dog food- what all the fuss is about?

    • Silver

    dog food- what all the fuss is about?

    Folks, I came here from Russia, and I should tell you that nobody over there is obsessed with dog food as much as here. Over there people just feed dogs homemade food most of the time, sometimes it's dinner leftovers, sometimes things that we cook for them like oatmeal with chiken broth etc. The dogs are doing just fine. My parents have a 13-year old boxer, who never tried any of the commercial foods (kibbles and such). Granted, recently some crazy folks in Russia are into buying special dog food, cause "they want to do it by the books". But those are mostly rich spoiled housewives, who got no other things to worry about.
    I know what you are thinking, and I've read some of the books myself, and they all tell not to feed leftovers to your dog, like it's all unbalanced etc.  But think about it, how did those dogs survive in the past , when there was no commercial dog food at all ? They were eating human food, and not the best one, but rather what was left after the whole family ate.
    It's all changed when companies figured out they could make $$$ selling overpriced dog food to folks here. Now, not only poor dogs are eating some crap, because that is what most of the kibbles are, even "natural", but it's an overpriced crap too. Some kibbles cost > $2 per lbs, holy cow! I could buy some real chicken meat for that price.
    I think a dog is a dog, it's an animal that can eat pretty much anything, and if it's good for me, it'd better be good for my dog. So when I cook, I just cook a little bit more, so that my dog can eat it too, and I just don't make her food too spicy or salty, cause she does not like it that way. Sometimes I give her some extras -a cup of yogurt, a little bit of cheese, a piece of bread (wheat). She would think I am nuts if I offered her kibbles, I am sure.

    • Gold Top Dog
      Welcome to idog; Most of the people in this country are not obsessed with what thier dog eats; they'll throw foods like Ol' Roy, whatever's cheap and convenient, in thier shopping cart; I've seen it many times. They never bother to actuallly read the ingredients on the bag; I only wish they would.[:o]  The people on this forum are here because they care very much about everything concerning thier dog's health and well-being because they want thier dogs to live as long as possible and the most important contribution to a dog's health is what they eat. I disagree with your statement that if something is good enough for you it better be good enough for your dog; thier nutritional needs are quite a bit different from ours and left overs from dinners that keep people healthy are not adequate nutrition for dogs.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I am so guilty here. I sure wish I had known better. I have had my own dogs after I left my parents home after I graduated at seventeen and went to college. The last dog that we had was free from my Mother-in-law. My Husbands Dad died we gave her a home. I thought we gave her a good dog food. O Roy - no not the kibble we went so far to get her the beef and cheese soft. Kick me I deserve it. She is now passed this last year. What a great dog she was. Had I known I would have given her better food.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Well I must say that I agree with you pretty much redarmyclub,,,and jessies mom is right!  Most people in the US are not like the people here that are on this forum posting.  Probably most dog owners out there don't even know that there are people spending hours a day on the computer writing on dog forums, about their dog.   
    I think that dogs fed human foods are probably healthier..and yes, what is good enough for you better be good enough for your dog. However,,,,in the US, many nights we don't cook suppers. Many nights we eat out, carry out, etc. etc. and what do you do for your dog then? I have a great Dane...she probably eats more then me, thats hard to get her something when I"m not eating home.  And I feed her a meal at breakfast...I don't think the piece of cheese and grapes I eat at breakfast is going to suffice for her.  So therefore we look for the best, most balanced dog food. We want to think that we are doing it for them. We want to think we are preventing our dogs from being undernourished, healthy and hopefully live a long life and not have to visit the vet too many times because of illness.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I'm glad to hear that's how it's done in Russia. I for one believe dogs do much better on that style of food. I'm a recent convert myself. Here in Australia, no one really cares much what they feed their dogs, but most of them I imagine get a cheap kibble and maybe some canned food of some sort. I cook for my dog especially because I don't cook enough for myself. [:)] My pup never was that fond of kibble, but she looooves her homecooked.
    • Gold Top Dog
    My dogs get a top of the line kibble for breakfast and homecooked for dinner.  However, their homecooked isn't just my table leftovers......having 6 germans shepherds I'd have to do a powerful lot of cooking to HAVE enough leftovers......additionally, some of the things that I eat, are not good for my dogs, such as grapes or onions.  Their homecooked is specially formulated to ensure the very best nutritional balance I can offer.
     
    I am rather far removed from being a rich, spoiled housewife but I do want to offer my dogs the very best morning meal (kibble) that I can give them.  In humans and in animals, nutrition IS the key to good health.
     
    However, I will agree that many of us here on this forum go wayyyyy overboard in attacking those who don't make the food choices that we make for our dogs.  But, my dogs are not "just dogs"...they are members of my family and deserve the same love and attention that any other family member would get.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I agree, when we were living in Taiwan we fed our dog tablescraps.  Even when we dined out, my mom would just heat up some leftover rice, add water & ground beef to it, throw it in a bowl and let the dog go at it and you know what, the dog absolutely LOVED it.  I bet if you got to Taiwan nowadays you'll still find a lot of families doing exactly the same thing, granted some have made the switch to "dog food" but the majority still feed their dogs tablescraps. Shoot, if I know how to cook better, I would definitely dine in as much as I could, and then give my dogs the leftovers.

    I have to admit though we Chinese eat (and thus feed) alot healthier than the Americans.  Can you imagine giving your pup your leftover pizza, greasy fries, or left over cajun chicken from Popeyes?  
    • Gold Top Dog
    Interesting observation because one of the reasons I started looking at raw and homecooked is that I figured the dogs that my dad grew up with in a tiny fishing village in Tobago were quite vigorous and were raised on rice, potatoes, scalded offal (fish and chicken) and essentially scraps.  Instead of kibble being an improvement it seems to have become a detriment.

    Besides that though - just because you do a thing a certain way in the past doesn't make the past better (or worse). For instance, when I was a kid in Trinidad asthma was handled with a rescue inhaler. Now I have meds I take every day and IF I end up using my rescue inhaler something is wrong.

    Change happens.
    Paula