Interesting Article Regarding Feeding Dogs
This comes from the May issue of Reader's Digest with a huge list of contributors involved in feeding, training dogs (and cats). I thought it was interesting since we often discuss what to feed our dogs. Whether commercial dog food....what brand is best or a raw diet. We often have new people who ask for advice and our opinions are as varied as we are. We all want the best for our critters to keep them healthy, happy and with us for a long time. This is not meant to be for or against a commercial diet or a raw diet.
Make sure their diets have plenty of essential fatty acids. Most high-quality commercial pet food have enough but those on low quality of homemade diets may develop a dull coat.
Every bag of pet food has an Association Of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) statement on the label (tho you may need a magnifying glass to see it). Look for one that says the food has undergone animal feeding trials rather than one that's been formulated by a computer. The trials are expensive but they indicate that real dogs actually ate the food for 6 months with good results.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, examined 200 recipes last year for home-prepared dog food found that 95% has some serious nutritional deficiencies.
Grain-free dog and cat food...it's all hype. Grains has actually be an important part of a balanced diet.
A raw diet can cause cracked teeth or possible bacterial infections. Also, exposure to feces could put anyone with a weakened immune system at risk. The ASPCA, the CDC and other institutions all strongly discourage raw diets.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Vicky Hay on
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Thank you re: grain.
Dogs have been living with humans for some 20,000 years. During that time, they've evolved to eat much the same kinds of things as humans eat: an omnivorous diet. Even wild canids are not generally obligatory carnivores (as cats are), but dogs can eat a great many things that humans eat.
We didn't have commercial dog food until the early 20th century. Soooo.... What did dogs do about eating during those other 19,886 years?
They ate leftovers from what we ate: cooked meat, cooked vegetables, cooked tubers, and cooked grains. And they seem not to have gone extinct as a result. ;-)
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Yes, and for thousands of years before we actively housed dogs, the wolves that would become our dogs' ancestors were the ones who chose to stop or reduce their hunting and eat our garbage instead. In lean times, the ones who prospered on slim pickings would have been the ones who survived. The grey wolf that we see now is probably not the ancestor of our dogs, though they both have a common ancestor. Wild canines are very flexible in their diets; foxes eat fruits and plant material and one type of coyote has a diet that is mostly prickly pears for part of the year.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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My dogs especially Wynn loves picking raspberries off my bushes and eating them. There have been many wild fruits that animals could eat and I'm sure times were rough too. Mice and rabbits were probably a good source of protein.
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Hm. That's interesting about the wolves. I think I'd heard that somewhere.
The coyotes around here will eat ANYTHING. Including some things one would rather not contemplate. But...check out this interesting page on coyotes: http://www.urbancoyoteresearch.com/About_Coyotes.htm. I'd have guessed they rarely live to a ripe old age, but I had no idea their mortality rate was so high!
And the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum notes, about the diet of coyotes in the low desert:
"Coyotes are omnivores, which means they will eat or try to eat just about anything. In the Sonoran Desert coyotes vary their diet with the seasons. Cactus fruit, mesquite beans, flowers, insects, rodents, lizards, rabbits, birds, and snakes make up some of their dietary choices."
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Permalink Reply by Tali'Sha and Gible on
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we have alot of coyotes where i'm from, and theyre surprisingly bigger than the average coyote. i heard they were going to try and specify it as a new species, because they are much bigger, but i don't know if that part is 100% true or not.
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Permalink Reply by Linda on
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My cats were all fed Purina, Friskies, Meow Mix...I tried Iams but none of them would eat it. The youngest I lost a cat was 16 years but I took him from my mother when she moved into an apartment....she fed him lots of things he probably shouldn't have had in people food, he had a stroke. Mine all live to average of 19. Interesting about the diabetes, I lost my first cat to that at age 19. I think I remember using that dental food at some point too.
When I was a kid the dogs got canned food...and yes, it was horsemeat, plus table scraps. Oh heck, I remember giving them steak bones and what not (not chicken bones tho). I haven't used canned dog food in years and years. Pretty much fed just dry. My first foray into specialty food was when we got our Irish wolfhound pup....they have to have low protein because they grow so dang fast. Now I use the BB weight control and mix in cooked chicken and peas or green beans or carrots. That diet got 14 lbs off Max when we got him and has kept his weight good for the last 6 years.
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My 16 year old cat does like TOTW cat food but the rest prefer the cheaper brands...saves me $.
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Max and Katie would kill for apples or bananas. Arnie thought the zinnias were the best treat in the garden and my one wolfhound thought peanuts were the greatest thing since sliced bread. In hard times wild animals eat what they can find to keep them going.
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Cassie likes blueberries. And watermelon -- if she sees me break open a watermelon she takes up the "Fork that over NOW" position under the table. She'll eat apples, and (only if she's in the mood) she'll chew on a carrot like it was a chew toy.
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this is sort of irrelevant to the post, but i read feeding your dog alot of omega fatty acids can actually help dogs who have arthritic problems and ease the movement in the joints.
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Permalink Reply by veronica camacho on
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i make my own dog food ,i don't trust the pet food industry anymore then our food industry ,but i did my homework on how to properly make and supplement it .i don't do raw or completely grain free tho ,some things seem like hype and raw and grain free seems like its hype
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