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Kokoda as of today

denali

Well-known member
If this is in the wrong spot, i apologise, you may move it. I had no idea where to put this!

I am warning you, a lot of blabbering!

With so many health problems in our breed i was always going to get insurance for my little boy Kokoda.
I got around to it and did that this morning!
After going through countless brochures and websites for what seemed like a million insurance companies i found one that I was happy with.

So he is officially insured as of now!
We just have to go to the vet and get them to sign a form saying he is healthy so that we can't scam any money out of them i supppose.
But the vet is just down the road and we are allowed to visit to say hi at any time, so we might do that tomorrow afternoon.

The other thing is, I would like to change what food he is on.

He is currently on what his breeder has used for 20 years, Royal Canin junior.
Our breeder ususally keeps them on it until they are 12 months.

He gets some tuna, sardines and raw mince and a few assorted veges on his food.
With an occasional omega 3 supplement.

I also give him suitable left overs, such as pasta sauce and veges.
He LOVES beans, apple, carrot, blueberries and banana!
But he only got a little bite of my banana this morning becuase they are SO expensive here!

He is healthy and his fur is lovely and shiny, but
I still wanted to start feeding him raw. He already gets chicken necks every morning, and other bigger bones every now and then.
But the problem with raw is that I can't see where I will find the time to prepare his food.
So I was looking into Ziwipeak. I know it is expensive, but if it keeps him happy and healthy nothing is too expensive.
Plus I have heard you don't have to feed them as much of it as other dry food.

Does anyone have experience with Ziwipeak?
I have read on a few other sites that people like it.

And I was thinking a premade BARF rosette? (like those little pre packaged patties or i saw them in rolls once)
Who feeds their dogs these?
I have a friend that gets it delivered to her house for her German Shepherd and her dog is looking great. She has the shiniest coat!
So I might get it from there.

I am also looking into the coconut oil. I read on here somewhere about cocotherapy oil, what is peoples experience with this?
Someone also kindly sent me the link to an Australian coconut oil once, but i admit I never got around to trying it.

So what do you guys think?
Any reccomendations on ZiwiPeak? Premade raw? Coconut oil?

I am open to ANY suggestions, I love my puppia harness that I got upon reading your reccomendations.
So i trust you!

EDIT:
I am also interested in your dogs favourite toys/ chews.
I need a few new toys because Kokoda is obsessed with any rope part on the toys i have for him.
He chews them apart and pulls out all the little threads and I am worried about them getting stuck somewhere inside of him if he eats it.

So, more reccomendations!

Here is a photo of Kokoda for reading all of that, we just got back from the dog park and he is tired!

Kokoda 21-09-2011 by KokodaTheCav, on Flickr



Thanks everyone! :thnku:
 
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What a cutie!!!!

Just wanna kiss him!!! We do feed Gracie the raw pre made patties that are balanced meals. We use a brand in the USA, but Gracie does get ZiwiPeak treats and seem to be very healthy and tasty. I know at least a couple of folks here from Australia really love ZiwiPeak raw products. Someone has also mentioned a smaller Aussie brand that sounded great, but can't recall the name.

We do feed Gracie less food overall with raw diet and her poops are smaller and firmer... Unless she has been sneaky and snared something she shouldn't! :p

Karlin has very good info here on selecting a dog food. I know there are some who have raised concerns about when to transition a puppy to raw.... i.e. doing it too early. I do not know about that since Gracie was older when we made that transition. But maybe someone here who understands the potential danger will post.
 
I hear you on the bananas!! We live in Sydney and they are SO expensive :( Too bad because I and Brooklyn both love them!! She gets them stuffed into a Kong once and a while and then I freeze it and she is in heaven.

Onto food...I feed Brooklyn Ziwi Peak. It works out to be about $2.40 AUD for her per day. Oh, and if you do go with Ziwi Peak, you can get it much cheaper from this Australian site called Oz Pet Shop.
http://www.ozpetshop.com.au/product_info.php/manufacturers_id/57/products_id/2468
I only buy from here as it is $9 cheaper per bag (vs. other online shops and in stores)! Big savings!! Plus, they do free shipping all over Australia for orders over $150....so I get 4-5 bags at a time (there expiry dates are usually a year away, so you are always fine on that) and maybe some treats/chews/toys/etc. Way worth it for the savings you get!! We just store our extra bags in a cool dark cupboard and make sure to always check the expiry date. One 1kg bag will usually last about 11-15 days for a cav (really depends on teh size of your dog and while they are a pup you will get more servings out of it). So really, ordering a bunch of bags to get the free shipping is really only ordering about 2-3 months worth which is nice to have anyway.
Brooklyn does great on this. And she goes bananas for it. The smell, the taste everything. I wanted to do raw too, but Ziwi was just more convenient. Also, I use the little "jerky" pieces for training and stuff too which is really easy. She will do anything I want for her Ziwi Peak, it was not that way for kibble ;)

I have no idea about the frozen patties. I am sure they are both great and people on here have used both as a "raw" diet. It really comes down to what you want to do and your lifestyle. I like that with Ziwi Peak I can put it in a puzzle toy for her or a food play toy and I like that I can leave it and go if I need to. Also good for traveling or if you are going to a friends house or whatever since it is just freeze dried. But really, that all comes down to what you want personally. I feed Brooklyn with a bobble food toy called Bob-A-Lot in a size mini: http://www.ozpetshop.com.au/product_info.php/products_id/2760
when I leave in the morning, that way she has something to play with to keep her busy. It worked great with Kibble, but also works good with Ziwi Peak.
The Kong Genius works good with Ziwi Peak too. I put some pieces in there and it takes her about 30 minutes to get it out!
http://www.ozpetshop.com.au/product_info.php/products_id/3110

Oh, by the way, you can get all of these most anywhere, but I just put the links all from the same store in case you ordered for the free shipping :)

Now onto toys and chews!!
Brooklyn is obsessed with these and they have lasted ages. Great chew toy by Nylabone:
http://www.petsplus.com.au/pet-shop.asp?id=1677
Also, Kangaroo tendon and beef tendon (I use mostly Kangroo) are great, lowfat, really safe and take ages to knaw on. Brooklyn goes nuts for these:
http://www.petsplus.com.au/pet-shop.asp?id=1549
http://www.petsplus.com.au/pet-shop.asp?id=1672


I hope that helps! I tried to list all Aussie sites for you :)
 
I hear you on the bananas!! We live in Sydney and they are SO expensive :( Too bad because I and Brooklyn both love them!! She gets them stuffed into a Kong once and a while and then I freeze it and she is in heaven.

That is a really good idea! Maybe i will do that when they are not a million dollars per banana. I am excited for that day :)


Onto food...I feed Brooklyn Ziwi Peak. It works out to be about $2.40 AUD for her per day. Oh, and if you do go with Ziwi Peak, you can get it much cheaper from this Australian site called Oz Pet Shop.
http://www.ozpetshop.com.au/product_info.php/manufacturers_id/57/products_id/2468

That is not too much per day, i would say Kokoda would be about the same. It is pretty much just one less take away coffee during the day! Even just half a takeaway coffee at some of the shops around here! Thank you for that site, I will order it from there. Any saving is good even if it is only $9 per bag. It adds up in the long run!


I feed Brooklyn with a bobble food toy called Bob-A-Lot in a size mini: http://www.ozpetshop.com.au/product_info.php/products_id/2760
when I leave in the morning, that way she has something to play with to keep her busy.

I was actually going to buy this the other day! I thought it looked fun. Kokoda needs a few things to keep him busy, he gets quite bored if we leave him alone for to long.


Thank you, I will probably order the toys with my ziwi so i can get free shipping ;)

It definiteloy helped. Thanks BrooklynMom!
 
Just wanna kiss him!!!
And he wants to kiss you! He loves cuddles and kisses. He can't get enough!

We do feed Gracie the raw pre made patties that are balanced meals. We use a brand in the USA, but Gracie does get ZiwiPeak treats and seem to be very healthy and tasty. I know at least a couple of folks here from Australia really love ZiwiPeak raw products. Someone has also mentioned a smaller Aussie brand that sounded great, but can't recall the name.

We do feed Gracie less food overall with raw diet and her poops are smaller and firmer... Unless she has been sneaky and snared something she shouldn't! :p

Yes, i will definitely find a good balanced meal. I will try and find that small brand, i think someone was telling me about it the other day actually.

Karlin has very good info here on selecting a dog food. I know there are some who have raised concerns about when to transition a puppy to raw.... i.e. doing it too early. I do not know about that since Gracie was older when we made that transition. But maybe someone here who understands the potential danger will post.

I will try and find a few other posts and read up on the transitioning to raw, i might even PM Karlin. I didn't realise there could be a problem. Thanks for pointing that out.
I knew i could count on you guys!

I have decided i am going to buy the ziwipeak when my royal canin runs out. I still have about 2kg of it because i buy the big bag as it's cheaper :)

I will read about the transition to raw and if it is safe to do so i will start adding a pattie to his evening meal so he can get used to it. Then I can slowly take the royal canin out of his diet and start adding ziwi. So he will only be on a partly raw diet.

GraciesMom, do you brush gracies teeth? That is one of the reasons i don't want to go completely raw, i think the kibble / ziwi is great for cleaning their teeth. I do give him bones and occasional pigs ears, but i don't think they do a huge amount. I do brush his teeth about once a week.
He loves it!i don't know why, because i feel so rough and mean, but he just loves it.
 
Butting in on your question to GraciesMom :)
I have been reading a lot about kibble and cleaning teeth lately, for some reason the subject has come up in some online things I read and what they are saying is that kibble might not really clean teeth at all, more of a marketing ploy or old fact. Now I have no idea if this is true or not, but thought I would through it out there! Bones and teeth brushing are best anyway. And things like Bully Sticks are great for the teeth too! Brushing is good to get your dog used to because that is when I can really get in there to the individual teeth. Brooky doesnt mind (as long as she is tired and half asleep!) and I find I am better able to get gunk that kibble or bones ever would, so keep that up!

On a banana side note b*n*n* (ha, that icon was too perfect not to use!), I have found that the grocery usually has some "almost bad" or bruised/overripe bananas on sale from time to time for WAY cheap (just ask the customer service counter at Woolworth or Coles or where ever you go). Obviously I don't eat them, because they are a bit past their prime, but I do buy them for banana bread...and for Brooky! i get home, mash them up and use them in kongs, spread on dental toys, put in ice cube trays to say for the next time I am out etc. I always freeze them because it take her longer to eat and will keep for a while and stop the ripening process. What I do with the kong is put Ziwi Peak in (he Kong holds about 3-4 grams of Ziwi Peak so I always just take that out of her food allotment for the day and cover the opening with bananas (or cooked pumpkin!!) and freeze. She loves it. Sometimes I also put a little vegemite on the top tiny tip hole. It makes her go bonkers :)
If I just want to give it to her as something to do, I will spread the banana/squash/peanutbutter in a thin layer on the inside (so her tongue can still get in the hole) and she will roll it around and play for ages trying to lick it all out.

Fun!
 
I feed Coco ZiwiPeak and have no problems rotating through their flavor varieties either. Her poop is solid as ever, coat is super shiney, and she has tons of energy. I also sometimes feed Vital Essentials, they are freeze dried nuggets that come in beef or chicken.

I would love to feed Coco raw, but like you find that I don't really have the time to prepare it, as I can hardly even cook for myself lol...

If I had a large breed dog, I would think twice about ZiwiPeak, because it is rather pricey. A big dog would go through bags pretty quick. With Coco, one of the small bags lasts us a month so I am perfectly happy with it!
 
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