Boxers do bad with high protein and RAW diet?

[jboboxer]

My puppy Roxy has mange and I've been reading to cut the carbs/yeast and that it will help. So I was feeding her wellness with some chicken, but i was looking at switching her to orijen, since it seemed to have the highest protein and lowest carb.
Well I found a local place that sold orijen and the lady was saying that she has been told a few times that boxers dont' do as well on high protein diets and the orijen puppy has around 40% protein and she thought I should keep my puppy under 25% if possible.
She said that no grain diet is more important for mange control than how much protein. I ended up buying the orijen anyway and I'm mixing it with wellness, but I'm not sure I should get it again.

Anybody hear anything about boxers don't do good with high protein diets?

She believed highly in RAW diet, but I've been trying to read as much as possible about raw diets and it's inconclusive for me. Wikipedia was the one that showed both sides and I couldn't clearly determine one was better than another. If anything it seemed like if you didn't do the raw diet properly then it could be much worse.
Raw feeding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How do most people do RAW diets anyway? Do you buy a grinding machine or buy prepackaged raw food? I was given a raw diet sample pack

[gmacleod]

Originally Posted by jboboxer

Anybody hear anything about boxers don't do good with high protein diets?

Nope. There are many (many) people on this site feeding their dogs the higher protein kibbles, and doing perfectly well with it. There is no food in existence that suits every single dog, however, so if you look at ANY food recommendation, you will find someone with a dog that it didn't work for. It certainly is not the norm, however, and I think anyone generalising to the degree of "boxers don't do well on high protein" probably hasn't met very many boxers

As for raw feeding, there are many on this site - and an entire forum devoted to the topic. Actually very few people buy pre-made, commercial raw products. There are two main reasons for that - quality and price (both of which can be beaten by a wide margin if you "make" your own). No, you do not need to grind it. Your dog has a perfectly good set of grinders built right into his jaws that not only do the job required, but benefit from the exercise and cleaning that is provided by chewing.

[dsmit]

I just started switching Tyson to Orijen Large Breed Puppy from Natural Balance because of its higher protein and fat. Eventhough NB is grain free, its fat percentage was so low that it made his coat dry. So far, we both love the results with firmer stools and a better coat. The Orijen has a high conc. of Omega-6 and Omega-3 FA and the Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio is 2.6 to 1 which is great. The lower the better. This may help.

Take a look at this website to learn about the Fatty acids, their benefits and the best sources for them. The Dog Food Project - Nutrients: Essential Fatty Acids.

Hopefully this helps and like the previous post stated, every dog is different and every affects them differently.

[jboboxer]

Originally Posted by gmacleod

Nope. There are many (many) people on this site feeding their dogs the higher protein kibbles, and doing perfectly well with it. There is no food in existence that suits every single dog, however, so if you look at ANY food recommendation, you will find someone with a dog that it didn't work for. It certainly is not the norm, however, and I think anyone generalising to the degree of "boxers don't do well on high protein" probably hasn't met very many boxers

As for raw feeding, there are many on this site - and an entire forum devoted to the topic. Actually very few people buy pre-made, commercial raw products. There are two main reasons for that - quality and price (both of which can be beaten by a wide margin if you "make" your own). No, you do not need to grind it. Your dog has a perfectly good set of grinders built right into his jaws that not only do the job required, but benefit from the exercise and cleaning that is provided by chewing.

Do you believe that RAW is cheaper than kibble? I know you said that RAW do it yourself is cheaper than buying commercial RAW, but I mean comparing it to kibble.

[jboboxer]

Originally Posted by dsmit

I just started switching Tyson to Orijen Large Breed Puppy from Natural Balance because of its higher protein and fat. Eventhough NB is grain free, its fat percentage was so low that it made his coat dry. So far, we both love the results with firmer stools and a better coat. The Orijen has a high conc. of Omega-6 and Omega-3 FA and the Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio is 2.6 to 1 which is great. The lower the better. This may help.

Take a look at this website to learn about the Fatty acids, their benefits and the best sources for them. The Dog Food Project - Nutrients: Essential Fatty Acids.

Hopefully this helps and like the previous post stated, every dog is different and every affects them differently.

Roxy loves the Orijen, so I'll probably continue with it at least hopefully through most of her puppy life. It's very very expensive though compared to other kibble I've been looking at. I think I paid about 20 bucks for a 5 pound bag, which means it's probably going to cost me about 80 dollars for a month, while the wellness cost only about 30-50 bucks. So it's twice the price.

I'm giving her 1 cup orijen puppy and 1/3 cup of wellness twice a day. I was giving her chicken, but now I'm just giving her chicken for treats.

[SargeLuka]

Orijen imo is one of the best dog/cat foods on the market and has won the GLYCEMIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE'S PET FOOD OF THE YEAR AWARD, 2009 – 2010
The Pet Food of the Year is a global award presented by the Glycemic Research
Institute®, for the Best Overall Healthiest Pet Food .

Although one of the best pet foods i have heard that it is not recommended for Large Breed dogs under the age of 2 because of the high protein content . As it could make larger breeds grow faster which in turn is harder on growing joints and ligaments .

I have also heard that Orijen is the closest you can get to raw in kibble form .

[kayboxer]

Originally Posted by jboboxer

Roxy loves the Orijen, so I'll probably continue with it at least hopefully through most of her puppy life. It's very very expensive though compared to other kibble I've been looking at. I think I paid about 20 bucks for a 5 pound bag, which means it's probably going to cost me about 80 dollars for a month, while the wellness cost only about 30-50 bucks. So it's twice the price.

I'm giving her 1 cup orijen puppy and 1/3 cup of wellness twice a day. I was giving her chicken, but now I'm just giving her chicken for treats.

It may be a bit more expensive, but if you look at low quality kibble you feed twice as much. Reason...not enough protein, more grains and crap in food. So, if you compare how much low quality kibble you would go through compared to what you are using now, it really isn't that much expensive as you are buying fewer bags now compared to what you would buy with the crap food. Not saying it is as cheap, just saying not as expensive as you think.
I tried raw, it is great and my dogs loved it, I just had a harder time in the winter on where to feed. I tried the kitchen with a mat or old sheet but I couldn't keep them on it. I had to mop my floors after every meal they had. I'm sure others have better suggestions on where you could feed them with no mess but it just didn't work out for me. What you could do is rotate. Feed one meal raw, one meal quality kibble, or add homecooked meat or canned to the kibble (which is what I do). There are many options for you, just search the feeding forums and you will find one that fits your needs and budget.

[gmacleod]

Originally Posted by jboboxer

Do you believe that RAW is cheaper than kibble? I know you said that RAW do it yourself is cheaper than buying commercial RAW, but I mean comparing it to kibble.

That depends entirely on where you live, and what sort of sources you're able to find. Where I live, kibble is more than double the price you pay in Nth America and I can feed my dog meat bought straight from the supermarket - not even on sale - and feed him cheaper than kibble. LOL - not likely to be the case for you, since kibble is cheap stuff where you are.

However, this is a topic that has been raised quite a few times on the board. The consensus every time has been that the majority of raw feeders are able to match or beat (by a small margin) the price they paid to feed a premium kibble. They beat it by a larger margin if they also fed canned food or real meat in addition to the kibble.

Obviously, if it just happens that you (or someone you know) raises stock or does a lot of hunting/fishing OR you're the resourceful sort (there are a few on this board) who manage to advertise for and receive vast amounts of freezer burnt meat for free - then raw feeding becomes a pretty cheap option

More realistically for the average person, you can do things like buying whole chickens for your family instead of chicken breasts, take the breast meat off for yourself and feed the remainder to your dog (since whole chickens frequently cost little more than a couple of breasts, in effect you feed the dog for free). You can buy meat on sale and in markets, ask your butcher for offcuts, join co-ops with other raw feeders to bring down the price. The possibilities are many.

[jboboxer]

Originally Posted by gmacleod

That depends entirely on where you live, and what sort of sources you're able to find. Where I live, kibble is more than double the price you pay in Nth America and I can feed my dog meat bought straight from the supermarket - not even on sale - and feed him cheaper than kibble. LOL - not likely to be the case for you, since kibble is cheap stuff where you are.

However, this is a topic that has been raised quite a few times on the board. The consensus every time has been that the majority of raw feeders are able to match or beat (by a small margin) the price they paid to feed a premium kibble. They beat it by a larger margin if they also fed canned food or real meat in addition to the kibble.

Obviously, if it just happens that you (or someone you know) raises stock or does a lot of hunting/fishing OR you're the resourceful sort (there are a few on this board) who manage to advertise for and receive vast amounts of freezer burnt meat for free - then raw feeding becomes a pretty cheap option

More realistically for the average person, you can do things like buying whole chickens for your family instead of chicken breasts, take the breast meat off for yourself and feed the remainder to your dog (since whole chickens frequently cost little more than a couple of breasts, in effect you feed the dog for free). You can buy meat on sale and in markets, ask your butcher for offcuts, join co-ops with other raw feeders to bring down the price. The possibilities are many.

If the price is pretty much the same I'll probably stick with kibble, since it's a lot easier it seems. My mother was at her local pet store and the lady there told her she likes raw food, but said she would not recommend it for puppies. It's amazing how I keep getting different information.

[jboboxer]

Originally Posted by SargeLuka

Orijen imo is one of the best dog/cat foods on the market and has won the GLYCEMIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE'S PET FOOD OF THE YEAR AWARD, 2009 – 2010
The Pet Food of the Year is a global award presented by the Glycemic Research
Institute®, for the Best Overall Healthiest Pet Food .

Although one of the best pet foods i have heard that it is not recommended for Large Breed dogs under the age of 2 because of the high protein content . As it could make larger breeds grow faster which in turn is harder on growing joints and ligaments .

I have also heard that Orijen is the closest you can get to raw in kibble form .

I guess that's the question, the word "large breed" seems very vague. I've seen some refer to boxers as large and others as medium. I would consider a boxer medium size, but by definition for some it's any dog that's over 50 pounds, well the majority of boxers seem to by right at 50 pounds or slightly over. So if that's the agreed way of determining what's large, then it does seem boxers are large breeds.

I guess when I think of large breeds I also think of dogs that are known to have hip dysplasia. Boxers always seem to be on the last more than smaller dogs. I know a lot of dogs can get it, but it just seems that they are more common in boxers and dogs that are slightly larger.

Right now I'm not even doing 10% wellness and the rest Orijen. Maybe when her mange clears up, I'll do 50% wellness and 50% Orijen