Low Quality Dog Food

Sorry I took so long to reply... I was on vacation, and I brought my laptop, but the internet connection at the hotel was laaame. D:

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Originally Posted by dragondawg

The less one worries about dog food or diet, the more likely one's dog is getting proper nutrition. Especially on this forum.

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It's great that your dogs love what they eat & they're healthy. Awesome! But... my objective was not to question anyone who feeds this brand or that brand of dog food.

I have to disagree completely with your statement above... completely! Knowledge and education really is a powerful thing. If one was completely careless about their dog's diet, they would probably buy what was cheapest, or what was most aggressively/deceptively advertised. It's common sense.

I totally understand that it can get tiring to see endless dog food threads - especially when many of them disagree with your personal opinions. =0) buuut, that's life. Personally, I am all for people going out and doing research about what they're feeding their pets, and the consequences of poor diet. This is a PET FORUM... obviously, most of us are a little more involved and active in our pet's lives, than the normal pet owner. It annoys me the most when new members are being discouraged from learning more about feeding their dogs a nutritious, species-appropriate diet. That seems a little bit wierd and controlling, IMHO.

I agree with Vela and Erica.

If you don't like the dog food threads, don't look at them. There is nothing wrong with learning more and educating. The fact that the same people continuously bash and berate these threads says more about the people than the subject. EVERYONE knows you don't like these threads; You've made it clear again and again with your not-so-subtle comments. So if you hate them so much, stop looking at them and let the people that DO enjoy them read them.

Currently I freefeed kibble and feed raw meals. The kibble I've been using changes as I find my dogs do better on some than others. Right now it's Innova EVO RM as I've found that Visa in particular does well on this. Whatever it is might be the best food in the world but not every dog will do well on it. Heck I know a dog that can't eat raw, and when I was feeding Visa only one protein source she started to get stringy pads. My dogs do best on raw and I'd feed only raw if I could but it's too expensive for me and it doesn't have enough calories to keep up my dogs' weights. I suppose that is why dogs (way back when) were so thin, no kibble to fatten them up and tons of work to do. Kibble is a lifesaver (and Nutri-Cal sometimes hehe) for keeping weight on my guys. I do love the raw though, without it my dogs do not look nearly as nice. We had the teeth-cleaning people at the shop yesterday, cleaning teeth. The lady says that the dogs with the best teeth are always the raw-fed dogs. I get Visa's teeth cleaned once every two months now that she eats alot of kibble with her raw. They get dirtier alot faster now. It's too bad, but worth what it does for her weight, Skinny Belgians are not so attractive.
Some dogs do better on lower quality foods. I think alot of this has to do with breeding. My co-breeder had some dogs that had digestive issues on high quality kibbles so she would buy store name brands and their stools would harden a bit. These dogs also did alot better on raw however. My very good friend has on dog who does poorly on low quality foods but also can't eat raw. He becomes very sick and throws up meat that has been in his system a long time and is literally rotten when it comes out. He needs to be kept on high quality kibble. My friend's bulldog is the same. The ONLY food she can is is her venison and rice kibble. Nothing else, including raw.
Every dog is different.

Well said Jordan. My parents' dogs are both on a "low quality" food - Star does well on it, Wilbur has a greasy coat and chronic ear troubles which I think would probably clear up on a better diet. (I don't know this for sure, but he's regularly vetted and we haven't found any other problems that would contribute to this)

Jasper does well on a mixture of Canidae and raw. He doesn't handle extremely high protien foods like Innova very well, but I know tons of dogs who do fabulously on Innova.

Lots of research combined with trial and error is an excellent way to find the diet that works best for you and your dog. Since good nutrition is absolutely key to having a healthy body, I think it's definitely worth worrying about.

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bcrazy -I have to disagree completely with your statement above... completely! Knowledge and education really is a powerful thing.

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And it is my intent to steer these dog food threads into education as opposed to religion of the past.

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If one was completely careless about their dog's diet, they would probably buy what was cheapest, or what was most aggressively/deceptively advertised. It's common sense.

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The chances are the vast majority of dog owners buy their dog food from a retail food store where they are obtaining their own food. The balance from the Pet store chains. A minority from places like Walmart. Even less than that small minority are buying Granny's Delight Nutural Raw off the web or some small specialty store. The majority of dog owners are completely careless about their dog's diet, and guess what - in spite of it their dogs are getting a healthy diet. Really - we saw the immmediate alerts raised when the Chinese contaminated wheat gluten found its way into some gravy dog foods. But when was the last time one heard thousands of dogs being at risk for eating Purina One?

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Personally, I am all for people going out and doing research about what they're feeding their pets, and the consequences of poor diet.

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And neither should people be obsessed by their dog's diets. The dog food I feed mine has as its first ingredients: Lamb Meal, brewers rice, yellow ground corn, chicken, gorn gluten meal. Now according to the link that started this thread, outside of the "chicken" all the rest of the ingredients are garbage. But until my 4 yr olds demonstrate health problems that can be directly traced back to the dog food, diet will remain a very minor dog health concern here.

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This is a PET FORUM

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Correct!

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It annoys me the most when new members are being discouraged from learning more about feeding their dogs a nutritious, species-appropriate diet. That seems a little bit wierd and controlling, IMHO.

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You want wierd and controlling? Wierd is the idea that through irresponsible breeding we have created genetic disasters in some of the breeds, and yet the pro-active dog owner of the web remains fixated on commercial dog food. Controlling is that any and all dog health issues feed back into diet. Every malady known to dog-kind is related to commercial dog food. I've lost track of the number of threads where no matter what the health issue someone came on and posted "feed raw".

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The fact that the same people continuously bash and berate these threads says more about the people than the subject.

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The fact that the same people feel threatened when asked to support their beliefs also says something.

I do not feel threatened, nor has anyone asked me to "support my beliefs." I don't need to support my beliefs. Some dogs do better on raw. Some dogs do better on kibble. Not every dog needs to be fed kibble; Please just get over it! Your statements towards people that feed raw seem hypocritical. If you've noticed, almost every raw feeder on this board is not against kibble, and most kibble feeders on this board are not against raw. So which is more threatened??? Which is more religious??? Because it seems as if you and a couple others are the only ones that think so. For the most part we all get along, and I wish you wouldn't reply to these threads you seem to despise so much because they are always fine until.
Seems like most PT people are happy to pipe in and make recommendations and no, they don't always push raw. And then some people come along, say "Oh God not another food thread" and then some people even make snide comments that are hurtful to those that do take the time to research their dog foods. If you have to be mean, and if you have to be rude, take it somewhere else. Frankly I'm tired of hearing how my dogs are going to die from salmonella and perforated intestines. Sure, I've said some things in the past that were pretty anti-kibble (and I acknowledge it fully), but I've learned to appreciate both aspects of raw and kibble and my dogs eat both.
Perhaps those that have not used both can not appreciate both. Neither answer is wrong. Neither answer is right. If your dog has no "doggy smell," has a healthy coat, no dandruff, isn't itching or biting, doesn't have sores or hot spots, doesn't have stringy pads on it's feet, has clean smell-free ears and doesn't suffer from ear infections, isn't yeasty, has bright clear eyes, and has a good energy level, than perhaps the diet should stay as is. It suprises me how many owners do not notice problems in their dogs and therefore think the food their dog eats is fine -- which is why I'm a little more sensitive to recommend a high quality kibble when I hear of someone feeding a low quality one (I've groomed dogs with varying amounts of problems the owners had no idea about, from hot spots and yeast infections to cysts and tumors -- we even groomed one dog whose entire rear was infested with maggots and they had no idea), because I haven't seen the dog and therefore don't truly know for myself. But if you know your dog is doing well, then don't even take offense. Because no answer is right. And to any browsers looking at these threads, don't be afraid to read them. It is good to learn more about foods, and in my opinion everyone should be a little bit obsessed about diet. I am obsessed about my own, I might as well be obsessed about my dogs'. Any knowledge is good knowledge! People shouldn't have to be afraid to read any thread because it is all differing thoughts, opinions, facts, and experiences, just like every thread and everything in life. :)