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Originally Posted by gracielove  It is really hard to find a truly "all natural" limited ingredient commercial food. If your dog has environmental allergies then food should not be that much of an issue and a good skin supplement should help with the problem but if he is reacting to one of the ingredients in dog food then that is a problem since most commercial brands have so many "interesting" ingredients.
If you are uncomfortable with raw feeding then home cooking is the next best alternative if you are really interested in all natural and limited ingredients. In this country it is not required for pet food companies to list all of the ingredients in the food or where the ingredients are sourced from. When you do your own cooking you know exactly what your dog is eating and where it came from.
Most dog food is cooked at very high temperatures at least three times in order to obtain the consistency and texture they need to produce kibble. Home cooking at least leaves some of the natural enzymes in the foods and they are much fresher and more digestible.
Contrary to what many will say, you do not need a degree in dog nutrition (no such degree exists anyway) to make nutritious dog food at home. None of use had to qualify in order to cook for ourselves so I'm pretty sure most of us are smart enough to learn how to cook for a dog. There are a lot of good sources out there to help you along. |
There is not a degree for cardiothoracic surgery either, but I would not let my general internist perform heart surgery on me. Animal nutrition is a specialty that veterinarians can receive advanced training and certification in, like human doctor specialists.
A dog's nutritional needs are much more precise than a human's. That is why dog food companies perform feeding trials and employ experts to formulate the foods. Blue Buffalo had a product a couple years ago that had an imbalance of two nutrients -- the imbalance made many dogs very sick and the food was pulled.
I can eat just about any unbalanced diet and live for years without serious ramifications. But if I fed my dogs an imbalanced diet for 3 weeks, they would likely become seriously ill. I trust my vet when he tells me this.