Totally agree with Wendy re Bute... I have 9 ponies at home all of which. Have been on Bute at some point.
A small bump or knock in then field Bute will reduce swelling and inflamation/pain.
Anyone with horses consider it the same as a Nurafen tablet.
I have a box in my cupboard right now with 60 /10g sachets. Its for my two elderly ponies.
Once a vet has prescribed it you can get a repeat for next 6 months. And if the Vet trusts you, you can have a full box of 60 sachets.
Owners pass it around amoungst themselves should a friends horse need it after a muscle strain or similar.
No one has ever asked me give them any, as I wouldn't ever want to upset my Vet and abuse his trust in me.
But Wendy is correct, it is passed around like smarties!
Quote: Originally posted by janey47 on 10/2/2013
I know that in the wild dogs would be eating raw meats, but our dogs are now domesticated.
It bothers me that they would just not be used to dealing the new bacteria etc they would have to cope with if its raw, , as cooking kills off a lot of bad stuff.
I have heard some good reports about feeding raw, but I have never been quite brave enough to do it
Should it be introduced slowly? And what about fibre? Eating 100% meat where is the roughage/fibre?
Sorry for all the questions Wendy, but having had one dog really poorly, £1,200 vet bill!! I am keen to learn as much as I can.. Thanks
Raw isn't 100% meat as such, yes it is to look at but it contains cartilage, fat and water. Raw dogs drink very little water as raw food (as we are) is high in water. Dogs don't eat roughage as we do, different digestive systems ours is long and designed to digest food slowly, dogs are short designed to digest fast as they are carnivores. With regards to domesticated dogs and new bacteria etc, we have only been feeding commercial food for 50-100 years dogs as humans take much longer to evolve than that, they can eat raw tomorrow and come to no harm. Dog's have much stronger acid in their stomach and can cope happily with raw even rotten meat. While we desire a low fat diet, fat is what dogs use for energy in place of carbohydrate. All the information used in marketing dog food is likened to humans so we understand it (and buy it). Dogs quite simply have a different requirement to humans.
My Mum had a toy poodle for 8 years fed Bakers (wouldn't listen to me) ad lib, bowl down all the time and she was as fat as a fool, rotten teeth and a lazy wee lump. They came to live with us (Mum & dog) dog went straight onto raw meaty bones, lost all her excess weight, we had her teeth cleaned and she runs about like a two year old now, difference is amazing.
As I said raw is not for everyone, but it is how our grandparents feed their dogs, green tripe or dog mince and that is how I remember, along with a bit of bone meal, raw bones and scraps.
If you are interested in raw feeding this is a good article.
As I said you just need to be content with what you feed your dog and that they are happy and healthy on that food.
I know those little silver sachets are passed like smarties, every yard we were on they were exchanged between owners, somebody always had some when it was needed. There is absolutely no way that horses in the food chain for human or animal are drug free unless they are wild horses rounded up for slaughter. In fact unscrupulous dealers pump animals with drugs to keep them walking as they fetch more money, fallen stock is virtually worthless. They don't undergo drugs testing in a slaughter house.
Wendy
------------- Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends...
George Bernard Shaw
Thank you your reply Wendy, i will have a good read.
Many moons ago when I worked on a farm I remember feeding all the farm dogs tripe which I think was cooked. Its wasn't green, but did stinck!!
Actually when my Vet finally realised what was wrong with Ben (not is fault, was a complete mystery illness) he told me to feed rabbit from Woldsway Foods, the one with minced bone was fed raw. It was me who wasn't confident enough to feed it. So he stayed has on Chappie.
Ps..my mother does exactly the same..ad lib feeding!, fortunatly her dog isn't greedy..
I have completely lost confidence in commercial brands, I feed James Welbeloved at the moment to the other 4 dogs. I will do my research see what I can come up with locally. Maybe even stincky tripe!!
The issue is not whether it contains horse meat, but whether it states on the tin "beef2 with no mention of horse meat. You are probably paying extra because it says if it beef, not horsemeat. Bad enough that they add vegetables to bulk it up. Our dogs won't eat it if there are veggies in their dinner so now we make our own dog meat using the mincer!
Mine love their veggies they should have a third veg in their diet from what I have read, a third meat/protien and a third carbs. Pups need more protien.
My issue is commercial dog food is full of crappy meat, meat not fit for human consumption..
Meat will which will more than likely be contaminated by drugs.
Having had a very poorly dog from a food related issue I am questioning what I am feeding them.
So for my 5 pooches, I have to find an affordable alternative..
Having said that...I am not totally convinced meat that has been passed for human consumption is drug free either..!!
So pleased I am a veggie.. Maybe the best thing is persude my dogs to become veggie!, yeh right!!
There are far worse nasties lurking in popular brand pet foods than horse-meat and whilst your dog may merrily scoff his way through whatever he's fed, not appearing to care, his health may be at risk. We all have a responsibility to make an informed choice about what we feed our pets as they are at our mercy.
For anyone concerned, as I am, that the pet food industry has, for years, been allowed to hide waste by-products from human industry, such as re-constituted restaurant fat, ground plastic, ground rubber, ground peanut husks and other yuckies not wholesome to our precious pets, under the guise of "permitted minerals and fats", in their pet's food, please Google the Animal Protection Institute's report on what's really in dog food. True, this report talks about the USA's market, but we share so many brands it's still relevant reading here.
We feed raw too. For those who'd like to try 'BARF feeding but who are a bit squeamish, Natural Instinct Raw dog food is ready-prepared, easy to feed and doesn't contain anything nasty or indeed horse-meat. Not that I'm necessarily against horse-meat, as long as it meets the same standards our more popular meats here do and as long as it's clearly marked on the label.
Our cats are much healthier since we changed to raw diets.
They used to have a mixture of kibble and pouches. We first got rid of kibble and only bought as "natural" as we could by way of posh tins. Then we did a trial on Honeys raw cat food (husband thought I was mad) and have not looked back. They took to it quickly and the one cat with health problems is lively and as she was 5-6 years ago, a much better weight, with all 3 having really glossy coats. I am vegetarian but the food comes in frozen packages rather like pate and is manageable to serve. There is less waste and I have not noticed any real cost difference in food (they have the odd bit of fish as a change) but a lowering in vet bills.
Given health problems of previous animals and the difference we have noticed, we wish we had changed years ago.
I'm not concerned if there is horse meat in dog food, its all the other crud they put in it, additives, ash cereals you name it its in there. I'm another RAW feeder convert. I've never had such heathy dogs as I do now, my rescue has no skin conditions anymore and my toy poodle has really great teeth, which sadly toy poodles don't usually have.
I'm a vegetarian, but I don't mind feeding it to my dogs, a lot comes in packs and what I buy that doesn't , well I just grin and bare it, its worth it to see how healthy they are now.
------------- "I'm a fool for my dogs"
Adopt a rescue, rescue dogs make great pets, don't support puppy farms.
The road can be tough and rough,but what you put in you get back 10 x more.
We buy the meat, kidneys and ox liver and then mince it together. We lightly fried it and then freeze what we are not using immediately. Works out cheaper than buying tin foods and dogs look healthier. They are Yorkshire Terriers. BTW no need to feed them any supplements as all the goodness is in the meat and biscuits.
i feed mine Raw as well, mainly because one of them nearly died due to an auto immune problem, for the person who was worried about bacteria, a dogs stomach is much more acidic than ours, it has to be ,to break down the bones, but what it also does is kill any nasty bacteria. My dogs have never looked better , theres hardly anything to pick up and their teeth are great, and as a bonus is cheap, i feed them 2 meals a day for the same price as a can of rubbish dog food,
I feed my dogs raw meat but I'm a vegan, I understand it is what they are meat to eat not us and I choose to keep dogs as pets so therefore I must give them meat.
As for drugs in human meat don't let the government kid you, of course there are drugs ask any farmer. Antibiotic resistance isn't down to us overusing them but the amount that is in the food chain. I read recently that in the US 80% of antibiotics sold are for cattle use not human.
I would expect dog meat to have anything usable in it. Knacker yards use to sell into the petfood trade and for all I know still do. They remove all fallen and casualty stock from Farms and Equestrian places so the likelyhood of bits of everything being in petfood is high and there's nothing wrong with that. In my day, anything which wasn't suitable for use was put into rendering and not into any type of food products.
I'd rather know a proper piece of meat was in my dogs food than think there was bits and pieces of poultry rubbish in it. At the end of the day these companies aren't going to put first quality meat products into pet food and they need an outlet to get rid of the unusable byproducts.
Im still trying to see a problem ! Apart from fraud theres no health issue and id quite happly eat horse and have in Romania . Some years ago I worked on a farm that use to back in 1900's have a horse slaughter house .
When it comes down to the problem of horse meat in processed foods its pretty obvios some where like Romania will not even see an issue . The real issue is food miles ! We are told to use our cars less and our food has had the equivalent trip a gap year student would make . Thats the scandel not that Romanias have put horse meat in our burgers .Its the fact its come from Romania in the first place .
Quote: Originally posted by robnchar on 12/2/2013
Im still trying to see a problem ! Apart from fraud theres no health issue and id quite happly eat horse and have in Romania . Some years ago I worked on a farm that use to back in 1900's have a horse slaughter house .
When it comes down to the problem of horse meat in processed foods its pretty obvios some where like Romania will not even see an issue . The real issue is food miles ! We are told to use our cars less and our food has had the equivalent trip a gap year student would make . Thats the scandel not that Romanias have put horse meat in our burgers .Its the fact its come from Romania in the first place .
The scandal is that there's every chance the horse/donkey meat was never fit for human consumption in the first place, riddled with disease and drugs!
Wendy
------------- Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends...
George Bernard Shaw
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Topic: Tinned Dog Foods (DNA Checks)
