What do you feed and why?

[dr tim]

Hello all; just wanted to offer up my time if you have any questions about sporting dogs or food, etc. A brief overview of my company: We have been around over 8 years now and our formulas have been derived from working with sled dogs for about 20 years. I have 36 dogs myself and have competed in many races in the States, Alaska(they consider themselves a separate country), Canada and Europe. Our foods were built from first hand experiences of correct feeding programs to maximize the potentials of the dogs through nutrition as what I saw on the market was not working with out all sorts of tweaking. I got very tired of having to tweak the diet to eliminate stress diarrhea, for example.

We looked at what worked best, analyzed it and made it into a kibble. I have worked the Iditarod as a vet numerous times, ran it and have fed tons of feed over the years. Developed first in my garage we then took our formula and it took 6 plants to find the right place to produce the food. That was a huge learning curve, to say the least. We supply many kennels out there, including the kennel that won the Iditarod last year but also many field trial kennels. Proper nutrition based on the metabolic needs of the dog leads to some pretty amazing performances.

As a vet it is very satisfying as I am still a full time practicing small animal doctor in Michigan.

So, please ask away and I will be happy to share knowledge as best I can.

[jluther]

Dr. Tim, I e-mailed your company when I first came across your food--and was happy with the product answers I received. At the time, I also requested that you take the golden retriever off of the packaging for the formula designed for "the dog that prefers to scale the couch." While I don't know that my e-mail made any difference, I'm pleased to see that you have indeed changed the packaging so that the reputation of working goldens is not disparaged. My goldens don't so much scale the couch as leap over it. Perhaps I should change to a lower level performance food to eliminate this behavior?

Julie
Traveler - UH HR Gaylan's One With the Wind UD MH OA NAJ WCX VCX CCA
Piney - UH HR Truline Rio's Pine Creek SH WCX (Master passes)
Madison WI / National Mine MI

[JimB]

Dr. Tim, what is your opinion on corn in dog food? It seems that some people like it and others don't.

[dr tim]

Yes, we did change the dog to a husky just for you It is a sweet picture.

I have never been a big corn fan with high performance dogs, thus you won't see any in our formulas. 2 reasons: First is corn brings too much vegetable protein to the equation in formulating a food to its maximum. Second is the digestabiliy. I believe corn can work with proper extrusion so the digestability is high but often the machines are run so fast the digestability is , say, 80%. In a high performance animal that extra 20% of non digestable starch(corn, whatever) is what can cause the soft stools many of you may see when the dog is working. There are other parts of the equation with making a high performance dog food but this is one of the simplest things to understand. But shareholders don't always understand thus the machines are run very fast.

Momentum, for example is a 35% protein food and of that 35%, 94% of the protein is derived from animal sources. And we run the machine slower(slow cook) so we can get a 95% digestability of the starches. I can here Harry Caray calling this one "Outta here."

[kentdsr]

New to the RTF and already learning a lot! I have always tried to feed my dogs the best I can afford and appreciate the information here. I know buying in bulk will save money but my question is how long do the typical premium dog foods stay fresh? I use a container with a seal, but often wonder how soon the food starts to deteriorate after the bag is opened?

[SpinRetriever]

New to the RTF and already learning a lot! I have always tried to feed my dogs the best I can afford and appreciate the information here. I know buying in bulk will save money but my question is how long do the typical premium dog foods stay fresh? I use a container with a seal, but often wonder how soon the food starts to deteriorate after the bag is opened?

All depends on the temperature and if the food is kept out of the light, but I have been told from some experts that naturally preserved foods should be consumed within 3 months of opening the bag and 6 months if it is refrigerated.

[dr tim]

Keeping the air away from the kibble extends it and so does cooler temperatures. I need a few more posts to do PM's and threads. Here goes.

[kona's mom]

What's the deal with not being able to get bigger bags of momentum? Can't get online and my friend who runs a food shop keeps getting run around on when her order will be ready. Sending my dog down south next week and really needed that food

[kentdsr]

Thanks Spin Retriever and Dr Tim for the input. I do keep the food in an airtight container but think I'll move it to the garage during the cooler weather!

[SpinRetriever]

What's the deal with not being able to get bigger bags of momentum? Can't get online and my friend who runs a food shop keeps getting run around on when her order will be ready. Sending my dog down south next week and really needed that food

Petflow.com has them in 44lbs.