Need help finding a healthy, weight control food

ORIGINAL: sandra_slayton

I don't know what your problem is with Purina, why you hate it so and always have to put it down, but it works great for my dogs, always has and with all the recalls, mine stayed on Purina One with no problems at all and I trust purina more than i would trust some of those upper end foods due to things that have come out during the recalls.

 
We seem to be forgetting that Purina also had recalled products. No it wasn't Purina One, but all the companies involved had some products recalled and many that weren't.  And Purina was directly buying wheat gluten, and continues to buy wheat gluten and other ingredients, from China themselves.  They say on their website that while they will be closely monitoring the suppliers from China, but they will not stop sourcing ingredients from China. What if these suppliers start secretly adding another substance that Purina is not routinely testing for? That is how they got away with the melamine contamination.  People always talk about the exceptional quality control of big companies like Purina, yet who knows how long Purina was putting contaminated products on the shelves without knowing? Just like the other companies involved. Bobsk8 fed and trusted Natural Balance and then the recall happened.  You've had great experience with Purina, and the recalls happened and you still say you trust Purina more than other brands.  There are plenty of brands that were not involved in the recall and have tested and confirmed their products to be free of melamine, and Bobsk8 switched to one of them.
 
 I just see an inconsistency in your posts where you always talk about how you don't trust any company, and you are criticizing the pet food industry for the recalls, and then I see all these posts from you about how much you trust Purina, even when pets were dying from their products.

just see an inconsistency in your posts where you always talk about how you don't trust any company, and you are criticizing the pet food industry for the recalls, and then I see all these posts from you about how much you trust Purina, even when pets were dying from their products.

If you read my all most posts over time  you will have read that I TRUST NO COMPANY OF ANY KIND, DOG FOOD, DRUG, CAR, ANY OF THEM TOTALLY.  I said i trust Purina MORE than i would some of the upper ones who denied things until the end.  And Yes I know that Alpo made by menu and MightyDog made in a purina plant was recalled.  I got e-mails from Purina about both recalls.  And I don't ever rememver reading where Purina claimed all their products were home grown, that they didn't import a single ingredient, that all their food was made in their own plants.  This was claimed by some of the others and turned out to be false. That is why I trust them more--at least for now, than the others.  No false claims about their products as to ingredients origin, where food is made, no secrets about where it is made, etc.  i have also found on various forums where some switched only to find the new one was on recall a week later.
 
And I think if false claims are made about some aspects, then how can you ever know for sure what part of what is being said is the truth?  i use to be a totally trusting person to the point of believeing any and everything--til I was mis diagnosed and almost died of appendicitis, my Dad was diagnosed as hyper ventilating for a week before it was decided he was having mini=strokes and died after surgery, til our bumper to bumper car insurance didn't pay this that and younder, til Hunter was killed by perfectly safe proheart6. etc, etc. Nope i don't trust anymore, not like i did and I hate that i am this way because i want to trust, just can't.

now appears it caused your dog to be over weight since she is losing weight on a different food.

I just want to say that the food did not "cause" Bob's dog to be overweight--if she is overweight.  She was either getting too much or not enough exercise or more snacks than she should of, etc.  Willow gets the same NB Fish that Bob's dog was on and she's lost weight still on it and maintains well on it.  It's all in how you feed and how active the dog is.  The brand really doesn't make a difference. 
 
And, frankly I did not switch from NB because I don't care what company you switch to in a panic, there is no less of a guarantee that that food isn't going to have a problem at some point too.  It's all just guessing and hoping your food doesn't have an issue. 

It also could be that it was not  the right food for her.  Both Honey and Scooter lost weight on Fit and Trim and kayCee didn't lose an ounce...unless i starved her and I do mean starve her.  Took two cups a day to get the weight off Scooter and Honey, wold take a cup a day to get any off kayCee.  Just something about it didn't work at taking weight off her..  AFter we got the weight off her with the SD r/d, she kept it off on the Fit Trim,   I think it all depends on the dog and how their body works.  One will gain on one food, another will lose on that food, another will maintain on that  food.

I would think after this recall, we probably all realize that we don't know for sure what is in our pets food, unless you home feed.  There were companies that said certain ingredients were in there food and they didn't realize that the manufacturer was putting it in there, there were companies that said all of there ingredients were sourced in the US and they were not, there were companies that refused to tell people where or who made there food, there were companies that were changing there ingredients lists, so the bottom line is if you have a food that your dog does well on and you trust the company then great, be that company Purina or someone else, because "better" is very subjective, and what may be "better" to one person or dog is not necessarily "better" to another and never will be.

ACTUALLY, Bob,  I myself feed EVO, because my dog likes it and does well on it.

I just don't make inaccurate statements about it.

What you say seems to fly in the face of a great deal of information on heavy carb content dog foods. 

What information? Information that usually comes from biased sources such a pro-raw and holistic websites? I have yet to see an objective study on such things.

Sounds like some marketing info propaganda  for Purina .........Junk food is junk food....

You sound like marketing propaganda for Innova, actually [sm=wink.gif]

I guess I will have to inform my dog that she is not losing weight om the Evo, she just thinks she is.....[] 

Sure, your dog is going to lose weight on EVO reduced fat - it's reduced fat !

I fed Emma, this morning, and she ate about half of what I put down, for her. That was fine, because I'd given her more than what she normally eats. A couple of hours later, we went to lunch with my friend and her baby, and Emma played "cleanup crew" to the table. My friend asked if I'd not fed her yet. She was acting like she was STARVING.

My dogs (and many others) are great actors. Teenie acted herself into weighing 23 pounds. Her belly dragged the ground. She couldn't walk more than about 200 feet, and wouldn't have considered running or jumping. She's actually just been cut back on her food, again, because she's gaining on raw. She's a little begger girl, and she'll eat anything that's dropped or handed to her. My mom likes to give her treats, for being so cute. I am also guilty of sharing bits of my meals with her, because it's always been something I've done, when the dogs behave. She gains weight easily, and as a senior Dachshund, weighing too much is *dangerous* for her. It would be far more cruel to have her be paralyzed than it would be to reduce her food to almost nothing. Paralysis is the extreme, but it's all too common in her breed. Just being overweight causes lots of pain, though, and anybody that is or has been significantly overweight knows that.

I'm the meanie face that restricts Teenie's intake to 1/2 pound a day. On kibble, it was 1/2 cup a day of Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish, and I didn't allow her any treats, at all. Now that she isn't in danger, she gets tiny treats. To me, it's worth whatever it takes to get the weight off, but for a dedicated owner with a normal, healthy, not dangerously overweight dog, restricting calories and adding exersize is all that's needed.  Teenie will *always* act hungry. It doesn't matter how little or how much she gets. It just doesn't bother me, anymore.

ORIGINAL: jennie_c_d

I fed Emma, this morning, and she ate about half of what I put down, for her. That was fine, because I'd given her more than what she normally eats. A couple of hours later, we went to lunch with my friend and her baby, and Emma played "cleanup crew" to the table. My friend asked if I'd not fed her yet. She was acting like she was STARVING.

My dogs (and many others) are great actors. Teenie acted herself into weighing 23 pounds. Her belly dragged the ground. She couldn't walk more than about 200 feet, and wouldn't have considered running or jumping. She's actually just been cut back on her food, again, because she's gaining on raw. She's a little begger girl, and she'll eat anything that's dropped or handed to her. My mom likes to give her treats, for being so cute. I am also guilty of sharing bits of my meals with her, because it's always been something I've done, when the dogs behave. She gains weight easily, and as a senior Dachshund, weighing too much is *dangerous* for her. It would be far more cruel to have her be paralyzed than it would be to reduce her food to almost nothing. Paralysis is the extreme, but it's all too common in her breed. Just being overweight causes lots of pain, though, and anybody that is or has been significantly overweight knows that.

I'm the meanie face that restricts Teenie's intake to 1/2 pound a day. On kibble, it was 1/2 cup a day of Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish, and I didn't allow her any treats, at all. Now that she isn't in danger, she gets tiny treats. To me, it's worth whatever it takes to get the weight off, but for a dedicated owner with a normal, healthy, not dangerously overweight dog, restricting calories and adding exersize is all that's needed.  Teenie will *always* act hungry. It doesn't matter how little or how much she gets. It just doesn't bother me, anymore.

 
A dacshshund that is always starving?  I've never heard of such a thing![]
Seriously, Zoe is the same way.  Whether I give her a little bit of food or a lot. I know how important it is to keep her slim so she gets as many walks as I have time for, and I've just enrolled her in agility class.  Plus, the doggy daycare wears her out to.  She's at a perfect weight but then again she is only 2.

ORIGINAL: jenns

ORIGINAL: sandra_slayton

I don't know what your problem is with Purina, why you hate it so and always have to put it down, but it works great for my dogs, always has and with all the recalls, mine stayed on Purina One with no problems at all and I trust purina more than i would trust some of those upper end foods due to things that have come out during the recalls.

We seem to be forgetting that Purina also had recalled products. No it wasn't Purina One, but all the companies involved had some products recalled and many that weren't.  And Purina was directly buying wheat gluten, and continues to buy wheat gluten and other ingredients, from China themselves.  They say on their website that while they will be closely monitoring the suppliers from China, but they will not stop sourcing ingredients from China. What if these suppliers start secretly adding another substance that Purina is not routinely testing for? That is how they got away with the melamine contamination.  People always talk about the exceptional quality control of big companies like Purina, yet who knows how long Purina was putting contaminated products on the shelves without knowing? Just like the other companies involved. Bobsk8 fed and trusted Natural Balance and then the recall happened.  You've had great experience with Purina, and the recalls happened and you still say you trust Purina more than other brands.  There are plenty of brands that were not involved in the recall and have tested and confirmed their products to be free of melamine, and Bobsk8 switched to one of them.

I just see an inconsistency in your posts where you always talk about how you don't trust any company, and you are criticizing the pet food industry for the recalls, and then I see all these posts from you about how much you trust Purina, even when pets were dying from their products.

I meet people constantly at the shelter where I volunteer and 2 dog parks, and if I can talk someone out of feeding their dogs these horrible foods like Purina, and Beneful and the other dog junk foods , I think my day was worth it.  I know quite a few people now that are feeding their dogs Canidae ( I even got a Rottie breeder to switch) and Natural Balance.  I was talking to a dog Oncologist 2 weeks ago and she attributes the epidemic dog cancer rate to the terrible diets that most dogs are on.  She said that the dog might get cancer when it is on a quality food, but it would probably be years later than she is seeing it with many dogs today.  Let's face it, if you were going to a store and buying the cheapest food that you could find to feed your family, to save a few cents, and you weren't worried about your kids health, people would think that was horrible.  Yet, many people do that with their dogs, every meal of every day in the entire dog's life.  That is really sad....

ORIGINAL: Bobsk8

What you say seems to fly in the face of a great deal of information on heavy carb content dog foods.  Sounds like some marketing info propaganda  for Purina .........Junk food is junk food....

I guess I will have to inform my dog that she is not losing weight om the Evo, she just thinks she is.....[]

Again, who's information? More self-stylized experts who've never published a single peer-reviewed paper??

And for those of you who advocate high protein diets, you can make a dog fat on protein just about as quickly as you can on carbohydrates. Excess amino acids (beyond what is needed for protein synthesis, about 16% crude protein except during growth and heavy activity) are converted to glucose when possible and stored as fat just like carbohydrates. The rest of the excess is urinated out in the form of nitrogenous wastes.

Personally, I would rather regulate my dogs calories with a balance of quality meat protein and carbohydrates so my kibble doesn't get pissed into the yard. Calories are calories, and proteins and carbohydrates each contain an equal number of calories.

Bobsk8, I can't understand why people think dogs want the same thing every day, twice a day either. When I fed dog food, I always gave fresh food. Now I homecook a wide variety of things. I would hate to eat cereal for the rest of my life.

Ok i need to admit this..One of my dogs is overweight,because i can not ignore her pleas [&o] Nearly everytime i walk into the kitchen she's there wanting a tidbit. My biggest problem is working out if she truly is hungry,what if she is and i dont feed her.Sometimes she wont finish her bowl of food,so she does stop when she's full.

I guess my biggest question is how do you tell the difference between true hunger and pigishness?

ORIGINAL: Edie

Ok i need to admit this..One of my dogs is overweight,because i can not ignore her pleas [&o] Nearly everytime i walk into the kitchen she's there wanting a tidbit. My biggest problem is working out if she truly is hungry,what if she is and i dont feed her.Sometimes she wont finish her bowl of food,so she does stop when she's full.

I guess my biggest question is how do you tell the difference between true hunger and pigishness?

Check their blood glucose every time they beg??? []

I guess my biggest question is how do you tell the difference between true hunger and pigishness?

I don't worry about it. They're pigs, period[] They're opportunistic carnivores, and they are wired for survival. They're going to eat more than they need, because if they don't, it "might not be there later". I don't think it has anything to do with being fed regularly so much as it is instinct. I stop eating because I know I've had enough and I reason myself into stopping. You can't really tell a dog, "You should weigh only 11 pounds, so you only need 600 calories per day. If you eat more, you'll get fat and be uncomfortable, so resist all the treats you're offered." I get that. They don't[]

Edie, I know that it is so hard to turn them down, ha. SWEET little faces! Just pick a couple times of day when it is OK and give a healthful treat. Just not every single time. []