Dog food

Nudibranch

Nudibranch

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I was reading the post below about fussy eaters and it reminded me about what the trainer at puppy class said about dog food. Basically our first session was a lecture from her about what to do and what not to do - as if we were all idiots (worm your dog, get him neutered, etc) but another thing she did was to go round the group asking what dog food our puppies ate. Luckily at the time mine was on Beta puppy mix and Butchers tinned, because everyone else in the group got a b*llocking for not feeding Butchers! Apparently it has the highest meat content out of the tinned foods.
Now puppy is on Butchers (just a spoonful) with Bakers complete, for the simple reason I'd prefer not to spend £15 a bag on Science Plan or whatever, unless puppy needs it. Are the "popular" brands (Pedigree, Bakers etc) really as bad as we are led to believe? I've looked on the packets and can't see anything incriminating other than meat, veg and their extracts. Then again if the law on stating ingredients is less strict for animals....
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Our dog really hated all the big expensive brands and we found that the higher fat and protein did not suit him. He was a giant breed and we laboriously calculated this and that as did the usual panic about growing giant breed blah! When he was almost fully gown we switched him to the dirtiest, cheapest dried dog food and tinned stuff from Lidl plus all the bunnies he could eat (when he caught them) and he was fine! I think there is so much rubbish spouted about dog food.As long as one is sensible it should be ok. Feed what suits your dog and what he thrives on!
 
Sorry but I'm not really surprised he was fine as you were feeding raw! So no matter how bad the mix was you cannot objectively see how it affected the dog in those circumstances. It's a bit like having a large salad with your burger van cheapie burger rather than chips, you would get away with that for a very long time!

The reason I say read the label is the cereal content of dog food. It's simply this that a dogs digestive system has evolved over the past 50 million odd years to eat raw meat and bones. Only in the last 100 years or so have we started to feed them convenient commercially overcooked food a large amount of which is bulked with cereals.

It is also in this period that the instance of skin and coat disorders, ear problems, anal gland problems, rare cancers, diabeties etc etc have increased in volume and complexity. 100 years ago there was the saying "Fit as a butchers dog", who got fed bones and meat scraps uncooked, they would not have wasted time and fuel cooking it.

Modern varieties of wheat cause increasing amounts of allergies and reactions in Humans as they have been over developed to the point at which they have virtually on husk (bran) so they are pure carbohydrate. A Human has evolved to be an omnivore so if it is doing that to humans well you can figure out the rest!

Add to that the lack of control on dog food declarations and you have a problem, how do you tell if the vitamins/minerals are from the food or synthetic? How do you tell if there are colourants and if they are carcinogens? How can you tell how long the food is cooked for and at what temperature, how can you even tell what "meat" is in it? A lot of it is horse!!! I can tell you there is often very little rabbit or turkey, well the bits you would like to eat anyway!

I have had vets look in horror after they have commented on my dogs health and I've told them what I feed, my reply is always the same question, how long was your training on dog nutrition and who lectured you? Answer is days and a pet food nutritionalist!

I have first hand experience of a dog food company saying that some dogs were allergic to chicken, I look back now and think what a prat to fall for that, the dogs staple is now chicken! Difference is that it isn't incinerated with synthetic additives! Cooking anything changes its consistency and the availability of its nutrients, especially bones and fats.

I looked out of interest on a very popular leading brand of dog treat biscuits the other day, contents are listed in order of volume so highest first, it went something like Cereals, MINERALS, meat, salt. So there are more minerals than meat!

At the end of the day its everyone’s own personal decision what to feed, but read the label and ask questions before you make that decision.
 
Good points but I think I can! Our dog was an 86Kg Irish Wolfhound. He had been on a variety of propriety brands from totally natural, all raw and mixed. He never did 100% well on all raw and conversely didn't do 100% well on all commercial! He was a high energy dog and exercised a ridiculous amount. He never ever had any health problems that were internal except in very very hot weather he did get the squits which was heat and not food related. When he was like this we put him on Basmati rice and tripe/chicken and he was fine.
My dog had no health problems but did have recurrent cyclical flank alopecia (seasonal) Nobody knows what causes this but it is thought to be to do with circadian rythmns and heat control. Anal glands, teeth, internals organs were fantastic.
To be honest I would not mind if there was horse meat in a dog food or bits of the rabbit that I wouldn't eat! Watching my dog devour a deers head or entire rabbit is not something I would do but I am not a dog. It's 100% natural for him!
He also loved and did well on basmati rice....not natural! He died aged 5 of osteosarcoma. Now many organisations are investigating this as it's the number 1 killer of Wolfhounds, especially males that are neutered and big. Food is being investigated as a possible contributary factor but so far it is less than persuasive.
I 100% agree with you that many companies will try to hoodwink the consumer. Yes do check labels. All the additives are unecessary and I agree wholeheartedly with a lot of what you say and can not improve on it.
Your doggies in your signature look lovely by the way!
 
Oh what a dreadful shame, you must have been devastated, I knew Wolfhounds were not long lived but that is a short life, but it does make you wonder where it is coming from?. Certainly in Humans there appears to be a link between bowel cancer and diet?

Re Dogs: Thank you they look lovely but are two real uncouth Aussie blokes! They are rather partial to deer bits and also road kill too! Despite having some Dingo in the mix they are not really killers they herd the rabbits neatly back into their holes, much to my disgust and love to round up pheasants and partridges. But it has to be long dead before they eat it!

The older one I rescued last year had been fed on complete all his life and had really bad skin and a poor coat it’s taken quite some time on raw but now he is much improved, he can now demolish a chiken carcass in about 3 bites.

Interestingly, with the "Chicken" allergy the advice from the food company was to change the diet completely every 3 months to avoid problems, since researching I have found references to this being down to different feed brands being deficient in different things and that dogs take about 3 months for the deficiencies to manifest. Strange that isn't it!

I just wish they would be more forthcoming and honest on the labels of dog and other companion animal feed as they are on human food, maybe if more owners ask questions they might respond! I just don’t trust feed manufacturers and the entire advertising blurb, I think you need to read between the lines. My biggest gripe is the fact that they can use condemned meat poor quality cereals and can call things like chicken feet meat and no one is the wiser!
 
Absolutely! Transparency seems to be the main ingredient lacking! If you excuse the pun!
Thank you for your condolences. Hazzie was a particularly smelly swamp dog, but he maxed out on life and had such high mileage. We miss him every single second of every single day!
 
Re: Bakers Complete - a quick google search gets this: bakers Reviews

some info on feeding dogs from another website: Feeding Dogs

History of pet food here

am also trying to find a website I saw on how to analyse pet food content from looking at the labels... will post when I find it... ETS: think this is it here

FWIW - I would never feed my dog Bakers Complete or Pedigree. If i do feed him dog food it is Naturediet with laughing Dog mixer. (Wouldn't feed science plan either..)
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Yes, she the oricle, been at it quite a while after health problems with her Huskys, down to diet and I followed a year or so later with my then scruffy mutts! here you go

http://www.members.aol.com/brushbow/index1.htm

under species appropriate diet I and II

Billingshurst's Give Yor Dog a Bone is good for basics but I don't agree with some of the things he advocates feeding, like rice and some dairy.

I prefer Kymythy Schulze Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats as a base, but like my sister I taylor the diet to my own dogs.
 
i feed mine mainly raw..including whole fresh rabbit cut into portions with bones, chicken wings, mince...and they love it
and i dont need to clean their teeth...even my 7yo whippets teeth are just as wh

but every dog is different so its finding a foods which your dog is doing well on
 
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