Dog Community

dog nutrition in the "olden" days

Posted : 4/26/2007 3:41:13 PM

It seems like this day in age, there is so much out there for pets. Back in the "olden" days, when life seemed simpler, and there weren't that many dog foods to choose from. And the dog foods that were made were basically junk and not premium based like some are today. It seems like dogs were healthier back then and I'm not saying I am going to change anything or do anything different, but I got to talking to my father today and was learning about what his grandfather did with his dog.

My great-grandfather who came straight from Italy had a dog of different breads. He won the dog in a card game. The dog was an outside dog, always outside and even slept outside. I am told that whatever my great-grandfather ate, the dog ate. Never ate dog food or dog treats, all human food and it wasn't balanced. Had all kinds of meat bones, etc. The dog never had any health problems and lived to be 13 years old. Never even had any shots. What killed him was a squirrel that had clawed his throat.

My grandparents had a dog, lived to be 12. He ate dog food, but he also got lots of table food, even bad things, such as chocolate donuts and pepperoni. My grandparents didn't know back then that certain foods were bad for dogs. Their dog also never went to the vet for problems. Only to get his shots.

My uncle had a small toy dog that lived to be 17. The dog ate whatever they ate for supper. Never ate dog food and was always healthy.

Every now and then I run into someone at a pet store and we get to talking about dog food and I learn that they let the dog eat what they eat and I'm shocked to hear it's not balanced.

I'm not saying I'm going to do this or that any of you should, but what do you think about this from a nutritional point of view? Is it true dogs "seemed" healthier and lived longer back then?

mudpuppy

Posted : 4/26/2007 3:47:21 PM

I think that feeding a dog the same highly processed, preserved food every day of his life is very detrimental to health. No one knows enough about nutrition to be able to produce a package of "completely balanced" food that contains everything your dog needs for his entire life. The very idea is crazy.

Note the common theme running through your stories of healthy dogs-- they consumed a wide variety of fresh foods. All studies on human nutrition come to that conclusion, that good nutrition is only achievable by eating a wide variety of fresh foods. Your human nutritionist gives you general guidelines about important nutrients-- eat these foods for adequate calcium, and so on. Talk of "balanced diets" is nonsensical.

chewbecca

Posted : 4/26/2007 3:50:57 PM

I think people stopped feeding their dogs "table scraps". There came a point, not that long ago, where (I believe it was the time that Science Diet had Betty White doing their commercials) people stopped recommending feeding dogs "people food".

My dogs lived to be old and ALL of them got table scraps. Every night. And still do.

KCSO

Posted : 4/26/2007 4:23:53 PM

I think that the average person (esp. in the US) eats a less balanced (and far more chemical laden) diet than we did in the "olden days." So it would make sense that table scrap dogs back then did ok, but table scrap dogs today might be in trouble.

dyan

Posted : 4/26/2007 4:47:51 PM

I'm not positive the dog food back then was so bad...... although we did not have premium back then. But,,,we didnt' have half of the chemicals added to dog food that we do now either. Maybe they didn't start with the best ingredients..but they didn't add in as many junk ones either. And although a lot of dogs got table scraps...a lot didn't. My dogs got the table scraps...but it sure wasnt' anything good for them for the most part...we kept our leftovers to eat oursleves. What they did get sure wasn't enough to feed them for the most part.
I honestly think the dogs were healthier and lived longer back then because they did not get the chemicals they get now..both in foods and medicines or vaccinations. We used to give distemper and rabies vaccines. NOT 5 or 6 in one vaccines. I never heard of half of the illnesses we now vaccinate against. There was no such thing as heartworm so they didn't need to be given pesticides called heartworm pills. And we used flea powder....not flea medicine which gets into their systems.

Misskiwi67

Posted : 4/26/2007 5:04:46 PM

And what percentage of dogs died before 6 months of age due to disease and malnutrition? Old toxicologists and immunologists here at the vet school (retired but come back as guest speakers) say as high as 30%.

Somedays I think like would have been less stressful in the "old days" and how exciting would it have been to live in the days of the wild west?? And then I remember that the average woman back in those days had something like 7 kids and only 4 lived to adulthood. I changed my mind, I'd rather just read about it in books.

Its a give and take livelihood people... You all talk about how it was better before we had heartworm preventative and pesticides, but yet you still give heartworm medicine anyway. Why??? Because ignorance is bliss, and now that you know, would you really take the risk?

Stacita

Posted : 4/26/2007 5:26:05 PM

I think dogs today need better nutrition than they did then, to counteract environmental stressors. But the best nutrition in the world won't do much if exercise is missing.

One of the reasons I feed as well as I do, is that I believe life-spans can be extended. Although our mixed breed dogs lived to be about 14, I'm shooting for 16 with my Golden/Chow mix, who has had all of life's benefits since puppyhood. One area in which life spans have improved greatly are the giant breeds. Two of our St. Bernards were put down by age nine due to dysplasia. There are a lot more options now. I expect a longer life from my current dog with dysplasia.

Another thing that might be considered is that culling of litters was common then.

jessies_mom

Posted : 4/26/2007 7:13:38 PM

Note the common theme running through your stories of healthy dogs-- they consumed a wide variety of fresh foods. All studies on human nutrition come to that conclusion, that good nutrition is only achievable by eating a wide variety of fresh foods. Your human nutritionist gives you general guidelines about important nutrients-- eat these foods for adequate calcium, and so on. Talk of "balanced diets" is nonsensical.

I agree; I feed Jessie kibble but I add fresh foods to it daily, and not the same thing everyday. I also rotate kibbles. Would any of us feed our children the same dry, processed food daily even if we were told it was all they needed?

dyan

Posted : 4/26/2007 10:31:08 PM

Its a give and take livelihood people... You all talk about how it was better before we had heartworm preventative and pesticides, but yet you still give heartworm medicine anyway. Why??? Because ignorance is bliss, and now that you know, would you really take the risk?

Actually, I'm the one talking about HW preventative and pesticides. I don't give mine flea medicine. I would if she had fleas but I sure don't believe in giving it to her to not get fleas. Heartworm Preventative, I do. Why??? Honestly I'm not sure! We do get our Ollie tested twice a year instead of giving him preventative,,,he has too many allergy problems. I do think that they need good nutrition to help counteract a lot of these chemicals.

sandra_slayton

Posted : 4/26/2007 11:51:24 PM

Our dogs didn't have the luxary of many scraps--large family, left overs saved (if any) for Mom's lunch next day or for stew.. They all ate Purina Dog Chow and did great on it. Lost two to distemper despite having had distemper vax 9I have learned that in many cases it was actually brought on by the vax). Rabies and distemper were the only vax i know of given back then.

I agree with Dyan about all the heartworm meds, the flea stuff, the vax causing lots of problems today. I have not choice about the heartworm meds, only use flea stuff when i do find fleas, and avoid all the vax i can.

J M

Posted : 4/27/2007 7:47:47 AM

Back in the day everyone fed table scraps. Then the pet food companies came out with marketing and scare campaigns, and all of a sudden, the original sin became feeding your dog "people food".

People would look at you in horror. Vets would wince and grimace, at the mere answer of "table scraps" because their 1st question was always : What do you feed your dog?

Which in real life really meant...do you feed your dog from the table?

All of a sudden..we felt like the most horrid person ever as the vet clicked his tongue while the techs sighed knowlingly...and the evils of feeding dogs people food were laid out to the uneducated populace.

I was there when it happened. I'm old..

ORIGINAL: chewbecca

I think people stopped feeding their dogs "table scraps". There came a point, not that long ago, where (I believe it was the time that Science Diet had Betty White doing their commercials) people stopped recommending feeding dogs "people food".

My dogs lived to be old and ALL of them got table scraps. Every night. And still do.

mudpuppy

Posted : 4/27/2007 9:05:28 AM

Our dogs also used to run loose, and managed to supplement their diets with self-caught raw foods. We didn't have any heartworm in our area-- it seems to be gradually expanding its territory over time.
I think the biggest cause of doggy deaths in our area when I was a kid was being hit by cars. Puppies were sort of expected to die like flies, too-- it was considered normal to lose about half of each litter-- so perhaps only the healthiest survived into adulthood?

diane303

Posted : 4/27/2007 9:44:39 AM

I honestly don't remember dogs being healthier in their senior years in the "good old days" and I'm a pretty old bat. I remember people just assuming that old dogs smelled and had horendous teeth and breath and patchy coats and sore joints. I also remember dog poop being smellier and more copious. Fleas, tapeworm, mange and roundworms were more common. On the other hand, I always felt that feeding a creature the same highly process diet, day in and day out, can't be a good thing, either.

I think, though, that the current swing toward a more varied diet including fresh food is a great thing. In the old days, people fed table scaps for economic reasons and most of these table scraps contained fat and bread (stuff left on the plate after dinner). Now, people feed more varied fresh food intentially, with good nutrition in mind, so you see more active, healthy senior dogs. At 13, my dobX was taking 5 mile runs on the beach and chasing sticks in the water. She lived to be 17, even though she had several health problems as she got elderly. Her teeth and coat were good up until the end.

J M

Posted : 4/27/2007 9:44:39 AM

Also, there was a reason dogs liked laying under the kitchen table during dinner. Somebody had to eat the brocolli.

I think they ate a whole lot healthier than people realize....one green bean at a time.

jenhuedepohl

Posted : 4/27/2007 12:25:23 PM

I picked up a copy of "Henry and Ribsy" at a flea market awhile back. You all may remember it. It was written by Beverly Cleary and first published in 1954. I had read it as a kid and have been reading it to my kids at bedtime. One very interesting thing I noticed when we were reading it was what Ribsy ate (when he wasn't getting into the trash!) Henry fed him horse meat. Henry tried to feed him a fancy new canned food that was in all the ads - but Ribsy didn't like it. What a change in 50 years!