The worst dog food ever?

I think "4D" stands for Dead, Dying, Diseased, or Down/Disabled. Basically it's animals that are dying or already dead proir to being slautered. That's also how phenobarbitol can creep it's way into dog food- as some animals were euthanized prior to being slautered.
 
P.S.  I'm very sorry to hear about Lucy. She is running free at the bridge.

My mom fed her Papillons Come and Get it and they lived to be over 16.  She's feeding the mini-dachshund Innova and its dying of heart failure at 11.


Sometimes you just can't tell how an animal will react to a food.

labmeister, i know what you are are saying.  My Dad fed our English Setters and pointers  urina Dog Chow their entire lives and many lived to be 12-13 years old...one to 15 and that was for 3 years after being run over front and back wheels of  a pickup carrying a load of fence posts..  Now I am talking in the 50's up til '80.  We lost a couple of young dogs to distemper back in the 50's, one to poison, one stollen, one hit by car, but all the ones that did not meet those deaths lived to be old dogs. 

The only shots these dogs ever got was distemper and rabies yearly.  We first learned of heart worms when Daddy's 12 year old ES Commander was daignosed with them, given the old arsenic treatment, went blind and died a few weeks later.
This was 30 odd years ago.

My girls get Purina Fit and Trim and the old man gets purina dog chow.  BUT i also give them boiled meat (chicken liver, hearts, gizzards, beef liver or heart, ground beef) or fresh caught& microwaved fish or canned mackeral every day, along with canned unsalted green beans and sliced carrots.  Buck turned 11 almost a month ago.  He was diagnosed with low thyroid at year ago, but this common in golden retrievers.  Outside of that, his only trips to vet outside of vax, well checks, dentals was when he was bitten in face by rattle snake and stung on lip by ground wasp and had a reaction.

I am on lots of boards, golden retriever and all breed and I have seen many times were dogs were fed the best and died of cancer, heart failure, etc at 4-5 years .  Others were fed Purina, etc and lived 12-16 years.  But I do say, if i were not giving them fish or meat every day along with the beans and carrot, i would feed a different food.

I don't feed anything but dog food and ProPlan at that.  Mine are doing wonderfully on the food.  []

When I was little, we had a Norweigan Elkhound who ate Gaines Burgers and the grocery brand dog food (cheap!).  He lived to 16, which is ol for an elkhound and died of heart failure.
 
It all depends on the dog, his genetics, etc. 

The problem with anecdotal evidence: how much of it is spread around evenly?  If you take 100, 200, 300, or 2,000 dogs, all eating Purina ONE or Kibbles 'N' Bits, how many are going to live to 15 and how many are going to die early?  When people say their five year old dog recently died, how many are going to say "and she was eating IAMS" or whatever?  Anecdotal data like "and XYZ dog lived to be... on this that or the other food" tends to be extremely biased.  My great-aunt's Berner bitch is older than me and she has lived to a rickety old state on ProPLAN.  But, she is the only dog I've know personally to live to that age on that type of food.
 
Plus, what's quantity over quality?  If I eat McDonald's, smoke, and drink all my life, I may live well into my 90's, but if I'm well-preserved in an arthritic, ill and slowly worsening body, with heart troubles up the yin yang, I'm not going to be too happy about it.
 
Nutrition is hardly the ONLY factor that affects longevity, as well.  Environment and genetics will both play a significant role, as well.

Yeah, but you see people who smoke a pack of Marboro Reds everyday from the time they're 20 and live into their 90's, yet I don't think that such bevavior is exactly a precription for longevity.

Exactly.  Which is my point on anecdotal data.  It might seem to contradict statistical data when you hear about ten guys who did that and lived to be 108 or whatever... until you consider the fact that no one is probably going to spread Joe Schmoe's, who died at 22 for such, story too far and wide.  And until you consider just how many Joe Schmoes might be out there that you don't know about.  How many dogs that die early or lead lives plagued by nutrition-related poor health are out there that we don't hear about?

There is a lot of anecdoctal evidence either way. Teenie was fed crap til recently, and she's older than Emma will likely ever be. Of course, Emma ate junk food for her first nine weeks, and for about a month later on. The rest of her life, she's been on good kibble and fresh foods, or just fresh food. She's a genetic trainwreck, whereas Teenie seems relatively genetically health (for a dog who is three times as long as she is tall...).

Norweigan Elkhunds are beautiful dogs. There was a couple in town that had mix of GSD and Elkhund. Shadow was always keen on seeing her.
 
As for food, whatever works for your pet that provides the nutrient profile they need is what will work.
 
My cat lived almost 17 years on Purina products (DeliCat, and later, NF, a prescription formula). I've got friends that feed different things. One feeds Purina, another Iams, another Science Diet. They all seem pleased with their results. Of course, thanks to this forum and the reading it inspired, I probably know more now about dog nutrition than most of my friends. I feed my dog Nutro. He likes it, it provides what he needs, it is meat based, no by-products. Most importantly, it passed AAFCO feeding trials, which is still a primary concern with me. It doesn't matter what I think of the ingredient list. It's about what the dog needs to live healthy and shiny. It's also a diet similar to what his ancestors ate.
 
And genetics do account for a lot of problems. And dogs, as we care for them, are living longer. Living long enough to get geriatric ailments. Some things just don't work as well when you are old.
 
Fortunately, here, the entire gamut of diets and feeding styles are represented and a person could figure out a suitable diet that works, with the advice of a vet or, even better, an ACVN.
 
Food companies, most, have improved. Evolution is still at work. If most people only fed kibble, dogs would eventually adapt. It's how they domesticated themselves to man, a plentiful provider of food or food waste. I think my dog is eating better than a wild canid and he will most likely live longer, barring any genetic problems. The average lifespan of a wild canid is between 4 and 8 years, though that is due in large part to predation and man, more often man. Vehicles, protective ranchers, etc.

Now how do you get the word out about the bad foods?!

    I think you should take your own advise before you advise others on what to feed.  How on earth could you still be feeding your dogs Diamond when a report just came out about how poor their quality control  is and how many shipments of grains and other ingredients have been found to be diseased or of poor quality ? It's not even decent food to begin with.

I couldn't care less about what you just said. My dogs are healthy, their food is 1/2 raw 1/2 kibble. They are not eating Ol' Roy. They go running every day, and they get plenty of love.
 
I am not worried one little bit about diamond. I live in California for one, and I don't stress out about things like that. ANYTHING can kill my dogs. I'm more worried about crackhead neighbors poisoning my dogs than dog food from the feed store. They are supposed to be getting California Natural in a couple of months, at that point I will change.
 
No need to defend myself, they will eat diamon lamb and rice + raw, until then. Thank you for your concern.

Sharon, I totally understand your passion about quality foods, however, you do catch a whole lot more flies with honey than with vinegar.  People who don't feed one of the products YOU consider to be superior are not inherently evil, lazy, cheap or BAD.  There are folks who don't have access to the foods you sell, or people who are NOT about to use mail order.  I sure wouldn't.....
 
Please try to make your points without beating others bloody.

I converted someone!  LOL!  She was complaining about the size of the poops her St. Bernard, black lab, and a doberman were making, since she is the main poop picker-upper!  I told her that Jasmine has small poops on California Natural and that you feed less food, too, since it's a better food.
 
She finally went out and bought Cal Nat and was quite impressed by the fact that everyone wolfed it down and had poops half the size they did before!
 
Food can be a touchy subject, but I think she was tired of picking up Purina poops.

I'd like to submit a candidate for Worst Dog Food.  Have a peek at Purina Beneful Healthy Harvest...

GROUND YELLOW CORN, CORN GLUTEN MEAL, WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, ANIMAL FAT PRESERVED WITH MIXED-TOCOPHEROLS, SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SOYBEAN MEAL, PEARLED BARLEY, BREWERS RICE, TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, SUGAR, WATER, ANIMAL DIGEST, SORBITOL, ADDED COLOR (RED 40, YELLOW 5, BLUE 2, YELLOW 6),