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Originally Posted by DJDB  I just don't think it's necessary to make anyone feel bad about the food they give their own fur baby just because someone has read somewhere that this or that is good or bad. If the dog is 15 yrs old and happy as a clam eating Iams or SD or whatever, what difference does it make? As with human food, one day something is good for you, the next it's bad. As humans we tend to think we know everything, when in fact we don't. There are so many variables when it comes to the health and longevity of a dog or any animal that I doubt there's even any solid data to prove that one kind of food over another is better. Just cuz you read something on the internet don't make it true. |
I definitely agree with all this.
For sure. I've stated before on this forum that there are just too many factors involved to prove one way or the other. It's what we are all comfortable with. I'm not condemning anyone for feeding SD, you are doing what you and a veterinarian feel is best and that is great!
I am not trying to make anyone feel bad about what they are feeding. I've had people tell me raw is way better than kibble but I don't really care. I'm feeding what works for us so it's the same principle.
Also, yes, dogs lived long happy healthy lives before pet boutiques and 'high end' food stores, etc, but remember kibble in it's form is not THAT old so it's not like we had huge amounts of research to prove any thing any other way. It only became popular in the 1950's. So dogs before that were, I'm sure, mainly living off table scraps and other things and I am sure they lived fairly long and healthy lives as well so *shrugs* I would say we've come a long way since then though.... that's the beauty of time and change, we discover new things and find things that are better!
In fact, in 1964 the Pet Food Institute, a lobbying group for the now-gigantic pet food industry, began a campaign to get people to stop feeding their dogs anything but packaged dog food. They funded “reports” that appeared in magazines, detailing the benefits of processed dog food and even produced a radio spot about “the dangers of table scraps.” It just shows what marketing can do. I've also seen many dogs who have lived long lives eating a lot of table scraps and bad foods, but most here on YT are totally against feeding dogs "table scraps" whereas I don't have an issue with it so long as it's in moderation and nothing too fatty, junky, etc.
But I do agree, it gets ridiculous in general. Every day something new causes cancer, or whatever, and it comes a point where you just have to be like, ugh, whatever, lol. You can't really win either way. There's just certain foods I am not sure I'd feel comfortable feeding after I've seen dogs health improve greatly on grain-free 'higher end' kibbles.
But we can have the debate over and over again and none of us are going to agree, lol, so we're going to just agree to disagree here, I think. We each do what we are comfortable with. I don't believe dogs were designed to eat corn and a bunch of grains, it's just what I believe from the research I've done.