Pork as a protien source ???

[Spruce Ridge Beagler]

I heard a while back that dogs have trouble digesting pork. Anyone else know anything about that.

I recently tried a dogfood that list "Porcine" as its first ingredient and my dogs dont seem to be pasing good stools with it. One stool will be ok and the next will be soft with some blood in it.

Had three samples tested and all were negative ??

All coments good or bad will be appreciated, thanks.

[Duke]

I like Bacon!!!!!!! Bacon bacon, baaaaaaaacccccoooonnn!!!!!! LOL I watch too many commercials.

With that said I dont know really accept that Lamb is suppose to be one of easiest for dogs to digest with fewest allergies changed my feed to Purina One Lamb and Rice and all my hounds do well on it. I am in the Pro-Plan and get 7 dollars of bags most the time keeping a bag of feed just over 20 bucks.

[big mike 50]

I heard from some mushers that pork is not good for dogs and I can't remember if they said it is the pancrease or the kidneys that it affects. That being said I also know a few guys that feed pork to their big hounds and one guy has six males out of one litter that are almost seven years old and still run bear and bobcat as well as coon three or four days a week depending on the season. Sorry that probably just made it more confuseing but I would like this to stay at the top for some good answers.

[Bobby Vest]

I feed River Bend 24/20 Porcine base and I have never had any problem in the heat or the cold. I don't feed my dogs any raw pork. I would say the blood in the stool has to be coming from something other than the feed. I have never seen any sign of blood and I notice their stool daily, just an old habit.

[Spruce Ridge Beagler]

Anyone else care to weigh in on this, how about it Black Book ?

[hogbody]

I feed Buckeye Pro Bits. The first ingredient is Porcine Meat Meal. My dogs look good. Stools are dark and firm.

[Joe Crace]

Pride 26/20 chicken and rice if you don't think pork is hard on your dogs ask your local Vet. and see what they say.

[Alabama John]

Never had a problem feeding smoked pork throwaways, bones and all. Occasionally go by one of the local Bar-B-que joints and get a box full and throw it in their pens. Its all cooked, nothing raw.

Sure puts a shine and hard weight on them. Don't feed anything else, including dog feed until its mostly gone.

[sgc]

I too heard that pork is hard for dogs to digest & not to give it to them. I have always supplemented dog food with pork, but have always cut off the fat & just fed them the lean meat. That said, I also used to save bacon grease & put it on food with no problems.
Purina Pro Plan is way over priced for what you get, even when belonging to the Pro club. Go to Costco & buy their Kirklands lamb & rice for a cheaper price and a better food. Look at the ingredients & see what a difference. Pro Plan is very low on meat. I fed it for years and then got wise when they forced the shredded blend on us. I started researching foods & learned how crappy Pro Plan really was. I also noticed a big inprovement on coat when I switched. I have since talked to a pro who has also verified the bad coat on Pro Plan.

[J Lance]

Lets think about this? If it was really that bad for the dogs would they be able to use it. I have never known a vet not to blame the feed first especially if they sell a particular brand. I am a distributor for PRIDE dog food and one of the best sellers is the 26/18 and the first ingredient is porcine meat and bone meal. Just because a feed cost a lot or has high protein doesn't make it good food. Every dog is different and some mixes work better than others. Maybe a little bit less protein or a completely different formula might help you out.

J Lance

[andrew_kirby]

Im not sure about the pork. What were the rest of the ingredients. A lot of dog foods mentioned may mention a meat, pork or chicken based product for the first ingredient but then the next 4 will be fillers..Even some of your higher priced dog foods are the same. a lot of corn fillers can do that to dogs. I have a pup right now that im finding out when i switched from diamond chicken and rice back to hi standard for a few bags that cant process the corn fillers very well and has the problems your talking about i switched back to diamond chicken and rice which is a big more expensive but doesnt have corn wheat or soy fillers in it and he is doing a lot better. I fed pride for a while but it is a lot of fillers as well.

[KyBeagleGuy09]

i use pride black bag i think its 24-20 and dogs do really good on it J Lance what does your 26-18 sell for and where u located

[Spruce Ridge Beagler]

Lance,
I never said my vet was blaming the pork, just asking what others experience has been with pork based dogfoods. My vet simply checked my samples and said they were all negative. The only change made was the diet so that to me is the logical thing to look at once parasites were ruled out, thats all.
I switched from Sportmix 24/20 to a pork based 24/20 and started seeing runny bloody stools. They never even got 100% pork based feed, it was still a 50/50 mixture over a three week period. Ime not blaming anything on the feed, it may just be a thing with my dogs. I know several people that have exceptional dogs feeding pork based foods, they look healthy and have good endurance.
Having said that it is common knowledge that dogs cant digest corn and it is widely used in dogfood so I would have to say that ALL manufactures would use whatever they could to save a buck. JMHO.
I just dont like seeing runny stools.
Thanks for your valued input on this subject.
Dave