I've been meaning to start this thread since I got back from my trip to the Hills research facility and manufacturing plant in Kansas but my computer died and then I got sick.
I'm curious to know, after everything I learned, and after listening to dozens of lectures by veterinary nutritionists, what the anecdotal evidence is out there for dog food and what misconceptions there may be?
I'll start.
Buddy eats Hills j/d. Between her chronic torn cruciate, spondylosis and a possible nerve root tumor in her shoulder, I want to make her as comfortable as possible. Part of her pain management plan, along with Gabapentin, is her diet. The extreme levels of EPA in her food help to actually repair the damage done to the cartilage. It's also helped her skin issues, I am assuming because of the high levels of omega fatty acids, and her poops are solid. But the best part? No more gas.
Obi eats Medi-cal Preventive. He is a 4 yr old boxer mix with no health issues. He does better on this food than he ever did on Wellness Core, Orijen, california naturals or prarie. The high protein foods gave him room-clearing gas and his stools were hit and miss. We never ran bloodwork on him while he was on the high-protein foods (other than his heartworm test) so I don't know if there were any elevations in his enzymes but there were in my other two dogs. The preventive has all the urban myths of horrifying ingredients in there. Corn, chicken by-products, etc but he does wonderfully on it. I feel more comfortable feeding him by-products now that I know the AAFCO definition (chicken necks and backs, under-developed eggs, intestines and feet). Not that I assumed the other diets were chock full of breast meat but there you go. In another couple of years, I will be switching him to the j/d as well.
Anyways. I clearly work at a vet clinic and get these foods at a reduced cost. But that's not what it's about. It took me a LONG time to get the corn-is-the-root-of-all-evil idea out of my head and switch to these brands. Now that I can see that the evidence of proper nutrition is there (proven by actual feeding trials, not just by AAFCO guidelines) and my anecdotal evidence of thinking my dog was dying of renal failure on the Orijen, I am content with what I am feeding.
Opening up the floor. Please be nice
