Have any good sites with info on whole foods versus kibble by chance? We've always tried to feed our pup grain-free, beef-based stuff, but our only local spot keeps discontinuing the brands. They're dropping BB, so we were looking for an alternative this weekend and I thought we could basically feed him ground beef and eggs for what the higher end food costs now.
I have a great book, Raw & Natural Nutrition for Dogs by Lew Olson that goes into it in great detail.
Cliff notes -
A dog's food spends a lot of time in their stomach (exposed to the acid), very little time in their intestines. This is reverse of humans, and this basically means, they can eat almost whatever the fuck they want and it's gonna be fine. Almost unheard of for a dog to get salmonella, it just can't survive in their stomach long enough to get picked up by the intestines.
Dogs only need protein. They have zero use for carbs. Dogs with carb heavy diets have very large shits because they don't typically digest them.
There is no point where they can get too much protein. Just feed it, they will use it all.
Dogs require all amino acids. Pork, Chicken and beef all contain partial amounts of amino acids. In order to get all 22, they need to have a varied diet, so you can't just feed them all chicken or all beef all the time.
Dogs require organ meat to get the rest of their nutritional needs. If you can feed kidneys and hearts and whatnot, that's fantastic. Beef kidneys fucking reek, so I stopped doing them. If you can't acquire easy exotic organ meat, (check your local asian market, those fucking weirdos have everything) just feed beef liver once a week. That's easy enough to find almost everywhere.
The only protein that contains all 22 amino acids is eggs. Unfortunately, feeding these past the puppy stage will almost certainly involve your dog engaging in chemical warfare on you.
Whole bones are essential to provide the calcium the dogs need, so don't shy away from those. They also clean their teeth (which is why most dogs have rancid breath...kibble doesn't clean anything). However, once a dog gets to 4 or 5 years old, their jaws can actually become stronger than their teeth. Don't feed beef bones past this stage. I found out the hard way as Zel broke a couple teeth on marrow bones. She fucking loved them, and they kept her busy for hours, but she is a very determined dog, and a little thing like a broken tooth ain't gonna stop her. RAW chicken bones are absolutely fine, despite what anyone who thinks they know better will tell you (do not feed cooked), and pork bones are typically not strong enough to pose a problem.
Puppies will need about 3%-5% of their body weight every day in meat. Adult dogs closer to 1-1.5%
My dog eats zero carbs, zero grain, has never eaten any kibble from anywhere at all. She actually doesn't know what to do with it, because it smells like food, but does not taste like food (they spray kibble with fat so dogs will eat it). She eats pork necks for breakfast ($1.79/lb), and chicken quarters for dinner ($0.89/lb). Once a week she gets a can of salmon for her coat, and once a week a pound of beef liver. She eats about 1.5lbs a day, all told, slightly under $2 averaged across the whole week. Considering the price of commercial dog food, and the quality difference, even if I'm not coming out ahead on price (which I probably am), I still come out ahead on nutrition. If you need a natural anti-inflammatory, fish oil is cheap and great for their coat and minor aches and pains.
