Beneful Problems

I'd like to know what "can't afford" means though. I probably "can't afford" to feed my dog the way I do, but to me it isn't an option. If it comes down to not being able to pay for food for my dog or, say, gas for my car, guess what? I'll walk wherever I need

 
LOL, I would love to see you walk the 25 miles into  Corpus to the the trucking termimal where my husband works.
 
I will tell you what can't afford means.  It means when your husbands's union (to his disgust) goes on strike and notbody will h ire you becuase they know you will go back to your job, you can't draw unemployment, all you can do is get "picket duty" and m aybe work for some temporary job place making minimum wages and  maybe you work one day, maybe not.  And you turn dig thru your car seat and your furniutre looking for enough money to buy bread so you can eat a tuna sandwich--if you re lucky--and if not settle for cheap peanut butter.  Oh, and you  are pregmant and so sick you have to spend most of your time in bed and can't work.  It means canceling your paper and dsconnecting your phone because you can't afford them, of of course no cable, that is the first to go.  In a situation like this nobody should get a dog.  But if they already have one and they love it and it loves them, well, they feed it what they can, even if it is the worse food on the market. I know.  We went thru this many years ago, and a couple of years ago our oldest son went thru it.  I bought food and heartworm meds for their Chessie thru the hard times.Not everyone is so lucky.
 
I fed mine Purian one, not because i am cheap, not because i can't afford the "elite foods", but because they do great on it . If you chose not to believe this, it is okay with me.  I see them, my vet sees them and we know they are in great condition.  And that is all that matters to me.

Wow Sandra. I actually WAS talking about me. FOR ME, if it came down to food for my dog, or gas for my car, *I* would walk. I wasn't saying that had to be true, or even was possible for everyone.
 
And yeah, what you described are especially hard times, but that's not why 95% of the people who feed cheap foods feed them. Most are just too lazy to look for something else, too cheap to buy it, or too ignorant to know it exists.
 
I wasn't attacking your choice of dog food in any way. But considering you have no idea what my situation is, or has ever been, I'd think you might want to keep comments like "Not everyone is so lucky" to yourself. It's just unnecessarily presumptuous.

Oh, reading your post again, I realize the "Not everyone is so lucky" was about you buying your son's dog food and heartworm meds. I apparently can't read context, so I apologize for my comments about that. []

That is okay.  We did have to buy food and the heartworm pills for Trixie--we even bought treats for her.  We also bought diapers for the baby and  food for them
 
When it happend to us we were living in Akron,  Ohio, as was hubby's parents.  They could well afford it but even knowning how desperate we were, never even offered to buy so much as a loaf of bread for us.  my parents were in Texas and we didn't let them know how desperate we were because my Mom was such a worry wart.  I think they suspected after we h ad our phone disconnected because even tho they were tight for money Mom would slip in a $5 or $10 bill (we are talking back in '66) or a book of stamps so i could write.  But even so they didn't know how bad things were.  But we survived and even tho i was sick the entire 9 months, we spent a few months living on tuan sandwiches or peantubutter or sandwiches, or canned chili over rice (little chili, lots of rice), our son was born a healthy baby, 8 pounds 10 1/2 ounces, and been healthy all his life--and he is now 40.

  What you say about Purina is true but I know you feed Eagle Pack to Bubby; don't you think that the ingredients Eagle Pack uses are better for Bubby than the ingredients in most Purina foods? Yes, Purina has been around for a very long time but that doesn't mean the newer foods aren't better and could result in dogs living longer than they do on Purina. [align=right]

Yes I do feed Eagle Pack...and will continue because Bubby does great on it.  But I DID feed things like Purina,,,or worse and my dogs lived happy healthy lives..so I won't knock those foods. I work where people come up to me occasionally and ask me to help them find a food for their dog, (even though I have nothing to do with selling food) and if I have time I take them down the isle and we read the ingredients list...and I tell them what I think. which is MEAT  or MEAT (meaning  chicken, beef, etc) first, I tell them I look for no by-products,,,and just certain things that I look for. So yes, I agree with most of you about food.   Its attitudes here that make me angry...the "no Purina is good" attitude, the "Purina tries to squeeze money out of you by advertising bad quality food" attitude.  I don't believe there is a food company out there not doing the exact same thing...its just Purina and some of the bigger owned companies have a lot more money than the small ones, so the small ones CAN'T advertise like Purina does. I get tired of the attitude that makes people feel bad and have to defend how healthy their pets are on food like Purina..such as Sandra.  I REALLY get mad to hear people say that if one can't afford premium food then they shouldn't have a dog. Thats about the worst statement I ever want to hear. Terrible for the POOR person  (who can hardly afford their pets but show them more love and time than most others) and terrible for the millions of pets that are euthanized every year because no one can afford them.
And mostly I can't figure that we spend so much time knocking brands of food that we ourselves don't use (because very often there are people on this board that are even knocking other premium food,,,by saying "I don't call that premium food.....such as Eagle Pack") when they are filling their dogs with pesticides and chemicals in the form of HW prevention, flea prevention and vaccines that are causing problems.   There is no way on Gods green earth that you will know how much effect that food made on your dog in the end as long as you are pumping him with these chemicals.
Sorry, I will get off my soap box, life hasn't been that easy around here lately, so I probably should not get involvd in food conversations. But not only do I believe in what I'm saying, I spent enough time on this board and was one of the persons getting knocked all over the place for feeding Eagle Pack...a food that I believe is one of the best!

ORIGINAL: dyan

I still can't believe so much energy is used in the subject of food when we are filling our dogs with chemicals like HW pills and flea medicines which are pretty much pesticides...and then we're going to wonder if what we are feeding them is going to hurt them.

It's not an "either or". I personally think all of those are a big concern. Gingerbread has NEVER in his life had Frontline, Advantage, or any other chemical flea product on him. He's only had a handful of fleas. This spring I'm hoping to avoid any fleas by using Neem oil, which is natural and has many amazing health uses. Heartworm unfortunately is one of those things that I don't know of another way to prevent it other than heartworm pills. So far I've only given it every 6 weeks and only during spring/summer. And yes, the chemicals/ingredients in food most definitely ARE a concern. I would never feed a food with BHA, BHT, menadione, "animal" fat, or lots of other ingredients. [8|]

I stopped myself a minute ago from a scathing comment.  The poster feeds purina mixed with pedigree and wonders why her pup eats cat crunchies.  I had a variety of stuff I WANTED to say, but then asked, "who died and made ME the food police?".
 
These kind of threads just tick me off.  I hate the "holier than thou" attitudes and I hate that people act like THEY love their dogs more than someone who feeds a "lesser" food.  And, before someone suggests I don't READ these threads....well, I'm leaving.

ORIGINAL: abbysdad

The simple fact is the vast majority of dog owners want cheap, convenient, palatable dog food, that is why Ole Roy is the number one selling dog food in America.

 
This is so true, and SAD.  Thankfully for my dog I am not one of those people.

I stopped myself a minute ago from a scathing comment. The poster feeds purina mixed with pedigree and wonders why her pup eats cat crunchies. I had a variety of stuff I WANTED to say, but then asked, "who died and made ME the food police?".

 
This made me laugh, my puppy will eat cat crunchies and he's on innova EVO with pitcairn's raw meat topper. 
 
Oh and Edie, genetics are completely separate from diet.  You take a starving child out of a country and bring them here and they have no increases in genetic malformations or syndromes of their children.  You can argue all you want about how your dog is healthier then someone elses because of what you feed them.  Diet has been linked to brain development in youth and progression or expression of ALREADY present genetic syndromes, but saying My dog otto will have healthier puppies then someone who feeds purina would show a defiecient knowledge of genetics.

ORIGINAL: glenmar

I stopped myself a minute ago from a scathing comment.  The poster feeds purina mixed with pedigree and wonders why her pup eats cat crunchies.  I had a variety of stuff I WANTED to say, but then asked, "who died and made ME the food police?".

These kind of threads just tick me off.  I hate the "holier than thou" attitudes and I hate that people act like THEY love their dogs more than someone who feeds a "lesser" food.  And, before someone suggests I don't READ these threads....well, I'm leaving.

Sheila eats cat crunchies too... She's on California Natural... will changing her food make them  less tasty??

Sorry, couldn't resist. I totally agree with everything else...

  So yes, I agree with most of you about food.   Its attitudes here that make me angry...the "no Purina is good" attitude, the "Purina tries to squeeze money out of you by advertising bad quality food" attitude.  I don't believe there is a food company out there not doing the exact same thing...its just Purina and some of the bigger owned companies have a lot more money than the small ones, so the small ones CAN'T advertise like Purina does. I get tired of the attitude that makes people feel bad and have to defend how healthy their pets are on food like Purina..such as Sandra. I REALLY get mad to hear people say that if one can't afford premium food then they shouldn't have a dog. Thats about the worst statement I ever want to hear. Terrible for the POOR person (who can hardly afford their pets but show them more love and time than most others) and terrible for the millions of pets that are euthanized every year because no one can afford them. 

 
  Very well said. I've never fed Purina because of the advice given to us at the shelter where we adopted Jessie about choosing a food with at least one meat as the first ingredient ( the shelter worker fed Bil-Jac), and I'm not in the position you're in (working at a vet clinic) to know first hand that Purina fed dogs are healthy. I agree with everything you've said.

It's funny my dog ate it's poop on Innova, when it was firm enough and when I posted about that, several people responded that the food was soooo good my dog could not get enough of it, now that someone is having it happen on Purina, it is because it is sooo bad, of course the dog is going to eat it's poop.

ORIGINAL: chelsea_b

I said before that obviously cheap foods are necessary, but that doesn't mean I have to or ever will agree with anyone's choice to feed them.

And  most of the time it's not even about what one can afford.  Today in the supermarket parking lot I saw a thirty-something year old couple loading a bag of Purina Fit and Trim into the back of their BMW SUV.
 
I wouldn't have a problem with a food that had cheaper ingredients that was marketed as the cheaper alternative for those that can't afford more.  But when it's marketed as being the healthiest thing your dog can eat, like Beneful, I have a problem.  Beneful is an examle of the most deceptive advertising I think I've seen in the pet food world.

It's funny my dog ate it's poop on Innova, when it was firm enough and when I posted about that, several people responded that the food was soooo good my dog could not get enough of it, now that someone is having it happen on Purina, it is because it is sooo bad, of course the dog is going to eat it's poop.

 
As far as i know my dogs have never eaten their own poop, or other dogs' poop  And I don't think Buck or KayCee will eat cat poop---but Honey sure will.  I see many posts on the golden forums of the goldens (and other breeds on all breed forums) eating deer poop when ever given a chance. Also rabbit "pills" and some even said they really have to keep their dogs from "horse biscuits".  I don't think it really matters what you feed you dog--some just like poop.
 
And I do agree with you abbysdad--it is a totally different thing, a 180 if the dog is on premium food and lesser food as to the reason for their eating their poop.But personally I do not think it makes one iota of difference in what they are fed.

ORIGINAL: glenmar

I stopped myself a minute ago from a scathing comment.  The poster feeds purina mixed with pedigree and wonders why her pup eats cat crunchies.  I had a variety of stuff I WANTED to say, but then asked, "who died and made ME the food police?".

Ha! My mom's dog is eating raw and she loves cat crunchies LOL