Perfect! I knew someone would point me in the right direction! I am SO going to look this guy up. :D

The human dentist doesn't tell anyone how to feed their pet. He simply gathers information about most available dog food ingredients and publishes it. It is up to anyone who chooses to use the info to make their own decision.

My original point, which you seem to always miss, was that it is not a terribly complicated issue. If we as humans can feed ourselves without a great deal of study we can also learn how to feed our pets without depending on a multi-billion dollar a year company to do it for us.

You choose to feed your pet whatever you wish. Why must you always denigrate anyone who has a different opinion than yours?

I know of vets that promote commercial dog foods as being the best to feed and I also know vets that promote home preparation of pet food. The subject has endless opinions. Everyone chooses what they think is best. I appreciate the dentist that puts information about pet food ingredients out for public viewing. It isn't rocket science to read ingredient lists and learn what those ingredients actually represent. It is more information than most consumers ever get from a dog food bag. But it is still just information that people can take or leave. Personally, I know a lot of people appreciate learning more about what is actually in what they feed their pets.

And that's what you're wrong about. The dog food advisor DOES tell people what to feed their pets. He does it by selling his lists and by his dog food star ranking system. As far as denigrating others, that would be you in you constant agenda to undermine the good advice vets give to their clients. I am quite sure that your idea of human nutrition is completely different than mine. And yes, humans can feed themselves and they have high obesity and disease rates all the while stuffing themselves with fast food and such. Proper and scientific dog nutrition is more complicated than you make it out to be, and you simply don't even know what you don't know...or you wouldn't be listening to the dentist and his stars and nonsensical web information.

I do believe the dentist's website is free and open to anyone who wants to read it. Yes, he does rate foods according to the quality of the ingredients. Information about ingredients is important to a consumer in order to know what they are buying. If his opinion is that corn is a low value ingredient and someone else feels they want their dog to have corn then they certainly have the right to make that decision. You seem to be against people learning more about what is in dog food. Perhaps your food of choice didn't get a good rating? It does not take a scientist to find the definition of a food ingredient.
Sorry you think that dog nutrition is so much more scientific than human nutrition. Dog's bodies must be so much more complex than the human body!
The health care professionals I work with do send their patients to nutritionists. Yes, doctors send their patients to a person called a nutritionist that has much less education than the health care professional has, especially after they get a patient with diabetes, heart disease, or any of the many food induced diseases people suffer from when they eat processed foods. They then sadly return to the office because the nutritionist advised them to eat fresh fruits and vegetables and prepare healthy meals instead of fast food and products out of a box that they are accustomed to.
Dogs must have highly complex bodies made to exist on highly processed foods filled with preservatives and that can sit on a store shelf for months at a time. No wonder we need multi-billion dollar pet food companies to feed these complicated beings for us They don't need fresh foods at all.:(

Gracie, I feed home cooked and have for 14 years.

There is NO way I will look at ingredients first after seeing all of the recalls that have happened over the years.

I will personally stick with the companies I trust. Ingredients come second. I have said it many times.....all the great ingredients in the world won't help if the wrong company puts them in the bag and/or can.

I don't follow the dentist, but I think someone has mentioned that he has ranked foods high that were recalled.

I do agree now that ingredients come 2nd to me, right after quality control. Me though? I'm still not exactly *comfortable* with feeding a food that has lots of ingredients that I can't pronounce, or things that are unnamed, or any food with more than 1 corn ingredient, more than 1 wheat ingredient, or anything with a bunch of peas. Example: I do like Royal Canin as a company, and I think a lot of dogs do well on it, but the inclusion of the corn gluten meal, corn, white rice, brown rice, wheat, etc all in one formula is a turnoff to me. It also has some pretty high mineral levels. I don't think it's as great as some vets make it out to be and I do think it's over priced.

And while I do believe nutrition as a whole can be/is very complicated, in SOME ways it's almost very simple. The reason, IMO, we as humans have so many obesity issues is simply because of all the food that is available to us. If ALL we had available to us food-wise was 'natural' foods. I have no doubt we'd be healthier as a society.

It's so hard to judge because back then, we also had more problems with disease, so many were dying younger than we do today. I wish there was some definite answer how long dogs lived in the 1700's and 1800's as well. They weren't getting balanced meals, I can tell you that.

I do have a legitimate question - when did dogs start needing these perfectly balanced meals? Obviously, throughout thousands of years, they weren't eating balanced meals, with the proper minerals, proteins, etc and somehow managed to survive. For how long and how healthy I don't know. But I'm just genuinely curious what makes feeding a dog chicken, other meats, and veggies and carbs every day without a supplement make them lack nutrients somehow?

Because he's a DENTIST :rolleyes:

Seriously, I just don't get why anyone would take advice other than to brush and floss from a dentist. There are so many outrageous "home/natural" remedies and cures put out on the internet that people will try. When Al Gore invented the internet he couldn't possibly foreseen all of the consequences of his genius undertaking.

Harping on the fact that he's a dentist is sort of getting old. I don't like the website much, I think he doesn't know enough about dog food/nutrition to hold such a 'highly ranked' site, but I still don't see how him being a dentist changes anything. He COULD be a dentist with a degree in animal nutrition (which, he is not, but I'm just saying... the fact that he's a dentist alone... doesn't make him unqualified right off the bat). And dentists do a lot more than brush and floss your teeth. You act like becoming a dentist is an easy feat.

Brit......of course I know dentists do more than tell clients to brush and floss. But he's created a place that IMO people hold way too high as some type of holy grail of dog food. If you look around just a little there are a lot of complaints about the way the site works, who's allowed to speak about food and so forth. It's really not an unbiased analysis of dog food like he plays it off.

Ask yourself that question. You are the one who is always changing foods for your pup looking for something you think is perfect. I say that with no disrespect...I just don't know why you asked me because I am not one who is out reading labels and listening to people like the DFA.

I am NOT an expert in nutrition and quite frankly have no interest in it. That is why I rely on vets and vet nutritionists to help me make choices for my pups.

I personally think it needs to be said over and over and OVER AGAIN. I know of two stores in this area who sell foods based on his advice. The reason I personally say "the dentist" is to make an impact with people who WILL take the time to look into his credentials. As you pointed out, he has no degree in animal nutrition....people need to know that. I am not saying he is stupid...not saying anything about his qualifications as a dentist.
I simply don't go to my dentist to ask him what to feed my pups. I believe the guy is a master at marketing and that is his motivation in ranking dog foods. Watching that video of his where is is selling his information about dog food clinched it for me.

Again, I will stick with experts in the field of dogs and animal/dog nutrition.

Oh yeah no absolutely. Dog food has always been a hobby of mine, something I like reading about and doing research on. I really need to just be homecooking to be happy to be honest but I admit it's out of pure laziness. So I certainly GET the appeal of commercial dog food and understand it's purpose as I utilize it myself and have spent years seemingly searching for the perfect company only to realize that duh, of course that doesn't exist.

But that wasn't really my point. I wasn't even asking you specifically. Just in general, I am genuinely curious when dogs began suddenly requiring balanced diets. I'd be interested on the history of that is all. Obviously at one point in time, dogs were not getting "balanced" diets. So I'd be curious how healthy they were and what their lifespan was.

And I want to add this.......Would I take dental advice from Dr. Remillard if she started a site to rank toothpaste content for humans. Nope.....because she a Vet nutritionist and not a dentist.

She could also rank the electric toothbrushes and flosses. Heck, she could go crazy and even rank the fluoride rinses.