any difference between his stools or coat. It can be a little messy and you have to wash their food dishes after each use. But it's a good route to go if your dog has bad food allergies. 

 

Also, be reeeaally careful with the puppy and your bunny. My last dog died after he ate a rabbit in the backyard. Hopefully your pup will learn that he's not food or a toy!

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Permalink Reply by Brittany and ruger on March 25, 2011 at 9:15pm

we just got our baby corgi puppy but i have a flemish giant rabbit how did your dog die my bunny and corgi are both house indoor pets and seem to get along

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Permalink Reply by Chezza on March 26, 2011 at 12:09am

Thats was my whole thought with getting a puppy. I will get her young and the rabbit wont be anything new to her in the future. My hope is someday to leave them alone free together. Thats the whole reason I didn't get a older dog or rescue dog.

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Permalink Reply by Ellen Regan on March 25, 2011 at 10:58am

I get my food on Amazon it is called Halo. I first found it in Whole Foods. There are cans and dry and Pippin loves it..

Good Luck with the new baby!!

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