Dog Food Question
17 posts
• Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2
Dog Food Question
by Fish » Wed Aug 25, 2004 7:50 pm
Been wanting to ask this question for a while but haven't ever gotten around to it. Let me say this at the start, we are going to feed Harley Candie dog food when we get her in about 4 more LONG weeks from now, this question is just because I am courious. Everything I have read in and out of this Forum has said that over the counter dog food is the pits for several reasons, mostly because of the fillers like corn. This is my question, there are thousands of people out there feeding their dogs these over the counter dog foods, what are the ill effects of feeding these foods to your dogs? If it were that bad and dogs were dropping like flies are having health problems because of their diets these manufacturies would be out of bussiness in short order. Like I said just courious and I am going to feed Harley a qulity food so don't blast me,lol.
- Fish
by moto1320 » Wed Aug 25, 2004 8:12 pm
Well, many people aren't exposed to the options. When the dog looks like crap 99% of people think it's the dog and never even think of food.
Some common things from feeding 50 cent a pond bags o' crap are:
Bad coat
Low immunity and poor overall health
Poor muscle developement
Lethargic dog
Gassy dog
Horrible joints
many believe temperment can/is effected
and on and on
Doc is a perfect example of what bad food does, he grew up on it. When he came to us he looked like he was held together with rubber bands. It looked like every joint in his body was damaged. Just walking him was sad. After moving from whatever crap he was on (Alpo or something) to Innova for a few months, he all of the sudden started tightening up. The vet couldn't believe it next visit. All of his joints are 180 degrees diffferent now. Bone structure can't be effected this late in the game, but he walks like a different animal. In the beginning he was so loose that his nails started dragging the ground after about a block.
Some common things from feeding 50 cent a pond bags o' crap are:
Bad coat
Low immunity and poor overall health
Poor muscle developement
Lethargic dog
Gassy dog
Horrible joints
many believe temperment can/is effected
and on and on
Doc is a perfect example of what bad food does, he grew up on it. When he came to us he looked like he was held together with rubber bands. It looked like every joint in his body was damaged. Just walking him was sad. After moving from whatever crap he was on (Alpo or something) to Innova for a few months, he all of the sudden started tightening up. The vet couldn't believe it next visit. All of his joints are 180 degrees diffferent now. Bone structure can't be effected this late in the game, but he walks like a different animal. In the beginning he was so loose that his nails started dragging the ground after about a block.
-
moto1320 - Regulator
- Posts: 3057
- Joined: Thu Dec 25, 2003 9:20 pm
- Location: NC
by mnp13 » Thu Aug 26, 2004 9:48 am
I wouldn't feed ANY 'grocery store' food. For the same price, or a little more, you can get much higher grade ingredients and no fillers.
Check out Royal Canin, Innova, Canadae, Diamond and Wellness. I have used all 5 at different times with great results. Everyone has a 'favorite' food, with a BOOK of reasons why their favorite is the best.
I think most people here agree that the regular commercial brands are not good.
Michelle
Check out Royal Canin, Innova, Canadae, Diamond and Wellness. I have used all 5 at different times with great results. Everyone has a 'favorite' food, with a BOOK of reasons why their favorite is the best.
I think most people here agree that the regular commercial brands are not good.
Michelle
- mnp13
by blover27 » Thu Aug 26, 2004 9:54 am
Michelle is right (again 
) Ranger...those are the "big five"....i personally am using wellness now with great results....barbony is the resident diet expert and she will surely chime in with some good advice when she gets on. also you should check the ingredients...you don't want anything that has corn products listed as one of the first few ingredients
) Ranger...those are the "big five"....i personally am using wellness now with great results....barbony is the resident diet expert and she will surely chime in with some good advice when she gets on. also you should check the ingredients...you don't want anything that has corn products listed as one of the first few ingredients- blover27
by barbponys » Thu Aug 26, 2004 11:12 am
Purina, ProPlan, Pedigree, Iams, Eukanuba, Nutro, Science Diet.......they are all pretty much in the same catagory, garbage. The last three you pay a lot of money for and are basically feeding grocery store quality.
I'm not a fan of Diamond products: Premium Edge, Chicken Soup etc. I've seen the lack of results on it for years. Wellness and Canidae are a good place to start for easy of availability. Most dogs do pretty well on them. Wellness is the better choice quality wise, I also like they have 3 fomulas that you can rotate through if you so choose.
You will pay a bit more for them but on the other side you don't feed as much, by a lot actually, and the dog will be healthier in the long run. You can either pay on the front end or the back, and in my experience paying for better quality food will cut down on medical expenses, and they can be enormous! Starting Dirk on good food can slow down the on set of problems he may be predisposed to............ or, like Doc, clear up problems that have started due to poor nutrition.
I'm not a fan of Diamond products: Premium Edge, Chicken Soup etc. I've seen the lack of results on it for years. Wellness and Canidae are a good place to start for easy of availability. Most dogs do pretty well on them. Wellness is the better choice quality wise, I also like they have 3 fomulas that you can rotate through if you so choose.
You will pay a bit more for them but on the other side you don't feed as much, by a lot actually, and the dog will be healthier in the long run. You can either pay on the front end or the back, and in my experience paying for better quality food will cut down on medical expenses, and they can be enormous! Starting Dirk on good food can slow down the on set of problems he may be predisposed to............ or, like Doc, clear up problems that have started due to poor nutrition.
-
barbponys - Health Guru
- Posts: 3990
- Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 4:21 pm
- Location: Arlington Wa
by pollypop » Thu Aug 26, 2004 7:31 pm
Sadly, I think that most casual pet owners (not fanatical dog and cat lovers, just, you know, those slightly apathetic people who have a dog) have absolutely no idea what a really healthy animal looks like. It doesn't even occur to people that it could be the food causing their animal to look bad, or that food could make a difference.
I know I posted this story before, but it's relevant, so I'll tell it again. When I got Nadja she had been on that sort of low quality dog food, probably for her whole life. (She's ten.) Her skin was dry and more flaky than you can possibly imagine, her fur was thin (honestly, she looked like she was balding in spots), greasy, and coming out in huge clumps, her teeth were yellow, her breath smelled, her skin smelled, her fur smelled, her poops were gigantic and stinky, she had no muscle tone, and she wobbled when she moved. Did I mention how bad she smelled? I mean, when you petted her, you had to go wash your hands afterwards, because you would get all stinky and greasy. And that's just what you can see on the outside of the dog! I wonder what the inside of her looks like.
Anyway. I put her on a quality kibble (Wellness) and added olive oil to every meal for a while, and within, hmm, about three weeks, she was beginning to look -- and smell -- a whole lot better. Her gigantic flakes of dandruff began to get smaller and smaller, the hotspots on her skin healed up, her fur grew back in thick and soft and luscious, and she started getting muscle tone, which helped her move somewhat better. The only change that we made was her diet, so it's obvious that it was simply the food that made the difference.
I now feed a mixture of BARF, home-cooked, and quality kibble, and she looks -- and smells! -- like a new dog. Her teeth have even gotten whiter, from the raw meaty bones.
If someone is feeding a low-quality food, I guess they just get used to the results from it, and assume that they are normal and that dogs are just naturally stinky and sheddy and have rotten breath and yellowed teeth and horrible gas and that's just the way it is. Many people just have no idea that it could be any different, or that the food could be causing those symptoms.
Since you're going to start Harley out on a quality food, you'll hopefully never see this first hand! But if you ever get in a rescue who's in bad shape, and you change the diet, you'll absolutely be able to see the change. Why aren't the companies going out of business? Because they provide a cheap and easy product and advertise so heavily that their product is more well-known and readily available than any other, they pay for veterinary nutrition classes, and people are reluctant to change, particularly when the change ends up costing them more.
Man, I am long-winded.
I know I posted this story before, but it's relevant, so I'll tell it again. When I got Nadja she had been on that sort of low quality dog food, probably for her whole life. (She's ten.) Her skin was dry and more flaky than you can possibly imagine, her fur was thin (honestly, she looked like she was balding in spots), greasy, and coming out in huge clumps, her teeth were yellow, her breath smelled, her skin smelled, her fur smelled, her poops were gigantic and stinky, she had no muscle tone, and she wobbled when she moved. Did I mention how bad she smelled? I mean, when you petted her, you had to go wash your hands afterwards, because you would get all stinky and greasy. And that's just what you can see on the outside of the dog! I wonder what the inside of her looks like.
Anyway. I put her on a quality kibble (Wellness) and added olive oil to every meal for a while, and within, hmm, about three weeks, she was beginning to look -- and smell -- a whole lot better. Her gigantic flakes of dandruff began to get smaller and smaller, the hotspots on her skin healed up, her fur grew back in thick and soft and luscious, and she started getting muscle tone, which helped her move somewhat better. The only change that we made was her diet, so it's obvious that it was simply the food that made the difference.
I now feed a mixture of BARF, home-cooked, and quality kibble, and she looks -- and smells! -- like a new dog. Her teeth have even gotten whiter, from the raw meaty bones.
If someone is feeding a low-quality food, I guess they just get used to the results from it, and assume that they are normal and that dogs are just naturally stinky and sheddy and have rotten breath and yellowed teeth and horrible gas and that's just the way it is. Many people just have no idea that it could be any different, or that the food could be causing those symptoms.
Since you're going to start Harley out on a quality food, you'll hopefully never see this first hand! But if you ever get in a rescue who's in bad shape, and you change the diet, you'll absolutely be able to see the change. Why aren't the companies going out of business? Because they provide a cheap and easy product and advertise so heavily that their product is more well-known and readily available than any other, they pay for veterinary nutrition classes, and people are reluctant to change, particularly when the change ends up costing them more.
Man, I am long-winded.
- pollypop
long winded but i love it! 
by pitbulliest » Thu Aug 26, 2004 11:08 pm
Demo...yeah no doubt..you're talkin to someone who had their dog die of cancer...this was when I was feeding my other dog IAMS because
a) I didn't know anything about the dog food industry like I do now
b) I was quite young...so I just wasn't experienced or educated enough in the matter in general
c) My parents didn't have a clue either..they just went by what the vet told them to get because they assumed he knew what was best...
Yeah I know its sad...alot of vets will actually recommend IAMS...great huh?
I'm so glad I love to read about pet care in my spare time now..it's amazing how a little bit of reading and educating yourself goes a heck of a long way...I just wish I could encourage people to do the same.
a) I didn't know anything about the dog food industry like I do now
b) I was quite young...so I just wasn't experienced or educated enough in the matter in general
c) My parents didn't have a clue either..they just went by what the vet told them to get because they assumed he knew what was best...
Yeah I know its sad...alot of vets will actually recommend IAMS...great huh?
I'm so glad I love to read about pet care in my spare time now..it's amazing how a little bit of reading and educating yourself goes a heck of a long way...I just wish I could encourage people to do the same.
-
pitbulliest - Bully Lover 4 Life
- Posts: 1208
- Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2004 12:24 am
- Location: Toronto, ON Canada
by concreterose » Thu Aug 26, 2004 11:14 pm
Demo Dick wrote:I really think that grocery store brands cause cancer. If you pump crap into your dog its whole life, he will never live to his full potential.
I agree
I wish this message board would have been around about 11 years ago...Pookie might have not had to be going through what she's going through now! Sadly, many owners (I was one of them for years) had no idea that there were premium dog foods out. The only advice I had to go on about food was what my vet told me (and we know how much they know about nutrition). I can really see a difference in Vicki's health at her age, and Pookie's health and skin problems when she was Vicki's age. What you feed makes all the difference.
-
concreterose - Regulator
- Posts: 13939
- Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 5:29 pm
- Location: Michigan
17 posts
• Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests