Some one PLEASE help me out with this
 

This is a food question, not to be turned into a debate of any kind please and I dont need to be told how bad corn etc in dog food is and how it compares to mcdonalds etc, etc, etc. I need to know WHY dogs "crave" it, if its so bad? :confused:

My dogs are on TOTW pacific stream and blue buffalo canned. Good stuff. They have been on numerous different foods (as most of you know) and will only eat certain protiens and often stop eating and I have to find a new food they will eat.
Im going to be honest and will say that just recently they were on science diet again, their lamb and rice formula because I couldnt get them to eat anything else. They liked it, ate it fine but were terrible stinky on it. So when the new tractor supply opened up in my town, I tried them back on TOTW. They eat it, but dont love it (takes them about 2.5 days to eat a 1/2 cup) Tucker recently has been throwing up (just once, small amount) about 2 to 3 times a week and its all canned food, so Im gonna have to take him at least off the canned.
My cats are on Purina one.. yes, I know bad stuff, but its is the only food they will eat. SO of course when they drop a peice of food, (its kept on my bathroom counter) the littles will run and often argue about who is gonna eat that one peice.
Yesterday we caught my toy poodle eating out of the cat box. She has NOT done this since she was a puppy. SO Im thinking because after 3 years she is wanting cat poo, probably mostly consists of corn that obviously there is something her body is lacking and she needs it. Why else would she want it? Right??:confused:

I too have often wondered why my boys crave cat food too. I have to keep that cats food up on a bench so they don't have access to it. I was told the cat food (and also cheep corn based dog food) is sprayed it with a layer of fat (as in lard, old restaurant grease, animal fat, etc.) in order to entice our pets to eat it because they normally would not want to eat corn based food. I don't know if this is why but it sure makes some sense. :confused:

Unless your pup has exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (highly unlikely), then it is almost certainly a behavior issue. It tastes good to her. Doesn't mean she is lacking anything.

Cheap food just seems to make them happy. The fat source appeals to them. Must smell good. Ellie eats homecooked and she still loves a mouthful of Purina.:rolleyes: It's different to her and she thinks it's a treat or something. I crave food with corn products too. lol.

Thanks.. I just want to make sure that they are getting everything they need. This food stuff is so confusing. :)

I crave all "bad for me" foods. Can't blame the dogs for doing the same..they taste good. :p:D;)

Here is an idea, this is what I recently started for Sophia and so far she is loving it!

I read all about how great coconut oil is for my horse and that lead to learning how great it is for humans and dogs too. Also,Sophia was scratching a lot on some dry spots, so that is another reason I did this.

I take her food, 1/4 cup at a time, heat up some coconut oil (it is solid until it is melted) and put a tiny amount on her food to coat it.

That might help if your pups are attracted to the oil on the outside of the cat food. Plus, they will get all the great benefits of coconut oil in their diets.

Good luck!

:D I was just gonna say, probably the same reason we crave chocolate, chips, candy, etc! :) It tastes good to them!

Very true!.. I didnt think of it that way.. im glad you all replyed. Thanks ;)

Ive tried this and they do love it.. but it made them smell wierd. Which didnt make a whole lot of sense to me because its suppose to me a natural deoderizer (sp?). It made their breath stink so when they would lick or clean themselves they would stink. I was bathing them all the time. So I stopped using it. I may add it to thier diet a few times a week as a "treat".
Thanks

Sometimes I think we get too obsessive with their food. I have been pouring over articles and reviews of non-grain foods and raw diets, thinking my very healthy, beautifully coated dogs need to change. Why? Because maybe there is something better? I think maybe I am going overboard. I actually like some formulas of both Canidae and Royal Canin even though they get a bad rap here. I occasionally remind myelf that my 17 1/2 year old dachshund with the shiniest coat around, was fed Alpo and Pedigree for years before I knew about by-products and such. She led such a long, healthy life, I don't think I did her any harm. Still, now that I know, I feel obligated to feed a premium food. Mine don't seem to have a problem with a corn ingredient. The food they are currently on does not have corn but it does not seem to make any difference to the one they previously ate that did contain some corn gluten (same brand -- different diet).

I think if the food is otherwise nutritionally balanced, and your dog is picky, feed what they like. I do avoid by-products now because it sickens me the sort of things allowed by law to be called by-products, especially if it says "meat" by-products. :(

I totally agree. I do not feed food with corn, but that is because I have a pup who is allergic and it is simply my choice. But, I do think people get way to hung up on foods...and honestly some of the ones that people use are not what I would feed my pups no matter what. Some are way to high in protein imo.
I also think that people get way to carried away bashing some of the foods that really are not as bad as they think. Hill's is one...their prescription diets are well researched, but people swear they will harm their dogs.
I pretty much avoid debates on dog food.

I think it's not so much the ingredients in the food, but the smell that attracts them. I've used Pedigree small bites in a pinch and my dogs love it. Many of the lower quality foods are sprayed with rendered fat and I think dogs love that smell. Probably some of the better foods just aren't as palatable to them. I think the exception is with foods that have a high meat content. Dogs recognize that meat smell and....meat is meat!

Yes, actually you are right. It is the smell that attracts them!

I agree- there are some foods out there that I wouldn't let near my dogs like ALPO or similar very low end foods. I believe one should look for food with quality ingredients- I wouldn't eat diseased animals and I don't think they should either, for example. However, there are a lot of foods with quality ingredients that still get shot down just because they have grains, etc. and that is a little extreme. I also agree about the very high protein foods.

I think it is important to find a food that works for you- I have said it before but a food can look great on paper but if your dog doesn't tolerate it well it isn't worth anything. If your dogs are healthy, look good, are a good weight, and have no bowel/ stomach problems then there really isn't any need to look elsewhere.

You summed it up very well.. this is exactly how I feel, I felt quilty because I had them on SD, I felt that I was doing them wrong, but they didnt care they loved it, looked good, had lots of energy, they were just stinky. (I have a very sensitive nose) So I switched them for 2 reasons, I felt like I was "hurting" them some how and because I was tired of giving them a bath ever few days. lol.
I have had numerous dogs growing up and none of them were fed nothing but the cheapest dog food my parents could buy and not one of them died of anything but old age, they lived all to be over 10 years of age.

I will continue to buy my dogs the better foods out there, as long as they can tolerate them (I have to stay low protien/fat) but if they stop eating then I will have no choice but feed them what they will eat. Which will be SD, not the worse food out there. I appreciate all your feedback. I do feel better and feel that Im doing what I feel the best for my dogs. :)

^ Agree.

I've posted this before, so I'll just copy/paste and post again, sorry if you're sick of reading it (those of you who have already read it), LOL. But it pretty much sums up how I feel.

The way I see it, it's just like with people... you have those who live off TV dinners and McDonald's, and you have those who shop all organic, and eat healthy every single day.

People who eat terribly, smoke heavily, etc. can live perfectly normal lives.

Just like the person who exercises, eats excellent and "does everything right" can drop dead at age 30 from a heart attack. Or a person who never smoked a day in their life can die from lung cancer. That's life.

Just because a dog does "well" on Eukanuba or Pedigree or Purina doesn't necessarily mean they're eating as good as they could.... but it also doesn't mean they're going to be unhealthy dogs and die young either necessarily. That's not to say Jackson doesn't get to enjoy a little Cesar wet food every now and then, or a Milk Bone, I just do it in moderation... just like people.

You gotta do for your dogs what you personally decide is right... but in the end you can't place blame and say 'this dog didn't live as long as this one because it ate better food.' There's too many other factors out there. Do your research, and feed what you feel works best for your dog.

Lots of great information on this thread. I'll add my thought and try not to cause a war! :p Actually, foods we crave are genetically programmed into us, they are NOT bad foods, in fact, they are necessary for survival. In the past, starvation was the problem, not being too fat. This is true of all animals, not just humans. Only humans who are living with food abundance believe fats and carbs are bad, they actually are good for you, but we need other nutrients as well. Corn got a bad name because mixed with other amino acids it forms a protein, and some companies were listing a high percentage of protein in their food, and they were allowed to count corn with the overall percentage of protein. This is misleading if you haven't studied nutrition, but it's not such a bad thing unless corn is listed as the first ingredient in a food. So try to avoid foods where the first ingredient listed is corn. Some people say their dogs developed allergies to corn, but most dogs have no problem with it. This site has some good information about nutrition, and the author has great credentials. The Dog Food Project - Myths about Dog Nutrition

i was super hung up on food, then they kept getting sick over and over when on a raw diet. i attribute that to not being able to travel with raw food because it spoils and can make them sick. we're on a natural dry kibble now from Acana Grasslands and they like it, they'll both eat it, and they stay well on it and it can travel well and it's not a pain to set it out and thaw it and all those things...we're happier and still grain free. i do believe in going grain free, but it's up to the owner and what works for me doesn't always work for others.

I think it's mainly the "forbidden fruit" phenomenon." They don't get it/aren't allowed to have it so when they get the opportunity, they go crazy.

We see this all the time, even in humans. Think of kids that can't drink soda at home but go to a friend's house and it's on. Or kids that have no freedom at home so they go crazy in college. I think it's just normal psychological behavior.

Thanks everyone for your input.
Happy Holidays all..:)