How much dog food(dry) do you carry on long(3-4mo) trips ??
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Marsha/CA
Moderator Emeritus
Wendy, try the Lamb and Rice. I don't think it will help Gordon's problem, but he might feel a little better. Charlie loves it!
BTW, Don't know if you recall reading that we were having problems with one of our cats on this trip. She'd get sick, then the next day be a little better. Both cats always get queasy tummies when we first start out, but settle down within a day or two. This time we began to notice the cat kept getting sick right after she would eat. We started thinking back and remembering that she has been having this problem at home too, but we had been so busy with the house, that we kept thinking it was just hairballs.
However, after doing some internet searches identifying her symptoms, I learned that hairballs don't happen all that often, but this cat was throwing up much more frequent. We had been feeding them Purina One for cats with sensitive stomachs for at least a year. Purina is loaded with grains and has been known to cause lots of problems according to a couple of websites I visited. I also noticed that this cat was sleeping a lot and hadn't been playing; but attributed it to the fact that they are getting older. So with the internet search I found that cats can, like dogs, have allergies to grains which fit her symptoms.
We found ourselves a specialty pet store and bought Nutro for senior cats, which has no grains, only chicken and brown rice. We decided to give it a try. She's and the other cat have been on this food for close to a week and she's a different cat; no throw-ups, playing, bright eyed and back to her old self. Her coat is a bit dull; but when you think how long she's been getting food which she's allergic to, it's expected.
Let me know how Gordon likes Candide.
Marsha~
BTW, Don't know if you recall reading that we were having problems with one of our cats on this trip. She'd get sick, then the next day be a little better. Both cats always get queasy tummies when we first start out, but settle down within a day or two. This time we began to notice the cat kept getting sick right after she would eat. We started thinking back and remembering that she has been having this problem at home too, but we had been so busy with the house, that we kept thinking it was just hairballs.
However, after doing some internet searches identifying her symptoms, I learned that hairballs don't happen all that often, but this cat was throwing up much more frequent. We had been feeding them Purina One for cats with sensitive stomachs for at least a year. Purina is loaded with grains and has been known to cause lots of problems according to a couple of websites I visited. I also noticed that this cat was sleeping a lot and hadn't been playing; but attributed it to the fact that they are getting older. So with the internet search I found that cats can, like dogs, have allergies to grains which fit her symptoms.
We found ourselves a specialty pet store and bought Nutro for senior cats, which has no grains, only chicken and brown rice. We decided to give it a try. She's and the other cat have been on this food for close to a week and she's a different cat; no throw-ups, playing, bright eyed and back to her old self. Her coat is a bit dull; but when you think how long she's been getting food which she's allergic to, it's expected.
Let me know how Gordon likes Candide.
Marsha~
We were feeding him Nutro Large Breed but thought I'd try something else when he developed epilepsy (which has nothing to do with the food he eats). Anyway, tried him on Purina One Lamb & Rice which he really likes. But I still don't feel like it's the very best I could feed him. Did have a sample of the Labrador specific dog food (can't remember the brand) and he loved that. But I'm thinking I'll give the Candide a try.
Glad the kitty kid is doing better.
Enjoying the travel logs....keep it up !
Wendy
Glad the kitty kid is doing better.
Enjoying the travel logs....keep it up !
Wendy
cekkk
Member
I'm with storing it in the tv. But, Gee, what lucky folks you are. Our three mutts get a mix of homemade rice, hamburger/tuna/MightyDog mix along with some dry. Will we ever learn? Takes 15 minutes to feed them. I've gotten an opinion from our vet that Purina's mix is based daily on grain futures so we avoided that and switched to higher priced stuff, but I've since read that it doesn't make much difference to the dog what price you pay, so lately we've gone with the cheap stuff at Sam's. I figure that with all the human food, dog vitamins, etc., it doesn't make a hill of beans to our critters. Of course, they're my favorite breed - Chow and other Stuff. The only stomach problems we've had came with our "quality" dogs.
codgerbill
Well-known member
Our puppy (7year old lab..The "buds") gets Purina Beneful. He weighs a mere 110 lbs. He also likes cat food, chicken carcases (from a not properly secured trash can), apple pie (foolishly left on the kitchen counter), Chinese take out (again foolishly left on the kitchen counter) and just about anything else you can think of. Well now that I think of it...he doesn't like lettuce. We take a 20# bag of the Beneful when we go in the RV and I do believe she who must be obeyed can find it most anywhere. He does leave man size gifts in the yard and when we are camping...and sometimes it requires 2 bags in the campgrounds. :
chiwawamama
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 29, 2013
- Posts
- 63
Our mastiff and chihuahua eat raw so we don't have to worry about dog food. Feeding raw (B.A.R.F.) helps with any allergies and most importantly with a 180 pound dog, makes small poops. The poop of a raw eater will also turn white and breakdown in a couple days.
Our four cats eat Purina Cat Chow and we purchase 20 pound bags. I am not sure what size we will be buying when we begin our travels.
Our four cats eat Purina Cat Chow and we purchase 20 pound bags. I am not sure what size we will be buying when we begin our travels.
Jim Godward
Well-known member
When we got our new cat, the breeder recommended Life's Abundance for him. I had never heard of it but it is working out very well. They also have a line of dog food that should be good. A warning though, it is internet only and it tends to be PRICEY. They also have wet food for both dogs and cats.
It will be interesting getting supplied while on the road although for us a 16# bag will last a long time.
It will be interesting getting supplied while on the road although for us a 16# bag will last a long time.
Neat; something I know stuff about.
I don't have a trailer yet, but I know dog food like... never mind the simile; I'm just good with dog food.
The first thing I want to address is corn and other cereals in your dog's food. Back in history when feeding dogs first gained footing as a business, grains were incorporated into the meat to get today's "kibble", not because of a grain's nutritional value. Today we have flash-freezing technology that precludes the use of grains. Grains are still in most dog foods today not because they're still necessary but because they're cheaper. There may also be some "campfire talk" that dogs eating grain-based kibbles for ten generations should stay on such a diet, but I don't have a professional opinion on superstition.
Corn. "It isn't the first item on the list." Probably not; meat as the first item is the style these days. Keep reading the ingredients. How many grains are on the list in total? How many types of one grain? On one brand, I saw whole ground corn, whole wheat, wheat mill run, corn gluten, corn oil, rice, rice mill run, and more. Individual ingredients may be listed by volume, but each type of corn you can get away with adding gets its own individual listing. Ergo, when you see a meat as the first item, there may yet be three times as much grain by volume because of this exploit.
Corn. Corn is high in sugar, and dogs are more carnivore than grassavore. They certainly never grazed on wheat and corn stalks in the wild. Rice is fine for a filler, but the white version is as nutritionally null as Wonderbread. Wheat is high in sugar and corn is higher still. Further to the "why not corn" argument, both corn and wheat are considerably allergenic to dogs in an age of antibacterial, antiseptic everything stifling our immune systems to make us lethally vulnerable to peanut butter. Let your puppy go outside and get sick, or else he'll be on death's door the first time it sees a flea or tick as an adult.
So those are some basics about dog food from somebody that lives and breathes dog food. Now I'll share my tips for weight and value.
Non-grain dog kibbles can average a quarter of the size of grain kibbles without losing much weight. In my extensive studies of feeding my personal dogs a strict diet of whatever my customers left behind, I've learned that I need to feed an average of half the volume of non-grain kibble, and dog-dump is equivilently diminished in turn. It is however a considerable spike in protein even feeding less, and malabsorption and the dreaded loose stool demon can come to visit you, even while you're on the highway. Dog diets should not change during a trip.
A more dense kibble means feeding less by volume for the recommended amount means you can either buy smaller bags to last the same distance for saving space or you can have larger bags that add more total time between resupplies. Another tip is to avoid wet food because cans are huge, unfinished portions risk spoil and take up fridge space, and there's that water weight you're adding when you buy wet instead of dry. For anyone wondering grain or grain-free, look at a can of wet food. It should have "98% meat" written on it somewhere.
There should be dry or frozen food you're already bringing with you or buying. Rice, grindy beef, a teaspoon 'o yoghurt or cottage cheese, an egg, a sprinkle of flax seed dust. Flax is of course the highest concentration of essentiall goodies packed into one place by the way for anyone wanting to add that extra something to a minimalist diet of raw food or very nearly so. Yoghurt has the same value to a dog for its bacteria and egg is a shot of protein as long as you don't skim off the yummy yellow parts.
I'm sure there's more, but I don't spend so much time figuring out how to squeeze my dogs into my trips as what trips I can take with all my dogs.
I don't have a trailer yet, but I know dog food like... never mind the simile; I'm just good with dog food.
The first thing I want to address is corn and other cereals in your dog's food. Back in history when feeding dogs first gained footing as a business, grains were incorporated into the meat to get today's "kibble", not because of a grain's nutritional value. Today we have flash-freezing technology that precludes the use of grains. Grains are still in most dog foods today not because they're still necessary but because they're cheaper. There may also be some "campfire talk" that dogs eating grain-based kibbles for ten generations should stay on such a diet, but I don't have a professional opinion on superstition.
Corn. "It isn't the first item on the list." Probably not; meat as the first item is the style these days. Keep reading the ingredients. How many grains are on the list in total? How many types of one grain? On one brand, I saw whole ground corn, whole wheat, wheat mill run, corn gluten, corn oil, rice, rice mill run, and more. Individual ingredients may be listed by volume, but each type of corn you can get away with adding gets its own individual listing. Ergo, when you see a meat as the first item, there may yet be three times as much grain by volume because of this exploit.
Corn. Corn is high in sugar, and dogs are more carnivore than grassavore. They certainly never grazed on wheat and corn stalks in the wild. Rice is fine for a filler, but the white version is as nutritionally null as Wonderbread. Wheat is high in sugar and corn is higher still. Further to the "why not corn" argument, both corn and wheat are considerably allergenic to dogs in an age of antibacterial, antiseptic everything stifling our immune systems to make us lethally vulnerable to peanut butter. Let your puppy go outside and get sick, or else he'll be on death's door the first time it sees a flea or tick as an adult.
So those are some basics about dog food from somebody that lives and breathes dog food. Now I'll share my tips for weight and value.
Non-grain dog kibbles can average a quarter of the size of grain kibbles without losing much weight. In my extensive studies of feeding my personal dogs a strict diet of whatever my customers left behind, I've learned that I need to feed an average of half the volume of non-grain kibble, and dog-dump is equivilently diminished in turn. It is however a considerable spike in protein even feeding less, and malabsorption and the dreaded loose stool demon can come to visit you, even while you're on the highway. Dog diets should not change during a trip.
A more dense kibble means feeding less by volume for the recommended amount means you can either buy smaller bags to last the same distance for saving space or you can have larger bags that add more total time between resupplies. Another tip is to avoid wet food because cans are huge, unfinished portions risk spoil and take up fridge space, and there's that water weight you're adding when you buy wet instead of dry. For anyone wondering grain or grain-free, look at a can of wet food. It should have "98% meat" written on it somewhere.
There should be dry or frozen food you're already bringing with you or buying. Rice, grindy beef, a teaspoon 'o yoghurt or cottage cheese, an egg, a sprinkle of flax seed dust. Flax is of course the highest concentration of essentiall goodies packed into one place by the way for anyone wanting to add that extra something to a minimalist diet of raw food or very nearly so. Yoghurt has the same value to a dog for its bacteria and egg is a shot of protein as long as you don't skim off the yummy yellow parts.
I'm sure there's more, but I don't spend so much time figuring out how to squeeze my dogs into my trips as what trips I can take with all my dogs.
John From Detroit
Well-known member
How much dog food do I carry. 0.00 pounds. No dogs,,, How much cat food 20-25 pounds (Depending on the size of the bag)... I have a plastic "Bucket" from, well I have a number of them from assorted places... Some have lids, some do not. One of the lidded ones gets re-filled with 20-25 pounds of cat food when it runs dry, which it should later this week, which is why the driver's seat has the next bag in it.
Another gets bird seed for the Feline Entainerment System hangign from the driver's side rear view mirror where the cat can lay on the couch and look out the window at it.
The rest hold tools and spare parts and such.
Another gets bird seed for the Feline Entainerment System hangign from the driver's side rear view mirror where the cat can lay on the couch and look out the window at it.
The rest hold tools and spare parts and such.
OP
OP
maddog348
Well-known member
WOW!!! Did you guys realize this Question had been 'dead' since JULY of 2009 before BLAKDUKE reopened it in Jul 2013. Solved that problem years ago but THANKS for the input. K
