Dog food?
Posted by Anonymous on Feb 08, 2007 · Member since Dec 1969 · 11789 posts
:o
I just recently read what is in dog food and I can't believe I have subjected my two pooches to such inhumane treatment. Anyway, does anybody know of any good veggie dog food out there, especially for sentitive tummies?
THANKS!!!
I highly recommend Natural Balance Vegetarian Formula Ultra Premium Dog Food.
I highly recommend getting Dr. Pitcairn's book on holistic care for pets and home cooking. Dogs and cats are carnivores so preparing their meals yourself, you know what they are getting.
http://www.amazon.com/Pitcairns-Complete-Guide-Natural-Health/dp/157954973X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/104-8701404-9007163
Di
THANKS - I think I will buy the food first and read the book - they are getting hungry!!! :P
Vegan food for carnivores was discussed earlier in a post about cats.
I would suggest that you search for that thread and read it -it's long, but informative. :)
At any rate, PLEASE do not do this to your dog. Or any other animal companion that happens to be a carnivore.
I you are looking for legitimate, non-biased studies on diet, there are numerous sites:
http://www.avma.org/
http://www.plos.org/index.php
http://www.plosone.org/home.action
http://www.pnas.org/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
And possibly some things here:
http://www.eurekalert.org/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/
The first set is your best resource.
cheers!
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Ferret Research: http://ferretknots.blogspot.com/
Ferret Resources: http://nippynihon.blogspot.com/
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Mahatma Gandhi:
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
I would really really stay away from feeding your dogs a vege diet. I have recommended his book many times here, and I'll do it for you. Dr.Martin Goldstein's "The Nature of Animal Healing". Everything you need to know about giving those dogs the best, from diet, to medical care is in that book. if you only buy one book to read about proper pet care....this is it. Trust me, it's been my own personal doggie bible.
Here's part of my post from an older link with some top notch foods listed...get any of them:
also goto this website:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=main
hope this helps!
-dave
It's definitely worth seeking out something from the list above. My cats have always eaten Wellness and love it.
Anyone out there feeding any animal a commercial food should first google rendered dog food. We found out about how bad dog food was after we lost our sweet Miss Millie. We thought feeding her, Science Diet was so good.....it's rendered! It just slowly killed her. You can also read the article by Dr Wendell Belfield at http://www.belfield.com/article3.html. It's what the animal food company's don't want you to know.
The list of foods by Davedrum are the only ones that don't use rendered by products. They don't have to even list all of the stuff they put into animal feed. There are NO laws protecting animals feed out there.
I highly recommend getting Dr. Pitcairn's book on holistic care for pets and home cooking. Dogs and cats are carnivores so preparing their meals yourself, you know what they are getting.
http://www.amazon.com/Pitcairns-Complete-Guide-Natural-Health/dp/157954973X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/104-8701404-9007163
Di
Hear, hear (and all that) I agree completely. Required resource for anyone with animals.
Raika loves doggie-loaf!
Yes, dogs and other companion animals are canrivores, they need meat. I fed my dog Purina One and recently found out how bad it is. I switched to Nature's Variety (beef variety right now) and Maggie loves it. She gets so much more excited at breakfast and dinner time now! Personally, I would not recommend making your own food, it's difficult to get all the nutrients your dog needs in the food yourself.
Hey DeuceO,
Glad to hear Maggie is loving the Nature's Variety. I literally have every flavor dry kibble they make, and I use their frozen raw patties for some of my dogs. You can cook for a dog and give it a great meal and everything it would need nutrition wise. When I first read Dr. Goldstein's book, he actually has recipes in the book. I would make a big stew, of boiled chicken, rice, sweet potatoes, lots of veges, fresh garlic, etc. My biggest problem with cooking was the number of dogs I had at time (less then now, but still a lot...I think I had 8 back then)...and "stinking" up my kitchen and house with the smell of the chicken. I did not want to touch meat anymore, or to put it in any of my pots and pans. I still do buy an organic chicken every once in a while and make it for them to have along with their food as a treat. I have 1 pot set aside that is the "dog" pot. It still makes my house smell, and I still get sick by touching the chicken....it's only because my dogs (and kitty) love it so much that I do it....it's what a parent does for their children....fur children that is!
I think everyone has to follow his or her own conscience here. I could never feel comfortable with the choice to sacrifice the many animals for the one just because that one happens to be the one I personally love most.
Clearly we've removed domesticated animals from anything resembling natural. I'm happy to have saved a little guy who is remarkably happy and healthy.
RobinMC, You are so right. It's actually all that matters. If you saved his life, and he's healthy, you love him, and he loves both you and yours back..... at the end of the day that really is all that matters!
Excellent point RobinMC. I'm glad you pets are happy!
I really appreciate all of your comments -
I am pretty busy now, Grad School and work, I really don't have that much time to make my pooches food (let alone the food I need to eat) I think I will start trying the lables mentioned below, and see how that works.
One of my pooches has a VERY sensitive tummy, so I am going to have to figure out what is good for her. But I will never again by rendered food...how can they get away with that...SERIOUSLY!!!
THANKS EVERYONE!!!
It's funny that the 'new' thing to do is make home made food for your dogs. When I was young we always shared our food w with the dogs. Most of their diet was dinner scraps filled in with some dry food. Every one then said how bad it was for dogs to eat 'human' food. All I know is our dogs all lived longer than average lives. My collie lived to be almost 18 years old which is old for a larger dog. They seldom had problems w/ a lot the diseases that many dogs get now. We almost never ate processed food either it was all organically grown veg and our own chicken and eggs. The dogs ate everything including salad and raw carrots. When we were in the middle of harvest and had way too much of every thing we would cook up a bunch of veg with a soup bone or two and they would feast. Most of the time they liked the veg as much or more than the meat.
Like so many packaged, pre-prepared foods, commercial "extruded" dog food (don't you just love that word?) aka kibble came out in the post WW2 era, when more women were entering the workforce and "convenience foods" were the new rage. Until that time, all dog training manuals (I have several old ones) discussed dog nutrition and how to prepare their food according to age. Many recommended feeding puppies a mixture of milk and eggs, graduating to cooked meats etc. Most of these recipes used cooked rice or other cereals as a base, then added what was known as "catsmeat" (the cheaper bits) and table scraps--even vegetables. The "catsmeat" man was wellknown in London from Dickensian days on, a person who went around with a pushcart selling cheap cuts of meat and offal door-to-door to feed your pets (and, probably, the economically challenged humans in the area.) Children used to follow the catsmeat man in East London and tease him, as Max Bygraves remembered in his autobiography, with the following rhyme among others
"Wallah wallah catsmeat, eat brown bread.
Ever see a sausage fall down dead?"
Yes, dogs and other companion animals are canrivores, they need meat. I fed my dog Purina One and recently found out how bad it is. I switched to Nature's Variety (beef variety right now) and Maggie loves it. She gets so much more excited at breakfast and dinner time now! Personally, I would not recommend making your own food, it's difficult to get all the nutrients your dog needs in the food yourself.
Home cooking is really quite simple when you follow the advice of Pitcairn, Goldstein or the many others out there. I had to switch to home cooking when my 12 year old cat was dying. All under the guidance of my holistic vet. Pie Shop nearly died at 12. He basically had no immune system, had colitis and other stuff. He was sick from when I took him in as an abandoned kitten at 6 weeks old. I started home cooking and he lived to just before his 21st birthday. Although a litle time consuming, compared to opening a bag or can, it really is not too difficult. I just bought a huge crockpot so will start preparing two nights meals at a time, adding supplements right before feeding.
On a funny note, I eat like crap! ;D
On a funny note, I eat like crap! ;D
Don't feel bad, Diver-Di...my sister had a couple of male Dobermans (dobermen?) that I showed for her while I was still living in the States...most serious animal lovers' companions live better than most other people's children... ;D
.
ungreen,
You are so very right, and thanks for your very well written post (as all of your posts are). All I have to say is about my own experience, with own dogs (and the path I follow in caring for them). I have an organic garden. I do feed my dogs carrots from my garden and most of them eat them as if I was handing them a slice of meat. I can take my dogs into it throughout the year. I know that when I pick certain things from the garden...they smell...even taste...but for the most part, whatever I offer them...they choose to move along and not indulge. Yet, if they see a squirrel, or a deer in my yard...they bark, and go to hunt and try to capture it. Though they may be very far removed from what they once were, it is still their instinct to hunt. They still have teeth that are meant to rip flesh and kill prey. Though I would rather not....I know from everything I have read that meat is what they still crave and need. I'm not saying they would die without it, but it is still very much a part of who they are. Dr. Goldstein, in his book has a very real life story regarding a couple and their dog. It's about a veg. diet vs. meat based diet. Being that I take his knowledge and research to be the best path to follow for the care of my dogs....I follow what is written in his book. My dogs are never sick. They never have fleas, ticks or heartworm (and I give them no harmful chemicals, that I hope all here know are just as harmful for your pet as they are for insects), and I live here in the South (flea and heartworm capitol of the US)....I believe in all my heart, that I have followed the best advice I have heard yet to date. I am ALWAYS open to hear new advice. But on the other hand, more then most...I can probably write a book one day based off of my own experiences with my own "pack" of dogs. Maybe one day when I finish touring, I can find someone to sit down with me, so I an share what I seen with my own two eyes and with my own heart.....maybe there will be just 1 or 2 that want to read it. If I can teach only 1 from what have have learned....well in my heart..."one" is better than "none".
Once again,I am not saying that what I do is the only way. I only speak from a ton of hands on experience....it just has worked like a "charm" for my family. For all I want (like all of you), is to provide the best care I can possibly give ,to what I consider to be a big part of my family.
-dave
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