Dog food

“ To be patient, and not confound a headstrong disposition with vice, for some dogs that are troublesome to break, turn out the best.
I believe in high feeding for sporting dogs, and hard work. The fewer dogs you have and the harder you work them in reason, the better. The kennel food of our dogs is really the same as that of a pack of hounds, viz.: good Scotch oatmeal, after it has been kept for a year, horseflesh or mutton—I dislike beef—with a certain proportion of cabbage boiled up with it. Once a week I give a raw bone to each dog. ”

“ A change of food is of course desirable. Pointers, Setters, Retrievers, Beagles, Terriers, etc., etc., may have dry dog-biscuits—or soaked if preferred—given to them in a morning, and soaked stale bread—with water squeezed out—mixed with cut-up meat for the evening meal.
Boiled (or raw) paunches make a splendid food for dogs, and have great nutritive value. Boiled rice, flour, and various other meals are suitable, only must have a proportionable amount of flesh added to them.
Many sportsmen believe that flesh destroys a gundog's scenting power, and others that it makes thin dogs hard-mouthed. ”

“ Taking food voluntarily not only does the dog more good, but it is less worrying to the patient, for when one has to feed with the spoon or bottle it is necessary to give nourishment very frequently, whereas when it is taken voluntarily, more, as a rule, is taken at a time, and therefore it is not necessary to offer food so often. A good meat tea is made with equal parts of veal, beef, and mutton—say half a pound of each cut up very small, then slowly stewed for three hours in a pint of water. ”

“ The Food Question—When to Feed—Frequency of Feeding—Water. With but one dog in the household or on the premises, the question of food is not a serious one. The scraps from the table of a family of four should be sufficient to supply the entire ration of the dog, although occasionally it is advisable to give him a change in the way of scraps of raw beef, large, soft bones to gnaw upon, and by variety it might also be well, say once a week, to procure the meat or trimmings at your butcher’s out of which a broth may be made. ”

“ A very little of these in the regular food is passable, but do not attempt to make a vegetarian of your dog. Corn meal, in its place, is well enough fed occasionally, but as a regular food it is harmful, especially in summer, as it causes skin irritations, because it is too heating. Oat meal is some better, and rice, perhaps, the best of all, but any of these foods should be fed only occasionally. Some breeds, such as Yorkshire terriers, Maltese and the like do very well with little meat and some say they should not have it at all, but even this is questionable. ”

“ If any good is to be done it must be by dieting; and whatever food is given should be dry. Raw, or nearly raw, meat is the best food, for nearly all fat dogs put on this diet lose weight considerably, and at the same time improve in health by becoming brighter and livelier, and more ready to take exercise; but the meat must be given sparingly, say for a small dog like a pomeranian, one ounce and a half twice a day; and for a dog the size of a fox terrier, three ounces twice a day. The worst of this food is, it never seems to satisfy; in fact, a dog fed on raw meat always seems hungry. ”

“ Then when they begin to eat their food, the food does not reach the stomach at all, but simply passes through the openings in the throat into a receptacle before the dog, and the dog can go on eating the same meal over and over again. They thus enjoy themselves thoroughly for a long time. When the appetite juice ceases to flow, the process of feeding them in this manner stops, and they are given a real meal. ”

“ The natural food of the dog is flesh, and it is found that those in a wild state prefer it to every other kind of nutriment, but as raw meat engenders ferocity, it should not be given too freely, especially to house-dogs and such as are not actively exercised. The dog can subsist on many kinds of food, and it is a curious fact, that when fed entirely on flesh he will sometimes get lean ”

“ Well-boiled greens—or mangel-wurzel boiled to a jelly—are an excellent addition to the food of all dogs, and may be given twice a-week; but they ought to be discontinued during the shooting-season with pointers, setters, cockers, and greyhounds; and also during the hunting season with foxhounds, harriers, and beagles, as they are apt to render the bowels too open for hard work.
Page 484Flesh for dogs should be first thoroughly boiled and then taken out before the oatmeal is added to the broth, and left to cool. Indeed, some feeders think that the food of a dog should always be perfectly cold. ”

“ The raw meat tastes excellently to the dog; it eats for hours at a time; the secretion of gastric juice begins precisely after five minutes and is very active. With another dog which prefers boiled to raw meat exactly the reverse occurs. Broth, soup, milk—towards which dogs are usually more indifferent than towards solid food—often produce in sham feeding either no secretion at all or only very little, although broth, for instance has essentially the same taste as flesh. ”

“ Meat is the natural food for a dog, and it is a wise kennel man that can improve on nature. Be sure the meat is free from taint, especially at this time and when the bitch is nursing pups. The gastric juice of a dog’s stomach is a great germicide, but there is a limit. ”

“ If boiled vegetables, potatoes, cabbage, or some such, be mixed with them afterwards, it is not only more palatable, but better for the dogs, than the biscuit alone, and occasionally, say once in a week or ten days, a little flour of brimstone, in the proportion of about a teaspoonful for a fair-sized dog, should be mixed with the food. ”

“ Even when cow’s milk is given pure, nearly three times the quantity in bulk ought to be given than if bitch’s milk is used, and it is thus seen at a glance how a puppy’s stomach, which is naturally small, is over-distended. A dog’s digestive organs are arranged to receive food in a concentrated form—as, for instance, dogs in nature eat only meat, and until they get this food they have nothing else but the dam’s milk, which is also a concentrated food. ”

“ Persons having lap-dogs will moreover find the keep upon rice, properly seasoned, or soaked in gravy, less liable to render these creatures strong or tainted than the provender which is choicely selected from the joint provided for the family dinner. The warm meat too often presented to these creatures is apt to enfeeble their digestions; for their stomachs are soon deranged, and they never should be allowed to taste any kind of food which is not perfectly cold. ”

“ During the summer boil a cabbage with the food twice a week, for unless dogs have vegetable food occasionally they are liable to have mange and scurvy. In winter put mashed potatoes in the food sometimes, for these contain the properties for which dogs sometimes eat the coarse grass in some parts called couch grass, in others twitch. Once or twice a week a dog should have boiled liver and sometimes milk in which powdered brimstone has been placed. Always he should be able to drink clean water. A dog’s kennel should be in a dry, sheltered place and lifted from the ground. ”

“ When you go into the markets you may see whole dogs dressed for food, or cut up into pieces ready for cooking. These are not common yellow dogs, such as you saw in the capital of the Turkish empire; but they are the peculiar Chinese breed, sleek and hairless, which are carefully fatted, and prepared for market. I have no doubt that your stomachs revolt at the very idea of eating dog; but I cannot see that it is any worse than eating pork and fowls, which feed more or less on animal food. ”

“ If the dog refuse to eat more than three days, an ounce or two of meat (according to his size) may be given to keep him alive, without satisfying his hunger. Vegetable or farinaceous food should still be offered sparingly, and when taken, the morsels of flesh should be discontinued. Do no more washing than is necessary. ”

“ Greyhounds should be fed principally on animal food, such as sheeps' trotters or neats' feet, boiled or stewed down and mixed with bread, and given moderately in the morning and afternoon, (the dog never being allowed on any occasion to eat a great quantity at once,) or on other hand meat, as it will enlarge and strengthen the muscular fibre without increasing the cellular tissue and adipose substance, which has an invariable tendency to affect their breathing. ”

“ The dog must be kept exceptionally quiet, and prevented from drinking any water, as it only irritates the stomach. A liquid diet is absolutely necessary, such as Vichy water and milk in equal parts to drink, milk and white of egg or Benger’s food, and occasionally a little Brand’s beef essence. ”

“ Dogs not working can do very [397] well on straight dried fish, but for the working dog this ration is supplemented by rice and tallow or other cereal and fat; not only because the animal does better on it, but also because straight dried fish is a very bulky food, and weight for weight goes not nearly so far. Cooking for the dogs is troublesome, but economical of weight and bulk, and conserves the vigour of the team. ”

“ So great were my sympathies for them that sometimes I would give them a good breakfast in the morning; but it did not turn out to be of any real benefit. The additional meal made them sluggish and short-winded, and they did not seem to thrive so well. Good white fish was the best food we could give them, and on this diet they could thrive and work as on no other.
A goodly number of dog-shoes were very necessary on these wild, rough trips. Dogs’ feet are tender, and are liable to injury from various causes. ”

“ In this manner I have kept dogs from the polar regions, in comparative comfort, whilst many native-born and neglected have been scalded into fits, paralysis, rabies, or hydrophobia.
"In the hot season, with young dogs, raw meat should be avoided, except it be quite fresh, and then they should not be over-fed, especially if debarred of abundant exercise, and excluded from their own natural medicine, grass. A dog will often thrive better on raw meat than on any other food, and will grow larger ”

“ There is no doubt that dogs who continue with a good appetite through distemper do much better, and have a better chance of recovering, no matter how severe the attack may be, than those bad feeders who refuse food and have to be drenched. A little food taken voluntarily does much more good than a lot forced upon the dog; therefore I advise tempting the patient with a variety of diet, so as to get him to eat something himself—of course, given in small quantities, particularly when the case is bad. I always commence with soup and milk alternately, mixed with bread, biscuits, or rice ”

“ Neither should the nature of the food itself be disregarded. Oatmeal or ship-biscuit ought always to be given, if alone the better, else rice upon which gravy has been poured. Meat, when allowed, should be lean, and the coarser the better. Paunch or tripe is excellent food for dogs, and for a continuance I have found nothing agree so well. Horse-flesh or any [Pg 93] such filth is never to be allowed; this kind of food being very apt to generate diseases of the skin. Dogs will thrive on liver, but it is too valuable an article of diet for these creatures to be regularly given. ”

“ Dog biscuit day in and out destroys appetite and thrift. Shift every other day to table scraps, oatmeal porridge, cornmeal mush cooked with broth, or raw meat and bones. Give milk almost every day—not too much. Be sparing of the raw meat; a zest suffices. Tiny house dogs ought to have light breakfasts, with a hearty dinner around two o’clock, and nothing more. Dogs running out need much more food, otherwise they get into mischief. ”

“ Oatmeal porridge, rice, barley, linseed meal, and bone meal ought only to be regarded as occasional additions to the usual meat diet, and are not necessary when dog cakes are regularly supplied. Well-boiled green vegetables, such as cabbage, turnip-tops, and nettle-tops, are good mixed with the meat; potatoes are questionable. Of the various advertised dog foods, many of which are excellent, the choice may be left to those who are fond of experiment, or who seek for convenient substitutes for the old-fashioned and wholesome diet of the household. Sickly dogs require invalid's treatment ”

“ No puppy should ever feel hungry. With an old dog it is different; he has stopped growing. It is better to have a dog that has attained his full growth underfed than to give him all that he can eat. Milk and bread, or a little corn meal and a little finely chopped meat, should be given to a puppy, and plenty of it; but if you would have a healthy, wide-awake, grown-up dog, feed him sparingly. One meal a day is all-sufficient; more than that is unnecessary to his health. Prepared dog's food, made in the way of biscuit, is easy to procure. ”

“ They will bury or hide food, which they are unable to consume at once, and return for it. But the domestic dog, perhaps, gives stronger proofs of forethought; and I will give an instance of it. A large metal pot, turned on one side, in which a great quantity of porridge had been boiled, was set before a Newfoundland puppy of three or four months old. At first, hePage 44 contented himself by licking off portions of the oatmeal which adhered to the interior, but finding this unsatisfactory, he scraped the morsels with his fore-paws into a heap, and then ate the whole at once. ”