Interesting- Dog Food

[Woogie Man]

Keely Mama, I do agree with your last post. Though there are some obvious bad foods, there are some very good ones also. I especially agree that we should consider quality of life and not just how many years a dog lives. Thanks for clarifying.

[DreamsComeTrue]

Originally Posted by amandawash

Are you kidding me? So just because some reporter repeats something they were told makes it the truth? Wow. That's the problem with things these days, people hear something and just do/believe it. No one goes out of their way anymore to research and make their own educated decisions.

You can go ahead and feed corn, poultry by-products and animal digest to your dogs but I think it is a shame to promote that. I will continue wasting my money. My dogs are small enough that I feel the need to be proactive with their health and do everything I can to keep them nurished and healthy.

[Ellie May]

Originally Posted by Mitzis Mom

I'm really confused about dog food, home cooked and everything in between.

They don't like the really 'good' dog foods and my home cooking is not good for them when I don't put a looooooong list of supplements in it... and then they don't eat it anymore either...

So I guess I don't feed my dogs at all anymore...

You shouldn't have to put a long list of supplements in it. There is one company that offeres an all-in-one for homecooking and if you use human vitamins and minerals, you can likely get away with three.

Originally Posted by my2boyz

I tried home cooking for a while, they loved it but they had loose stools the whole time. So, now I do a combination of a 5 star food and a little cooked meat (lean beef or chicken breast) with rice and green beans over the top or sometimes I use the canned version of the kibble I'm feeding and on Sunday they get a scrambled egg over their food. This keeps things on an even keel, they get what they need plus a little extra and it's not a ton of extra work or confusion for me. The whole supplement thing with home cooking was a bit over whelming and I don't want my dogs to starve to death if I ever have to board them somewhere...they're certainly not going to home cook for them so they do need to be used to eating kibble of some kind.

If you built up slowly starting with meat and carbs, adding veggies, then oil, then supplements and this lasted for more than a week, that is confusing.

While I am in 100% agreement with doing homecooking the correct way, I have found that people make it sound easier than it is. It IS a lot more expensive. It IS more time consumer than kibble. And it IS stressful sometimes, especially if you are dealing with health issues. I have seen no research to suggest that dogs live longer on homecook than they do kibble.

That said, I do it because I am more comfortable with it and I only have one dog. It is just something I want to do for Ellie. Not that I like doing it but you know...

I think I had read what protocol you were using and I don't see how anyone uses it. It is a very confusing mess in my opinion. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

As far as boarding, Ellie eats what she eats and if they don't like it, she wouldn't be staying. I just have family watch her but if I had to board, I would make them refrigerate the food and give it or keep it frozen, thaw it and give it. If they don't want to, they don't want my money very bad. Of course I would be willing to pay a bit extra.

[midgemoo]

Hi there,
This is my first post on YT, but I have been consumed by the dog food debate lately and I felt compelled to give my opinion here. My Yorkie is 6 1/2 and extremely healthy. After having her on Iams for about 5 1/2 years I switched her food to Candidae which she did not like whatsoever. Then we tried Innova and, once again she wouldn't even go near it. The last "premium" food that we tried was Wellness and she was on it for the longest period of time. Once we switched her diet to a so-called premium food her hair thinned, ears became very dry and itchy, she began rubbing her head in the carpet and licking her paws--all signs of nutrient deficiency. After doing a lot of reading and comparing this movement toward all natural, "premium" dog food to the same trend in human food, I began to wonder if it is just that--a trend. Now, of course I am not saying that it is worse or bad to feed the holistic, all-natural, etc. diets but I really don't believe that all commercial dog foods are as bad as people say here.
I find it hard to believe that people don't shun any thing positive written about commercial dog foods because they want so much to believe that it is so bad for their dogs. You can still be close-minded when all you believe is what a company says is bad of commercial dog foods. Everybody is out to make money and I'm sure there are some brands who are only making this food because they are jumping on the health food craze that trickled down from human diets. I don't believe in extremes and there are a lot of opinions here that are so [I]extreme.[I]
Now I feed my dog Hill's Prescription Diet, by -gasp!- the makers of Science Diet and she loves it. She is very happy and back to her old self. There is no corn or wheat in this food and she has a sensitive stomach but no problems here. I give her home made food often, like broccoli, fruit, baked chicken. Like many others, I have had dogs for my whole life, and most of the people I know have had dogs their entire lives as well. They were fed commercial foods and lived long, healthy, happy lives. Astute dog owners know when their dogs are happy and feeling well.
One thing I believe in is genetics. If your dog is predisposed to a disease then no food will ultimately save her, just like us humans. I eat a balanced, nutritional diet and so does my dog. We are very happy!

[Keely_momma]

Okay, midgemoo.. So, feeding a dog corn in the commercial food is just as good as feeding a dog a food with more meats in it?? Or feeding chicken as the first ingrediant in the commercial stuff is almost just as bad. Because once the chicken is cooked in the dog food. It should reeally be waaaaay fyrther down on the ingrediant list. 80% of that chicken is gone (Water and stuff)..

Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex is used in almost ALL of those commercial food. And as I have stated before, it is linked to CANCER. This is not in quility food.

So, feeding your dog great food is just a trend huh? Its just a trend to want the best for our dogs? When this trend dies out i guess i will just tie my dog outside because the whole, keeping her in the house and letting her on my couch trend will also expire. To call , feeding your dog High quality food, a trend, totally cancels anything intelligent in your post, Im sorry, strong feelings towards it.

[no3yshhc0la]

Originally Posted by midgemoo

Hi there,
This is my first post on YT, but I have been consumed by the dog food debate lately and I felt compelled to give my opinion here. My Yorkie is 6 1/2 and extremely healthy. After having her on Iams for about 5 1/2 years I switched her food to Candidae which she did not like whatsoever. Then we tried Innova and, once again she wouldn't even go near it. The last "premium" food that we tried was Wellness and she was on it for the longest period of time. Once we switched her diet to a so-called premium food her hair thinned, ears became very dry and itchy, she began rubbing her head in the carpet and licking her paws--all signs of nutrient deficiency. After doing a lot of reading and comparing this movement toward all natural, "premium" dog food to the same trend in human food, I began to wonder if it is just that--a trend. Now, of course I am not saying that it is worse or bad to feed the holistic, all-natural, etc. diets but I really don't believe that all commercial dog foods are as bad as people say here.
I find it hard to believe that people don't shun any thing positive written about commercial dog foods because they want so much to believe that it is so bad for their dogs. You can still be close-minded when all you believe is what a company says is bad of commercial dog foods. Everybody is out to make money and I'm sure there are some brands who are only making this food because they are jumping on the health food craze that trickled down from human diets. I don't believe in extremes and there are a lot of opinions here that are so [i]extreme.[i]
Now I feed my dog Hill's Prescription Diet, by -gasp!- the makers of Science Diet and she loves it. She is very happy and back to her old self. There is no corn or wheat in this food and she has a sensitive stomach but no problems here. I give her home made food often, like broccoli, fruit, baked chicken. Like many others, I have had dogs for my whole life, and most of the people I know have had dogs their entire lives as well. They were fed commercial foods and lived long, healthy, happy lives. Astute dog owners know when their dogs are happy and feeling well.
One thing I believe in is genetics. If your dog is predisposed to a disease then no food will ultimately save her, just like us humans. I eat a balanced, nutritional diet and so does my dog. We are very happy!

I couldn't have said it any better. That's pretty much how I was trying to get my point across as well. Good for you! Great post!

[midgemoo]

I'm not saying that feeding your dog good food is a trend, because I don't believe I am feeding my dog bad food. I am saying that most of the brands promoted on YT are also companies who are marketing their dog food for a profit. I believe that the overwhelming support and emotion seen in others' posts mean that many of these companies have been successful.

If you eat 100% natural, organic food with no preservatives whatsoever then I can understand why you would feed your dog the same way. I seriously doubt that all of us Yorkie owners eat a diet like this. I grow fruits and vegetables and try my best to eat well but I also love to indulge. I'm not paranoid about every bite that I eat. I am just not worried about my dog. I am confident because she sees the vet regularly and I spend a great deal of time with her everyday. A good friend of mine is studying to be a vet right now, in fact she's about to graduate, and she has taken courses on nutrition in addition to doing independent research. She agrees with me, she has her dogs on the same food and she gets no kickbacks from the companies.

[midgemoo]

Originally Posted by no3yshhc0la

I couldn't have said it any better. That's pretty much how I was trying to get my point across as well. Good for you! Great post!

Thank you! Also Keely_momma, I know about the moisture content and how you can be fooled by the amount of protein in a dog food, but the food I feed her has venison and venison meal...and like I said before, I always save meat for her when I cook for myself. Her food doesn't have Menadione Sodium Bisulfate in it, but there are so many things that cause cancer or purportedly cause cancer that you really can't avoid it in life. If I were worried, I wouldn't feed this to her. The healthiest person or dog in the world can get cancer, and the most unhealthy can live far longer. I try to stay aware but at the same time not get caught up in a craze.

[Keely_momma]

Okay.

The main difference between commercial dog food and HIGH quikity dog food.

Commercial brands, like pedigree, iams and purina. Spend ther money on T.v commercials, billboards and other COMMERCIAL things.

HIGH quility food such as wellness, orijen etc. Spend money on the stuff that goes into food. They do not use the cheapest stuff they can get there grubby hands just so they have most of the money to promote the bad product.


The reason dogs prefer low quility food in regards to taste, is the same reason most people like the taste of a nice greasy hambuger from Mcdonalds.
They spray it with fat which makes the crap, taste good. Because the ingrediants themselves, cant do that. Not only is that very unhealthy for your dog, but just gross.

[yorkiepuppie]

midgemoo &
no3yshhc0la

i think it's fine you want to feed your dog whatever... (actually i don't think it's fine. i think it bad) it is unfortunate that you want to feed your dog lower quality dog food. i find it hard to believe that you say they are thriving on junk food, but maybe your dog is allergic to something in the premium food you tried? Yes, kids will love mcdonalds food and be happy with it if you feed that to them all the time. but that would still make you an awful parent if you did.

my problem with recommending crappy dog food is that people that don't know any better but are trying to do their best will read it and think that it's good to feed their babies commercial grade dog food.

yes, it is totally a freedom of choice what you feed your baby. but when i first had a rescue cat, i fed him crappy commercial food, because it was recommended to me by a pet shop owner. i also fed milu bad doggie food because it was recommended to me by her breeder. i am angry that they misled me into thinking those were quality foods for my babies. i think that if people haven't done research and they don't actually know what's good for the animals, they shouldn't recommend it to others!

people used to think that you spank the dog and rub it's nose in it's 'accident' to teach them not to have accidents. people used to think that you teach your doggie by punishing them for doing bad things. but most of us know better now, and are working with our babies through positive reinforcements.

the trend you are talking about is called learning, discovering, and growing. people now know a lot more about doggies then they used to.

[no3yshhc0la]

I really dislike how certain people post about this stuff. I understand people are going to get defensive because this's such a strong popular topic, but people don't need to get snippy with one another, saying people's posts arn't "intelligent" I'm sorry but some people just need to get over the fact that everyone is different. You cannot change everyone's mind about dog food. I'm sure everyone has heard a million times how bad this food or that food is because it has ingredients that can cause cancer in it, they've only been known to, it doesn't mean that just because your dog eats that food that they're going to automatically get it no matter what. I really love this site, but I'm so very close to leaving it. I read on another thread that one member quit this site because she was yelled at by other members because of a decision that she made for her dog. That's just really sad.

[Keely_momma]

Originally Posted by midgemoo

, but there are so many things that cause cancer or purportedly cause cancer that you really can't avoid it in life. If I were worried, I wouldn't feed this to her. The healthiest person or dog in the world can get cancer, and the most unhealthy can live far longer. I try to stay aware but at the same time not get caught up in a craze.

Well obviously any dog can get cancer. But WHY greater the risk by feeding things that cause cancer? Or greater the risk of liver failure by feeding foods sprayed with fat? When you could get a food that deosnt do that, and LOWER the risk.

Just because spaying a dog doesnt tottally mean that my dog wont get cancer, Doesnt mean i am not going to spay because the dog can still get cancer. I do it to LOWER the risk (BY almost 80%). of course, and to prevent a litter of puppies being born and taking the place of dogs on death row in animal shletrs

[Ellie May]

Originally Posted by midgemoo

I'm not saying that feeding your dog good food is a trend, because I don't believe I am feeding my dog bad food. I am saying that most of the brands promoted on YT are also companies who are marketing their dog food for a profit. I believe that the overwhelming support and emotion seen in others' posts mean that many of these companies have been successful.

If you eat 100% natural, organic food with no preservatives whatsoever then I can understand why you would feed your dog the same way. I seriously doubt that all of us Yorkie owners eat a diet like this. I grow fruits and vegetables and try my best to eat well but I also love to indulge. I'm not paranoid about every bite that I eat. I am just not worried about my dog. I am confident because she sees the vet regularly and I spend a great deal of time with her everyday. A good friend of mine is studying to be a vet right now, in fact she's about to graduate, and she has taken courses on nutrition in addition to doing independent research. She agrees with me, she has her dogs on the same food and she gets no kickbacks from the companies.

The way I see it is, the only "kickbacks" that a vet gets for selling these foods is the profit they make and they could make that same profit from "holistic" foods if they wanted to. Vets do get free dog food from these companies while they're in vet school though and some of them just continue feeding it because that's what was recommended to them. As for as nutritional classes in vet school, there may be some good ones but most of them are spnsored or taught by pet food companies, so they are a bit biased.

I lean toward the more "natural" foods but they definitely have a lot of flaws that are hard to explain away. There is one type of Science Diet that I would consider feeding if I had more dogs. It is in their more natural line but far from the perfect food.

That said, I dont think an itchy dog rubbing itself means a nutritional deficiency. It could've been an allergy. My Yorkie used to be on Science Diet. She threw up every week or two and some of her hair was rough. She also always had a dry nose. It didn't work for her but as far as vitamins and minerals go, I wouldn't say that Science Diet is deficient.

[no3yshhc0la]

Originally Posted by yorkiepuppie

midgemoo &
no3yshhc0la

i think it's fine you want to feed your dog whatever... (actually i don't think it's fine. i think it bad) it is unfortunate that you want to feed your dog lower quality dog food. i find it hard to believe that you say they are thriving on junk food, but maybe your dog is allergic to something in the premium food you tried? Yes, kids will love mcdonalds food and be happy with it if you feed that to them all the time. but that would still make you an awful parent if you did.

my problem with recommending crappy dog food is that people that don't know any better but are trying to do their best will read it and think that it's good to feed their babies commercial grade dog food.

yes, it is totally a freedom of choice what you feed your baby. but when i first had a rescue cat, i fed him crappy commercial food, because it was recommended to me by a pet shop owner. i also fed milu bad doggie food because it was recommended to me by her breeder. i am angry that they misled me into thinking those were quality foods for my babies. i think that if people haven't done research and they don't actually know what's good for the animals, they shouldn't recommend it to others!

people used to think that you spank the dog and rub it's nose in it's 'accident' to teach them not to have accidents. people used to think that you teach your doggie by punishing them for doing bad things. but most of us know better now, and are working with our babies through positive reinforcements.

the trend you are talking about is called learning, discovering, and growing. people now know a lot more about doggies then they used to.

Well for starters, I feed my dog Solid Gold thank you very much so don't go accusing me of feeding a lower grade dog food. I'm simply standing up for what others believe in. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and what I'm upset about is how rude people get towards others just because of the type of food they feed their dog. Whether there's junk in the food or not, dogs can still live a long healthy life on ANY dog food. Some will be like that and some probably won't. It's life. Even if people don't know much about dog food, that doesn't mean they shouldn't recommend it to people. They can simply just give their opinion to them for their own expierence. There's nothing wrong with that.

[Keely_momma]

Originally Posted by yorkiepuppie

midgemoo &
no3yshhc0la

i think it's fine you want to feed your dog whatever... (actually i don't think it's fine. i think it bad) it is unfortunate that you want to feed your dog lower quality dog food. i find it hard to believe that you say they are thriving on junk food, but maybe your dog is allergic to something in the premium food you tried? Yes, kids will love mcdonalds food and be happy with it if you feed that to them all the time. but that would still make you an awful parent if you did.

my problem with recommending crappy dog food is that people that don't know any better but are trying to do their best will read it and think that it's good to feed their babies commercial grade dog food.

yes, it is totally a freedom of choice what you feed your baby. but when i first had a rescue cat, i fed him crappy commercial food, because it was recommended to me by a pet shop owner. i also fed milu bad doggie food because it was recommended to me by her breeder. i am angry that they misled me into thinking those were quality foods for my babies. i think that if people haven't done research and they don't actually know what's good for the animals, they shouldn't recommend it to others!

people used to think that you spank the dog and rub it's nose in it's 'accident' to teach them not to have accidents. people used to think that you teach your doggie by punishing them for doing bad things. but most of us know better now, and are working with our babies through positive reinforcements.

the trend you are talking about is called learning, discovering, and growing. people now know a lot more about doggies then they used to.

VERY VERY VERY VERY good post!