- [Lenny] Hello, and welcome back to my channel
or welcome to my channel.
You won't be seeing my face today
because you're probably getting bored of it.
And also the footage today is based
solely on dachshund diet and my dachshunds.
So today I'm gonna take you through
what I feed my dogs and why,
because I did have a few concerns on my previous video
that they weren't being fed enough.
So I'm gonna be talking about what they eat,
how much they eat, basically all the details of their food,
but I'm gonna start this video
by taking you back through the routine.
You can see this in my "Day in the Life" video as well,
but I'm just gonna take you through the routine again now.
So firstly, today Nemo is eating a few more raw nuggets
than you would have seen in our previous video.
And he's having venison.
That's because he's had a very active day yesterday.
So he gets a slightly bigger breakfast
'cause I know he'll eat it,
otherwise he wouldn't eat it if he hasn't had an active day.
So I'm going to take him to his crate to eat that now.
And now it's time to feed the adult dogs.
So you would have seen in my previous video
that I do scatter feed for my dogs.
So that means that I scatter the food on the floor
so that they're encouraged to share
and discouraged from resource guarding.
So that basically means that they eat amongst each other
and they are very clever.
They know how much food they need.
And I will obviously top up their food
if I feel like they haven't had enough in that session
because they do have raw nuggets in the evening as well.
So I can give one of the dogs slightly more raw nuggets
than the other or whatever at that time.
So then once they've eaten,
I will clean down the floor with a disinfectant wipe.
So once the floor is nice and clean,
usually this means Nemo has finished his dinner
and I can come and take him out of the crate
and take them all out to the toilet.
So I wanna talk about what food we do feed.
So we feed a mixed diet of raw and biscuits.
The raw that we feed is the Country Hunter Natures Menu,
and we move between proteins.
So they have duck, venison,
sometimes they have turkey and rabbit.
They also have kibble, as I said before,
and they have the Enve dog food,
and this is their sort of medium range.
So it's a 50% meat food.
They also do a 65 and an 80%,
but we just feed the 50% because obviously,
they're getting a lot of protein in the raw.
The reason we've chosen to do this diet is
because I've just personally found it's the most effective.
So I do have a couple of dogs that have a grain allergy,
and I also have one dog that is very sensitive
to any sort of protein that's fed grain.
So she can't have chicken, for example.
So I initially moved on to the Natures Menu venison
because it seemed like a really good protein
for dogs that have allergies.
So we started on that and they just did fantastic on it,
but I did find that they were then losing
a little bit of weight and no matter
how much I upped the venison raw,
they seemed to still be losing a little bit of weight.
So I then added in the kibble and we feed purely this flavour
of the salmon because they don't seem to have
any sort of reactions to it.
And years into eating it,
they're not fussy with it, they still love it.
We also use this kibble as treats,
and we also use it as a distraction
for things like the postman or people coming round.
So they really do love this kibble.
Once I've done the scatter feed in the morning,
I then, as I said earlier,
I will top up the raw based on what I feel they had
in that scatter feed and also their body condition.
So that's a really good segue onto body condition.
So I don't feed based off of what it says
on the back of the bag, and I never have done.
I base all of my feeding off of body condition.
So if I feel like a dog is getting overweight,
then I will cut their food down.
And if I feel like they're getting underweight,
I will bring their food up,
and I'm really alert to their body condition.
So what you're looking for in terms of body condition,
is you are looking for a dog that has a waist,
but you can't see the spine or the ribs,
but you can feel the ribs if you were
to feel obviously in that area.
So with my dogs, that's what I'm always looking for.
With dachshunds it is especially important
to keep them of a decent weight.
They are actually better off underweight
than they are overweight due to their back issues
that they can get.
So I am very alert to their body condition
and making sure they don't get overweight.
Our miniature pincer when she was younger,
did have issues with her knees.
So that's luxating patella,
which is quite common in small breeds I believe.
So for that reason,
it's also important that she doesn't get overweight.
So again, I will adjust her diet
depending on her body condition.
She's in a fantastic body condition at the moment,
but I do find towards the winter,
her activity level does get a bit lower
and I think 'cause of the cold on her joints.
So that means that I will bring her diet down slightly
so that she doesn't gain any weight.
We have tried things like DIY raw
and for me as a vegetarian, I just find that very difficult.
I want to do the best for my dogs,
but touching real raw meat, I find really difficult.
I find the nuggets are almost disguised
and don't seem so much like I'm feeding raw meat.
And again, obviously kibble doesn't
really look like meat at all.
So I find that easier to deal with.
Now that is slightly selfish on my behalf,
but I want to have a compromise a little bit
and be able to feed them raw, but also be able to handle it,
which I wouldn't be able to handle it
if it actually was raw raw meat.
So there are plenty of other brands that do a complete raw.
There are some fantastic brands,
which I would definitely suggest going on to Google
and looking at the "All About Dog Food" website,
which I will link below.
And in there you can search for different raw,
different kibble,
and they give you a rating and a description.
So I'm always looking for foods that basically,
the first ingredient on the packet is meat.
And if the first ingredient isn't meat
and it's something like maize or grain
or something like meat meal,
then I will just instantly avoid it
because I want their primary food to be a meat content.
And then the rest of the content is fine.
There are loads of brands that are really super popular
that come up on the adverts and they make themselves sound
like they were really good food.
But actually if you look at the ingredients
on the back of the bag,
you'll see that the meat content is just not high enough.
So I always advise if you're thinking about changing food
or if you're concerned that the food
that you're giving isn't the best,
then just read the ingredients and have a look at them
and process them and go through it
and assess what you're feeding.
So again, I'm gonna keep repeating myself in this, but they,
I do base it purely off of their actual body condition.
I don't base it off of the recommendations.
And as I say, on the bags,
it will always say it's a recommendation or a suggestion.
So I would always start with what they recommend
or suggest on the bag and then adjust it
based on what your dog is looking like.
So if you're looking at them and they look hungry,
but they look a good body condition,
then you can add in things such as cucumber to their diet,
which really has zero calories in it.
And it's just something to fill them up a little bit more.
I also will change the treats.
So if I feel like they are
sort of looking a good body condition,
but maybe asking for a treat here and there,
I might give them something like fish,
which is again, a lower calorie snack.
And will last them quite long,
cause dried fish takes a little while to chew through.
So that keeps them occupied
and they won't be hungry during that time.
They do often like cucumber or carrot frozen.
So maybe try that or you can do things
like creating homemade treats
and making sure you've got an eye on the ingredients.
And also create some frozen treats in the summer.
So things like water and strawberries,
so they can just lick through that
and it will keep them occupied
if they are the type to beg throughout the day.
So that's my short little video on what we feed and why.
If you've got any further questions,
then please do pop them in the comments.
And if you like this video, then please like it.
And as I always say, it is dachshund,
not dash hound, not doxins, dachshund.
Cheers guys.