Food For Thought

LOL..My first time posting and of course it has to be about farting.. But I have a few dogs and my shih tzu Lacey farts like no other dog I have had! And OMG talk about stinky..woohoo... I feed my 11 dogs Canidae maintenance formula..She also came to me at 7 months old with severe hip dysplasia..She is over  a year old now and while she still has those hips problems she is very active and healthy otherwise..But she is a bit lazy in the going potty outside department..I suppose she always will since she did come from a mill..

Don't know what she was fed, probably crap I am sure.. But I hardly think that caused her problem.. It's more than 80% genetics..I don't know the exact % but I know its high..And then the rest come into play..Just like with humans..The women in my family live a very long time so my chances are good;) and my mom had *** cancer, so my chances are more than 50% that I too will get it, or one of my sisters.. Doesn't matter if we eat good or not and that is a proven fact..

My father raised hunting dogs ALL of my life until the day he died 3 years ago..There wasn't much choice way back then..Purina was the first out there and was considered cream of the crop in it's day..now it's crap..because they want to charge more and pay less to make it...My dogs were heavy working dogs climbing hills chasing their prey and they were all so healthy all of their lives..His dogs lived between 16-18 years..Darn good for a big dog.. He also fed Atta Boy...it also was a good kibble.. 20 years ago the best you could get as far as "premium" was science diet (gross and $$)..

My dads dogs never had any health problems, no joint or bone issues..no blindness/cataracts, etc.. NOW, hounds do happen to be a healthier..He had coon hounds, tick hounds, walkers, black and tans, had a bloodhound and an airdale mixed with a walker hound, Jessie was my favorite she was so sweet! They all died of old age..A couple he did have to PTS, but they were still old..Now our beagle on the other hand was a very unhealthy dog, and ended up getting tumors and had to be PTS..however, he was at least 12..

I have had top of the line food for my dogs and it not do any better than pro plan when I was feeding it...I do however prefer to feed my dogs a kibble I feel is better for them and Canidae has everything in it that is good for my dogs.. But if something happened and I no longer could afford it, I wouldn't feel bad to feed them purina or pedigree (which I have fed)..My oldest dog is 13 

To many people are so on this huge kick about feeding "the best", or BARF that they forget that some people really cannot afford some of that stuff, and that some dogs do great on the cheaper kibble..Doesn't mean they love their dogs any less that the people spend 60.00 on a bag of dog food!! 

I'm just curious--are you a new pet parent?  The knowledge we need about anything to do with our pets is CRITICAL for them to have a fabulous life.  The animals are here to teach us a lot--we humans just need to listen:>  I have two Cocker Spaniels who are each 16 years old--have never eaten "junk food"--they look like puppies.  People are always amazed whn I tell them their real age---hmmm---perhaps I should start following their diet.:> 

Sorry to hear about your Golden Pup. I have an 9 mo. old german shepard and a 1 1/2 yr. old husky.

When we got the husky she had severe urinary problems due to the breeder keeping them in a dirty pen.

She is healty now but she can only eat special dog food and I have to make her treats.

When we bought our german pup the breeder suggested a supplement for him, we decided to try it with both and for the husky it has cleared up her skin problems that she has as a result of being on antibiotics for a 1yr. and they are both healthy and we have stopped making frequent stops at the vet.

I highly suggest you trying it for your pup. you can only order it online.

 

Good luck with the pup!

I used to feed my dog Science Diet which was recommended by my vet.  Then I received an article saying what was really in commercial dog food and started doing a lot of investigating.  Most dog food companies are a subsidiary of a human food company.  The food that is unfit for human consumption is used in making the dog food.  Sick and diseased animals, animal parts such as hooves and beaks, spoiled meats returned from grocery stores are all commonly processed at rendering plants to use in making dog kibble.  The kibble is then sprayed with oil (from those big drums of cooking grease that restaurants dispose of) to make the kibble more appetizing to the dogs. 

Some companion animals (dogs and cats) are also sent to rendering plants when left for a veternarian's office to dispose of.  Tests have confirmed that the drugs used to euthanize an animal survive the rendering process.  While the dose is not high enough to be lethal when mixed with the other byproducts in the rendering plant, it is speculated that this adds to the increase in cancer among our dogs. 

After investigating several different dog foods, I switched mine to Flint River Ranch.  My Alaskan Malamute who had lots of health problems improved greatly.  My Chow-Shepard mix who has always been healthy but a rather picky eater, now eats his food when I give it to him rather than walking away and letting it lay.  I had narrowed down my dog food choice to Flint River Ranch or Canidae after reasearching both.  The thing that made me choose Flint River over Canidae was that it is baked instead of extruded (cooked at extremely high temps).  However, both foods seemed to be made with only human quality ingredients.

I think my Chow would have been one of those lucky dogs to still live a long healthy life if we had kept him on the Science Diet.  Being a mixed breed, I think he is just a healthier dog than my pure-bred.  Even though he may have been fine on the old food, I can help ensure his continued good health by feeding him a better quality food that he thinks tastes better too! 

my bset friend was on pedigree his whole life and he lived to be 15.

he is a hundred pound pitbull.    his coat shined so good you would have to put sunglasses on when out in the sun. He had no health issues at all

seems to me to be good food

Does anyone have an opinion on the Pedigree dry food?  I feed my dogs (chocolate lab & yellow mixed) Pedigree dry and do not feed them any wet food.  Can you guys/gals give me any advice?

It doesn't ever pay to feed your dogs canned dog food even the better brands. Read the label for it's contents. You will see it is almost all WATER and probably from 1 to 2 % protein. If you want to treat your dogs to something good besides a good dry dog food then cook lean ground beef, maybe also some cooked chicken and give that to them as a treat once a day. Do not season the beef or chicken. It is good if they can have a little bit of both but probably more the ground beef. This is a nice treat and a healthy treat for any normal dog. Just don't give them so much of this that it replaces their appetite for their dry dog food as well. Give it as a treat. I have mostly Chihuahua and I give them only 1/4 cup of this cooked mix once a day. Some of my smaller dogs I give a little less. If they don't eat enough of the dry dog food you are giving them too much of this treat. I have read and studies by a vet have shown that most dogs do better if they have a little bit of this kind of table food prepared for them if they get it once a day in addition to their other good dry dog food. I have one Chihuahua, Bambi, that is prone to over eat and get fat. I have found giving her this treat once a day has actually helped maintain her weight better. She eats less of the dry dog food. She is getting something she needs out of this special prepaired cooked beef and chicken that possibly she wasn't getting from just her Diamond Puppy Chow. She and all the other dogs have shinnier fur and more energy by just giving them this little treat once a day. I read about this on the internet and I tried it on my 10 dogs and they are all looking and doing better.

 That was very helpful...I will start doing that....thanks!

It doesn't ever pay to feed your dogs canned dog food even the better brands. Read the label for it's contents. You will see it is almost all WATER and probably from 1 to 2 % protein.

   This is how you compare the protein in canned and dry food; 

http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/dm.html; 

The formula for calculating the DM percentages of nutrients in pet foods is determined by... Nutrient percent divided by Reciprocal of the Moisture percent

   Using this formula, you will find that canned food has much more protein than most dry food.
 

just my two cents....I had a Dalmation that lived to be 15 who was never fed any of the expensive foods, I also had a poodle mix that lived to be 14.  My current buddy started on the expensive stuff and always had stomach troubles....including smelly farts and poop!  He is now on Pedigree for large dogs and is doing fabulous! 

I just really think it depends on the animal...

I had a dog growing up that lived to be 14 years old that was fed the cheap stuff you get at the grocery store.  However, 20 years ago you didn't see the number of canine cancers that you do these days.  These days you need to do your homework in order to keep your pets healthy.  The "premium brands" like Eukanuba and Science Diet aren't really much better than the name brands at the grocery store like Pedigree or Purina.  Procter and Gamble ownes Iams and Eukanuba.  Colgate-Palmolive owns Hill's Science Diet.  Both of these companies have huge marketing on their dog food products.  If you want a truly healthy food for your dog, you need to do some research.  There are plently of healthy food alternatives out there, but they tend to be brands that the average dog owner isn't familiar with. 

 You're right. I also believe that many dry dog food are the cause of cancer and other health and even behavioral problems dogs get. Kibble is a very processed food and many of them are made of very low/poor quality ingredients.

I don't think it is the food that is causing cancer.  i have owned dogs for 51 years  and back "when, their only vax was rabies and distemper and lottsa folks didn't even mess with the distemper and only got rabies becuse it was law required.  And if thy had fleas, you put a flea powder on them.  Look at the amount of vax they get today, plus monthly heartworm meds and in a lot of cases, flea stuff pu on them monthly.    The air is ffar more polutted today with th number of cars, rigs, etc, and around here th refinerie plus other plants puts out a lot of stuff

Aslo, most  people didn't use to take thei dogs to the vet for wellnes checks each year, and lots jus shot sick dogs and never knew what the problem was.  There probably was more canine cancer back then that thought, but it is far worse today and some breds are prone to it--like my glden retrievers.  Horrible thought, but 60% of all goldens die of cancer, some never reach age 1. 

I firmly believe th high rate of cancer today is due more to all the meds, drugs, etc we put into our dog's bodies, and the enviroment,  rather than the food.

I feed some canned as a topper to kibble.  I also add kefir (a culture milk product) to their meals once a day.  I don't feed just any canned food.  I try to get grain free, if it has grain, it has whole grains.  I stay away from the meat formed into slices or cubes.  That just isn't normal. 

 Canned is not evil in my mind.

I have to agree that we are "over shooting" our dogs with vaccinations. Many of the boosters, I have read, are not necessary. Years ago we had a collie who only had rabies shots and she lived to 16. I do feel food is an issue but what some dogs tolerate others cannot.  I had until a year ago a Rotti - she did well on Nutro.  I had to have her PTS because of generic bone disorders (10 years) that were to painful and no hope for her.  I adopted a 4 year old Cocker Spaniel. I put him on Nutro and all he did was vomit.   Took him to the vets and when I told him what he was on - "ditch the Nutro" - he said it is a food that so many dogs cannot tolerate/digest propertly.  Now my baby has kibble from Drs. Foster & Smith - but not 100%.  I made him up - and freeze- a soup of a little chicken and lots of fresh veggies - I puree and freeze it in muffin tins.   He is one healthy little guy.