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  1. #21
    Registered User clicker's Avatar
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    Vets recommend science diet because Hills, their company, gives the vet science diet for all of their pets for free. Most vets I know have admitted this and will tell you that most grocery store brands are junk. They have also admitted that they are required to know very little about proper nutrition, or quality of ingredients. Do some research online about dog food ingredients, because if the food your feeding says meat-by-products, you could be feeding your dog euthenized shelter animals, road kill, or any number of things. But there are some quality foods that are becoming more and more available.
    -clicker

  2. #22
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    It is hard to be picky on the trail unless you do post office drops, which I did not. My dog has never been happier or healthier than he was on the AT, despite the crap I was feeding him. BTW, human hikers end up eating a lot of crap while on the trail too.

  3. #23
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    Default Dog Food Resupply

    Quote Originally Posted by karoberts View Post
    It is hard to be picky on the trail unless you do post office drops, which I did not. My dog has never been happier or healthier than he was on the AT, despite the crap I was feeding him. BTW, human hikers end up eating a lot of crap while on the trail too.
    Yes, I had the same experience although I tried to use the post office. The post office may have been the biggest problem. Everything else worked out along the way. Winter has trouble getting her balance first thing in the morning now but if I touch her pack, that hangs by her bed, she perks right up.

  4. #24

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    my dog had over 6,000 trail miles on the A.T.(99% of the time on thruhikes) one year we used maildrops and it worked fine. most of the time i bought dog food about once a week or so at the stores along the way. alot of the bigger stores carried good brands like iams, and pedigrees not to bad. 5lbs bags at a time. after a few miles in 98' i ditched her pack and carried everything she needed over the years. she had a z-rest sleeping pad. food bowl, water bowl, booties,first-aid kit(including neosporin to keep her pads moist and soft) daily vitamins,pain killers,tick and flea control,treats, etc. at restraunts we shared burgers and i bought good canned food any time we hit a store in towns. she liked beef jerky and grandmas peanut butter cookies on trail, vienna sausages and spam she liked also. a few vet checkups along the way.(traildays in damascus over the years had a local vet. giving free checkups to dogs. during the event,might still do it?) its a whole different ballgame thruhiking with a dog. you have to hike thier hike,not try to keep up with the crowd or new friends you made. the journeys hard on them too. me and my dog did alot of dusk,dawn,night hiking to beat the heat.

  5. #25
    Registered User SteveJ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CrumbSnatcher View Post
    <clip> at restraunts we shared burgers <clip>
    chuckle....I think that one reason Phoebe gets so excited when I get her pack out is that she knows she'll get one - maybe two - burgers on the trip home!

    6,000 miles - wow! Lots of trail miles for both of you....part of me envies your freedom/ability to do that!
    Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.

  6. #26
    Registered User TheKO's Avatar
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    CrumbSnatcher -
    Very good information. This is what I was looking for. 6000 miles must mean your system is working!

    Rocco has a z-rest and does seem to enjoy that.

  7. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by TheKO View Post
    CrumbSnatcher -
    Very good information. This is what I was looking for. 6000 miles must mean your system is working!

    Rocco has a z-rest and does seem to enjoy that.
    anything i can do to help,let me know. bear was a big black hairy dog, proably had no buisness being on the trail? but i would never think of leaving her behind!she overheated alot. we took most afternoons off during the heat of the day. she power napped in the shade and i did numurous things. looked at maps,snacked,read,wrote,cleaned &checked gear and whatever i could do to kill time. night hiked alot,funny i never was nervous or worried about anything at night when she was with me. sometimes we'd just throw down camp for a few hours right on the path. between 2.00am til 5:00 am or so. get going before someone tripped over me. always starting hiking around 5:00 am or so on regular days. i remember in 03' a group of us left walnut mtn. shelter arould midnight or so and reached hot springs by sunrise,the group that went on to deer park shelter the night before,should of seen the look on thier faces when they walked into the smokey mtn. diner the next morning. they thought we yellow blazed into town, that was funny as ****!!! i prefer to tent,its alot more comfortable for you and your dog,and safer. someone could step on thier paws and hurt them. and keep the shelter campers happy too.

  8. #28

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    not to many of us carry all the dogs gear. i agree some of the dogs probably love carrying thier packs but i really liked carrying bears gear.and she loved me for it... i did have a light weight pack for her the first year and i made her were it a few times,IMHO if your dogs going to be wearing a pack, day after day, i like to start off in the morning without the dog pack on for the first mile or so to let them stretch out. and always took it off too the last 1/2 mile to mile befor camp,for the same reason.

  9. #29
    Registered User SteveJ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CrumbSnatcher View Post
    <clip>if your dogs going to be wearing a pack, day after day, i like to start off in the morning without the dog pack on for the first mile or so to let them stretch out. and always took it off too the last 1/2 mile to mile befor camp,for the same reason.
    Great idea...I never thought of that.....
    Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.

  10. #30

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    Have you considered bringing raw dehydrated dog food with you? I found a recommendation for it on this website:
    http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/

    It's a LOT lighter than lugging kibble around, and you just have to add water to it before serving. 5lbs should get you pretty far, and will help balance out the weight if you can only get kibble or canned along the way.

  11. #31
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    Totally missed this thread by a couple of years but im glad to see its here! Im looking to hike the trail with my dog this year sometime not sure how far yet probably gonna head south from NY for as long as my dog and I can hold up. Hes a bit crazy after an abusive youth, got him from a shelter a few years ago, but noting quite cheers him up as much as the woods so I cant in good mind go off hiking and leaving the poor guy behind, this is much a journey of discovery for him as well as myself. Just wanted to thank everyone for the helpful comments im trying to get my stuff together so I can leave in May.

  12. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by anie77 View Post
    Have you considered bringing raw dehydrated dog food with you? I found a recommendation for it on this website:
    http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/

    It's a LOT lighter than lugging kibble around, and you just have to add water to it before serving. 5lbs should get you pretty far, and will help balance out the weight if you can only get kibble or canned along the way.
    IMHO, This seems to a GREAT alternative option to regular kibble bulk. My 55lb labbe would require nearly 4C/day for The Honest Kitchen Verve label. A 10lbs 'box' holds 40-43C of food which is approximately 10 days of food for $61USD. If you bounce AND have some one drop for you, it looks like it could work reasonably well. Ultimately, I think buying the HUGE bag of dog jerky at Costco (no salt) along with unseasoned rice is a great way to keep 'em happy and healthy, pack light and provide the sustenance they'll need to hike day after day. Raw meat from the town grocer is as natural as you'd get when you make pit-stops.

  13. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by clicker View Post
    Vets recommend science diet because Hills, their company, gives the vet science diet for all of their pets for free. Most vets I know have admitted this and will tell you that most grocery store brands are junk. They have also admitted that they are required to know very little about proper nutrition, or quality of ingredients. Do some research online about dog food ingredients, because if the food your feeding says meat-by-products, you could be feeding your dog euthenized shelter animals, road kill, or any number of things. But there are some quality foods that are becoming more and more available.
    I did some research online. Did PETA supply any of the "shelter animals" used as pet food from their freezers? http://www.petakillsanimals.com/petasdirtysecret.cfm

  14. #34

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    Clicker, not sure if you support PETA but you may want to do some online research before sending you donation. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...s-in-skip.html

  15. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by anie77 View Post
    Have you considered bringing raw dehydrated dog food with you?
    Excellent idea!

    I've learned a ton about nutrition over the past few years and I won't get into the tangent now, but there is not a chance in hell I'd ever feed processed kibble to my pets ever again.

    The majority is nothing but grains laced with carcinogenic dyes, preservatives, and fat from God knows what animal.

    Yes, that includes IAMS/Eukenuba, Science Diet, Pedigree, Purina . . . . pretty much any highly advertised food is trash in a bag.

    People think that allergies and stiff joints and hyperactivity is 'just how Fluffy is' - guess again, it's that junk you're feeding him.

    Dogs are carnivores - have the digestive system and dentition and instincts of carnivores - and even though kibble has been around barely 100 years, we've somehow all gotten brainwashed that kibble is the only way to go. Marketing is a powerful tool, isn't it?

    Anyways, it's obviously a touchy subject and one of great importance to me, but PM me if you'd care for more info about diets for your pets . . . .
    Formerly 'F-Stop'

    If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one.

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  16. #36
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    Mail ahead if you have to or...... Like I did train your dog to eat more foods you eat and share meals. Google can tell ya what not to feed the dog, just avoid those foods or add them after cooking ect.
    AT 2008, PCT 2010

  17. #37
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    F-stop, do those bad dog food brands include the super-premium ones you'll find at specialty dog stores?

    That's what I feed my beast. It's really not THAT much more expensive than crappy dog foods. Works out to like 2 less drinks at a bar per month.

  18. #38
    Not committing until I graduate! Sassafras Lass's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ScottP View Post
    F-stop, do those bad dog food brands include the super-premium ones you'll find at specialty dog stores?
    Depends - some supposed 'higher-end' brands are still chock-full of grains and sometimes use questionable fats and preservatives.

    Pretty much, the techniques used for dissecting 'people' food applies to dog food as well. Ingredients are broken down into different sayings, and the Top 10 is the most important, as it will make up nearly 90% of the total end product.

    What's listed is by weight before processing - so that is inclusive of H2O and fat which must be removed to produce kibble. That skews things quite a bit.

    For instance, a label reading:


    lamb meal
    brewer's rice
    corn meal
    ground whole grain sorghum
    chicken by-product meal
    corn grits
    ground whole grain barley
    chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of vitamin E)
    dried beet pulp
    dried egg product

    Wonderful, right? Lamb right there at the beginning, chicken by-product meal too. But my that is a lot of grains!

    That '
    lamb meal'? It's indeed whole lamb, ground to a meal. A great ingredient, as it's already had the water and some fat removed. Exactly what you want to see in the #1 slot of an ingredient list.

    But then we have
    brewer's rice - which is actually the chaff and whatnot that falls to the floor in breweries. We're not talking whole rice (which isn't healthy for dogs anyways), we're talking what is swept up off the floor, literally floor sweepings. It's filler.

    Corn meal is next - this is whole grain corn, which is incredibly difficult for carnivores to attempt to digest, and does nothing but spike their insulin. It's filler.

    Ground whole grain sorghum? Added for sugar - just filler.

    Chicken by-product meal? An okay ingredient - but not substantial. We're talking the leftovers that aren't used for human consumption - beaks, feathers, skin, feet, backs, etc. It's not awful, but not a real source of protein - a dog would naturally eat the muscle and organ meats and bones, and only 'by-products' if it were starving - dogs know where the real nutrition is!

    Corn grits
    ? Why more corn? Just filler.

    Whole grain ground barley? Just filler.

    Chicken fat preserved with mixed tocopherols? Fine, it's added to flavor this grain-filled concoction and make it palatable so the dog will actually consume it, and it's good they used a natural preservative, but it shouldn't be one of their major 'meat' sources, as it appears to be.

    Dried beet pulp? Fiber (not necessary) and sugar. Just filler.

    Dried egg? Fine - but more real MEAT is best!

    This food is clearly more grains than anything else, despite how the ingredients are divided.

    See how deceiving labels are? It's the nature of big business - keep it 'real' enough so that dogs aren't dying left and right due to lack of nutrition, market the heck out of it, and sit back and let the dough roll in.

    This food? IAMS.
    Formerly 'F-Stop'

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  19. #39
    Registered User Paisley1985's Avatar
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    I know this is a really old post - but i thought I would revive it a little. A really light way to go for dog food - is just like people food - dehydrated! You can cook and dehydrate your dogs food yourself, or buy dehydrated food in bulk like Honest Kitchen Force. ( http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/prod...FYJdtgodQWJZKA ) Of course using dehydrated food equals needing to have water available, and warming it up. So you do have to take that into consideration. As for re-supply - I'm planning on doing it with mail pick ups. Nutrition is SUPER important and I don't want to worry about a place only having poor quality food available when I know my dog needs high quality nutrition to make it through something as tough as a thru hike!

  20. #40

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    Quote Originally Posted by Paisley1985 View Post
    Nutrition is SUPER important and I don't want to worry about a place only having poor quality food available when I know my dog needs high quality nutrition to make it through something as tough as a thru hike!
    I think this is the real essence of it all.

    argue as you will over the quality of ingredients, but veterinarians do in fact study how the body breaks down the food that is put into it, more than you might think, and in ways that may not be very palatable to most people. Suffice it to say that the entire process of breaking down food is studied directly from the stomach and intestinal contents, and that necropsy can reveal information about how food affects the body as well- vets may know more about how dogs and cats process food than your human doctor can concretely say about how you process what you put into your body.

    Corn, wheat, beef and chicken are the prime culprits for dogs with food allergies (which can result in ear and skin infections as the previous poster mentioned), however that doesn't mean they are bad for all dogs. It is more important to keep your dog on a consistent diet that meets his or her pre-existing health needs (i.e. high fiber, low fat, or urinary stone prevention. . . whatever). Constantly changing diets, adding table scraps, adding high fat foods, all can cause GI issues, primarily vomiting and diarrhea, but not limited to that. Obviously both of those are bad outcomes on the trail.

    It would be best to consult your veterinarian about your dog's specific health needs, and keep them informed about your plans on the trial. They may have suggestions (the much maligned Science Diet makes a high calorie working dog formula), they may be willing to prescribe you preventative medications in the event that you have to switch foods, or that you encounter unexpected microbes/illnesses/insects along the trail. If your vet doesn't seem knowledgeable about your dog's trail needs, perhaps you should look for a vet who best meets your needs. contact your state's veterinary college for references or specialists who focus on nutrition. There are obviously many variations on diet, and no one diet will be perfect for every dog, but you owe it to your dog, as a dependent on you, to seek the best, most well researched, accurate information on how to preserve their health!

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