What do you feed your Cavalier?

[My Boy Bentley]

Hello,
I have a 2 year old Cavalier, he has been on dry kibble his whole life, it is holistic, but was looking into getting him on a better food. He is borderline overweight. The vet says he's not quite overweight yet, but he is a little rolly polly to me (About 24 lbs.) I have had him on a diet for about 6 months and regular walking, although hard when it's 10 degrees out. Any suggestions would be great. The woman at the kennel he goes to, feeds her Cavaliers a dehydrated food of some sort. Any thoughts on that?
Thanks a bunch.

[Denise G.]

I feed Mia Natures Variety prepared raw food. She had tummy issues when I brought her home at six months and it was the only thing that didn't upset her. She's done so well on it, I couldn't imagine feeding her anything else. I also throw in some frozen green beans and fish or flax oil and a tsp. of yogurt. She loves it and has maintained a healthy weight without much effort. She'll be two yrs old in a few weeks.

You also might try a grain free food. When I took my Golden off of grains for his allergies, he lost about 8 lbs.

Good luck!

[Karlin]

The Whole Dog Journal recommends not feeding only one food all the time for years -- generally a single food isn't nutritionally complete over the lifetime of a dog (plus it is boring and gest dogs fixed on eating only one thing and can make it hard to get them to eat anything else -- and generally I think at least some fresh 'real' food is healthier for a dog than only kibble. So if you are feeding a holistic kibble that you like, why not just alternate that with different kibble brands now and then (often people feed something new with each bag), and add extras or alternate with raw or cooked or a good quality tinned food. I rotate around a lot of different things, which is closer to a natural diet and more interesting for the dog than just kibble. In the Caring for your Cavalier section there are lots of suggestions on making cooked meals. Or just add some lightly cooked unseasoned meat, like hamburger, chicken, etc, some veg, a bit of yogurt -- there's a lot you can feed.

Good suggestions on food here:

http://www.roycroftcavaliers.com/manualfeeding.htm

[BarbMazz]

Like Karlin said above there, I switch my dog's food 4-5 times per year. I do stay within brand though. I feed Timberwolf Organics. They have a nice variety of flavors and my dogs do very well on them. I don't have a distributor near me, so I order direct from them online. Shipping is included in the cost of the food, and service is very good.

I mix in a bit of Merrick canned food with each meal (2x p/day). They have wonderful flavor varieties that are a lot like stews that people eat.

[Cathy T]

My guys get Primal frozen prepared raw...and I rotate through various protein sources. For the same reasons as Denise, Jake has always had tummy problems but with the raw we have no more upset tummies.

You've gotten some good suggestions above.

[My Boy Bentley]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Lots of good ideas. I appreciate it.

[Baneybunch]

I feed Madison Royal Cainin dry dog food. She's had it her whole life and loves it. Once a day, I add 1/2 a NuVet tablet - an herbal supplement recommended by our breeder. She is healthy and has no problems with obesity. Royal Cainin can be found at your local pet store.

[CavyMom]

Right now I feed Amber Nature's Variety Prairie, but I feed my other dogs a raw diet, and intend to switch Amber to that as well. As long as you stay with high quality brands you should be good - If it's just for weight control, though, limiting amounts is the way to go, also try adding green beans to help fill the dog up without adding many calories

[Seraphine]

I'm still looking for a food mine will enjoy eating. So far I've had him on Royal Canin, Orijen and Eagle Pack Holistic (in that order) but it doesn't seem to suit him cause it's a pain to get him to eat even once a day so next food I'm going to try is James Wellbeloved. Hope that is better for him cause otherwise I'm running out of options and will have to try lower quality foods, which I really don't want to do.

[CavyMom]

Seraphine - Can you get prepared raw diets where you are? I've had a few dogs that just refused kibble of any type, and do wonderful on raw diets, the prepared raw diets are a great option for people who want raw in a convient to feed form. Personally I like to balance out my dogs' diets myself, but I've done years of research to know how to do this properly.