feeding my akita

Question
QUESTION: can you please tell me what food should i feed my japanese akita? at the moment she is eating tripe and beef that i buy frozen from pets at home stores with a mixer
ANSWER:
Hi Tracey;
I am sorry you didn't care for my answer, but if you will check with your Vweterinarian, I think you will find he/she agrees with me.
As one who has had several dogs that had high liver counts and I had to put them on such restrictive diets to help them stay alive and get better. I am VERY careful of high protein and high fat diets.
Sometimes people mean well, but they use their own reasoning instead of scientific facts, and do harm to their children and pets, rather than protecting them.
Charlotte

Hi Tracie;
You are feeding a high calorie, high colesterole diet.
That can cause severe health problems in time.
I would feed her Iams, Science Diet, or Eukanauba, lamb and rice formula.
The senior formula if she is over 5 or 6 years old, certainly if she is over 8 years old.
Those foods would give her a well balanced diet, and all the nutrients she needs to be healthy.
They have formulas for puppies, young, active dogs, more sedate dogs and senior dogs. The formulas give all the nutrients needed to maintain health, according to the individual dog's activity level and age.
Charlotte

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hya sorry it wasnt that i didnt care for ur answer or that i didnt agree.  my akita is a female who is 1yrear old and i really would like to feed her food that is freshly made for her can u give me any advice on this please many thanks
tracy

Answer
Hi Tracey;
I wouldn't presume to recommend a diet for someone's dog.
They need to vitamins that particular species of animal needs.
I do cook for my dogs sometimes, but the base of their diet is dry dog food.
I used to feed Waltham's, but they stopped selling to pet stores, and my Veterinarian carries Science Diet.
That is a very good dog food, but mine just don't eat it as well as they do Nutro, Nature's Choice.
I feed the lamb and rice formula.
Check with your veterinarian for sources to find the requirements and amounts for your dog's weight and age.
You will just have to resarch all the Veterinary books to find out what they need, that is what I did many years ago.
It turned out to be so much trouble, and I couldn't be sure I got all the right things.
I make stew for them sometimes, but that is not something I would do on a regular basis.
I use LEAN meats, and more often than not use chicken.
I put potatoes,corn, carrots, peas, and green beans and a little celery in it.
The cabbage veggies give them too much gas and can cause digestive problems.
Don't use onions or garlic as they can be poisonous to dogs.
You must also make sure they get some whole grains if you are not going to feed them a commercial dog food.
Dogs DO NOT live and do well on meat alone.
NO PORK!!!!!
There are so many things that dogs, cats and other animals cannot have that we eat all the time, with no bad results.
Cats can eat something s dogs, can't and vise versa.
We love a little chocolate, but a little chocolate can kill your dog.
So, you see, unless you do all the research, and get all the information that an animal scientist has, you are taking too big a chance feeding your dog just a people diet.
They don't need the same nutrients, or the same amount of thewm that humans need.
I make a stew for my dogs once or twice a month.
When I bake a chicken, or make a chicken soup for us, I give a small amount of it to my dogs to just give them a treat.
They are very happy on a dog food diet. It is the love and companionship that makes them happiest, NOT how much trouble you go to to cook for them.
Charlotte
Charlotte