Pshhh, your Yorkies aren't real. I've never met them or pet them. You clearly are just making them up in your head.
... just kidding (for those who can't read sarcasm).
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Look, I've come a long way in the dog food debate. I've done a 360 and then back again. Do I maybe lean a bit more towards the 'holistic' side (I don't even like that word anymore)? Yeah, I do. But do I also think every dog is different? You bet. There are some dogs who DO NOT DO WELL on raw. There are some who do horrible on kibble. Some who do fantastic on homecooked and others who do not. There are some humans who cannot eat dairy or have gluten - doesn't mean there are not others who CAN.
The problem with trying to correlate the lifespan of a canine to their diet is that there are a lot of very profound factors that need to be taken into account. For example, people's attitudes about the value of pets as family members and the amount of money they're willing to spend on medical care, how veterinary medicine (both preventative medicine and diagnostic/treatment options) has progressed, etc. The fact of the matter is, stray dogs out on the street are NOT eating a balanced raw meat diet. They are getting by on whatever they can find. Dogs by nature are scavengers. And there are many dangers that a stray dog will encounter that will likely shorten their life spans.
I've heard from a few sources that prior to 'kibble', farm dogs were basically fed leftovers or scraps (i.e. culled or dead livestock) or in some cases sort of a cheap cornmeal mush. People weren't going to feed dogs any kind of valuable food (aka good meat) when many were struggling to feed themselves. Feral/stray dogs will eat anything they can get their mouths on from garbage to roadkill to raiding people's gardens to whatever they can catch, but they're definitely not eating the equivalent of what most people feed as a raw diet these days.
The fact of the matter is... dogs are some of the most unnatural mammals on the planet. So what is a 'natural' diet for an essentially man made animal? With the YEARS of selective breeding, modern dogs are about the furthest thing from a wolf.
Again, I'm not going to sit here and spout that kibble is the BEST thing for dogs. By any chance. In the grand scheme of time, it's a fairly new idea. Didn't really take off until the 1940's. Check out this history of kibble (I found it very interesting because I'm a dork like that):
Kibble Me This: The History of Dog Food - Neatorama
so, I mean, really? Did dogs get by prior to kibble? Yeah. And they've managed to survive as a species through the years.
I really believe homecooking is likely the BEST option if we all could have the luxury/time/money for it. But not everyone does.
I think we all need to do what's best for OUR individual dogs. Some are going to do great on PMR, some on pre-made raw, some on wet food, some on dry food, some mixed with both, some homecooked. Some may only be able to eat an RX food. There is no one be-all in dog food, IMO.
ETA: I still don't condone gross foods like Beneful and Moist and Meaty. or anything similar. They just gross me out
