My 2 cent opinion on "Pet Food" *Edit*

[Giselle]

Interesting. Some dogs do just fine on grocery store food. One vegan fed dog even lived up to 27+ years. Dogs weren't meant to eat celery, grains, soybeans, etc. But this particular dog lived darn near twice his life expectancy eating just that. The golden food rule: Feed your dog whatever works for you. If it's Pedigree, fine. If it's raw, great. If it's homecooked, kudos to you.

I'm glad that you are conscientious enough to feed your dogs a good food, but the plain old fact is that it doesn't matter what you feed your dog as long as it works for your dog. Plus, most diseases have strong genetic components. For example, greyhounds are incredibly susceptible to osteosarcoma. It has nothing to do with diet. Also, I've never heard of dogs dying from hair loss =P We can all point fingers at diet in certain cases, but there's no need to "shame" other people when they choose to feed something we'd rather not.

I thought the recall toxin was "melamine", too...

[critter crazy]

The common disease & illness millions of cats & dogs die from are
Kidney Cancer
Bladder Cancer
Skin Cancer
Stomach Cancer
Spleen Cancer
Leukemia
Liver Dysfunction
Marjor Organ Failure
Immune System Collapse
Severe Allergic Reactions
Birth Defects
Blindness
Chronic Diarrhea
Hair Loss
so on..

and you have solid proof all of these are directly linked to bad food??? I think not!!

[Lady's Human]

I think people have forgotten all about the "Recall" from china they have found vomitoxin which killed millions of dogs & cats.

Wrong chemical, it wasn't millions of animals, and I've never heard of any animal dying from hair loss or blindness.

Hence my irritation with this topic. If you can't give scientific proof backed by studies, just use hyperbole. After all, if it's on the internet it's true, right?

[Vela]

Why did you make ANOTHER thread about this when you already had one? Now that's just getting silly. I can understand making a new thread ONCE to talk about something with the people currently involved on the board, but there was no reason to make another. Since it's a repeat thread it's only worth half a cent, IMO.

[MS_PAWS]

Vela:
I made another thread b/c it was little different etc

Lady's Human & Giselle
I want people to wake up, why are dogs die from illness as they get older? Do you ever question youself?

Well you can't die from blindness & hairloss. Some things in dog food cause that other half is the genes

I don't exactly remember what it was that someone in china add that into pet food! My mistake

Your dog is damn lucky to live up 27 yrs. Most smaller dogs live longer then bigger dogs that's just by nature.

[Lady's Human]

Why do dogs die from illness as they get older?

Ummm.......maybe because of the aging process?

Yes, I question myself constantly, and don't form opinions until they are well supported by fact. Facts don't come from people posting ideas on the internet about what they think might be the possible causes of something.

Facts come from properly conducted scientific study.

[wolfsoul]

AIHA is not caused by diet -- while they don't know the exact cuase, it is a genetic disease and has been known to start after vaccinations. I own a breed in which AIHA/IMHA is relatively common, and I've done a great deal of research on it, and can look at a Belgian pedigree and tell you exactly where it came from. Diet is a huge component of autoimmune issues, but not ones that can't be cured. AIHA/IMHA is a terminal disease. My co-breeder fed raw for years and her first Belgian died at age 6 of AIHA/IMHA. Two of her sistersd also died of it, and her brother died of leukemia. It's in the genetics, not the diet.

There are plenty of reasonable excuses to feed kibble. I feed half and half. With two dogs, want to know how much kibble I've gone through since July 12th? I've gone through 135 pounds of kibble, for TWO DOGS, feeding HALF RAW at the same time, in THREE weeks! That is how much food my dogs eat. When I fed only raw, I was spending $4-500 a month. In my area you can't just get everything in bulk. Feeding raw is very expensive here. I would do it if I could, but for now, the only dogs here that get a completely raw diet are pregnant bitches. Otherwise we do half and half, and it works much better for me. My dogs are working dogs, they get a great deal of exercise, and my one is emactiated as it is. Kibble offers alot more calories and fat than raw does. They rely on that as well as nutritional supplements to keep up their weight. Muscle is no problem on these guys. Fat is. 100% raw just doesn't cut it and doesn't give them all the energy they need to go go go.

Sure, I don't like seeing people feed low quality foods, but I don't blame people when they can't afford it, are too busy to prepare it, have to drive too far to get it, etc. I try to enourage people to feed raw and high quality kibbles. I warn people about poor ingredients in kibbles and which kibbles are generally best to try. And I've helped alot of people and alot of dogs. We've had plenty of dogs come into the grooming shop I work at with stringy pads, hot spots, etc, and I told the owners where to go and what to buy; They did so, and they have new dogs. Sometimes a new kibble can fix a problem too.

Yes, a raw food diet is my favourite diet for a dog. It is for alot of people. It doesn't mean they have the resources to do it.

[Giselle]

Lady's Human & Giselle
I want people to wake up, why are dogs die from illness as they get older? Do you ever question youself?

Well you can't die from blindness & hairloss. Some things in dog food cause that other half is the genes

I don't exactly remember what it was that someone in china add that into pet food! My mistake

Your dog is damn lucky to live up 27 yrs. Most smaller dogs live longer then bigger dogs that's just by nature.

It's not my dog. It's a vegan Collie: http://dogsinthenews.com/issues/0209...es/020918a.htm

I think you missed the point. Your claim is that dogs fed poor quality kibble shouldn't even be fed that stuff because it's not "natural". A vegetarian diet is not natural. Yet, the dog above clearly lived to a phenomenal age eating an entirely unnatural diet.

Diseases, illnesses, and rapid aging are not 1/2 diet related and 1/2 genetics. If so, I would *love* to see the scientific research on that. Point is, diet is important, but there's absolutely no valid reason to "shame" others for feeding what they feed. We can make suggestions, but if the food works for their dog, who are we to blame?