What do I feed my husky??

With Miya’s puppies soon going to their new homes, we felt a good topic for today’s “TechTalk” would be feeding your husky.  When you bring home your new husky puppy, obviously you need to stop and get some food.  Many ask us what we have been feeding them, so they can get some of the same.  (It’s not good to abruptly switch foods).  Normally we use “4-Health” brand Puppy Food, which we consider to be a very good brand, and we provide a few meals worth to get you started.  Throughout the nursing stage, we make sure the mother gets plenty of great nutrition.  Beef liver and beef heart are the perfect items to feed the mother.  The mother, if not fed properly, will “have the life sucked right out of her” as our vet puts it.  Not only is this diet good for her, but the nutrients make it through to the mother’s milk for a healthy start for the puppies.   Our goal is always healthy puppies. 

 When puppies are brought into their new homes, obviously it then becomes the choice of the new owner.  I won’t get into the comparison of dog foods today, but I will say huskies do need a higher energy diet.  The more active they are, the more quality food they need. 

We feed our Huskies (in addition to high quality kibble) beef heart, beef liver, beef tongue, and beef tail.  The kibble (usually 4-Health, or sometimes also Tractor Supply’s Hi-protein blend) is always there for them, and we supplement the beef goodies.  Kibble can be left out for them to come and go as they please.  They typically do not eat too much.  The beef is a couple times a week as a treat.  They don’t need as much as they do as nursing mothers.

A lot of research and leg work has been done to find what we believe to be the best brand of food out there relative to the cost.  Obviously there are MANY brands out there, and there is a large range of good food to bad food, and high cost to low cost.  Many owners are more than willing to spend the extra amount to get the best possible brand for their Husky, but if you own more than one, that can be a huge financial burden. 

Brands like Blue Buffalo and Taste of the Wild are always recommended brands if the cost is not prohibitive to your budget.  We don’t recommend the off brands or even the Purina brand because they contain many ingredients that aren’t recommended by most dog nutrition experts.

So what is the solution?  What brand or brands have the best quality for a reasonable price?  After many years of trying different kinds, (Diamond, Retriever, Kent, and other mid-grade brands) we found the one we will be recommending at least for now:

The “4-Health” brand, found at Tractor Supply, in our opinion is the best quality food for the cost.  It comes in many different styles and flavors, including puppy food and canned food.  We give the puppy food to not only the puppies after being weaned from their mother, but also the pregnant and nursing mothers.  We also will start the weaning process with the canned soft food to help ease the transition. 

We will always supplement the beef liver and beef heart for optimal nutrition, but we feel this is the best day-to-day nutrition relative to the cost.

Is it necessary for everyone to supplement with the beef, or other over the counter supplements?  That's up to you, and should be a discussion you have with your veterinarian.