"Very" informative article regarding commercial pet foods...

[moonlitcroatia]

http://www.resteddoginn.ca/api.php

[Carolyn]

I tried to check out the sample diets but couldn't. I knew Pro-plan was guilty but now Nutro.
What ever happened to the good old days of just being able to buy a bag of dog food & not worry about whats in it?
Carolyn

[Kermit]

Everyone should read that article. It is so depressing though. I thought I was doing a good thing by feeding my dogs Nature's Recipe! AAAAHHH the frustration! Time for operation:diet change to begin at my house!

[coonie1970]

OMG I really cant beleive what is in our dog food. Tell me?? How is it bad to feed table scraps?? To me it seems much better than most dog foods.
Thanks Moon for the article Great Read!!
Coonie

[TwoNewfies]

Thank you, thank you, for sharing that article.  When I had my Golden, I fed him Iams or Eukanuba and thought I was buying a "quality" product.  After we had to put him down and now have 2 Newfies, we use Solid Gold food.  My friend and fellow BPO lover, educated me on dog food....and explaind what this article said.  I didnt "get it" before, but since we have been using Solid Gold we can see the difference food really does make.  Our Newfs are healthy and have great coats and I know a big part of that is what they are eating.  I wish so many other people would educate themselves on what they feed their dog

[MolosserMart.com]

Yeah I remember the first time I read that article about 2.5 yrs ago and now we feed www.QualityDog Food.com all natural all the time. Its sad to think we all thought we were doing good by our doggies and in actuallity we were hurting them.

Anyhow its only natural for us now Flint River Ranch at www.QualityDog Food.com

[LuvmyMal]

We are switching now, I thought Eukanuba was a good food. I am going to look into Diamond, but where can I get Solid Gold??

[LuvmyMal]

Ok, just checked out Solid Golds website and Diamond, I can get Solid Gold at Home Economist and the ingredients are way better. We are trying that out.

[moonlitcroatia]

I did find that article a bit interesting.  However, I am very undecided about a lot of things.  Please don't get too depressed.  For one thing, those of us who do feed our dogs something that is NOT from the grocery store, we are definitely trying to do the best thing.  I will say that I have always heard that Iams is a poor product due to being similar to grocery store varieties and also that Eukanuba is only a fancier name for Iams so-called superior product. 

Perhaps this will ease minds, or not.  The situation, from my perspective, is like a catch 22.  Everything is contaminated in one way or another.  Nothing is really natural any more.  Even if we feed our dogs what is supposed to be real meat, unless we've raised the cattle ourselves on organic pastures, next to other organic pastures, then we cannot be sure what is in their tissue.  Most all meat contains a ton of growth hormones and other chemicals.  It is even bad for us.  Organic meat, on the other hand, is extremely expensive.

The grains are often contaminated with different agents and there are so many things the general public does not know about.  Genetic engineering affects the foods we eat...and the same foods our dogs eat. 

It is a very difficult situation.  Sometimes I feel the only way I can know for sure, in my own mind, is to visit the dog food producer myself and see, first-hand, exactly what ingredients they put into their product.  Of course, it could very well turn out to be like the "Tillamook Cheese" tour...you never get to actually see how the cows are treated....sup posedly they are free-roaming in pastures kept by local farmers.

Now, I am sure I sound like an environmentali st, or some kind of extremist, but I don't believe that is the case, either.  I, like many others, would like to do the best thing, but there are so many factors, such as resources, time, etc.

I still feed my dogs little bits and pieces of table scraps.  I do not feed them chocolate, onions, potatoes, etc.  They are all at the proper weight.  The one with major health issues is living passed the ripe old age of 8 years old.  I must be doing something right.

So, don't feel bad.  We just do our best.

My mother has a lot of time on her hands...she doesn't work per se, so she cooks for her dogs every single day.  She has had nine dogs all at once.  Imagine that!  But all were small except for one.

What's even weirder is that the only meat they eat is fish.  They all are healthy, granted my dogs do not have some of the skin problems hers do, but that may not be attributed to the food.

[ann]

    i'm a buyer for a feed store and we sell alot of pet foods from a medium grade to some very good ones i  feed my dogs merrick its avery good food

we have iams .euk. sd, canidae, eagle pack,wellness and nutro of all the foods we carry i feel  nutro is the most deceptive they lie and will  do what ever it takes to sell food ,a few years ago phenabarbatol (sp) was found in thier food its a drug used to sedate animals before they are put down...i think the best way to find a good food is do your own reserch and don't reley on someone who is tring to make a sale or a commercial on tv  or in print and not on a web page......ann

[moonlitcroatia]

    i'm a buyer for a feed store and we sell alot of pet foods from a medium grade to some very good ones i  feed my dogs merrick its avery good food

we have iams .euk. sd, canidae, eagle pack,wellness and nutro of all the foods we carry i feel  nutro is the most deceptive they lie and will  do what ever it takes to sell food ,a few years ago phenabarbatol (sp) was found in thier food its a drug used to sedate animals before they are put down...i think the best way to find a good food is do your own reserch and don't reley on someone who is tring to make a sale or a commercial on tv  or in print and not on a web page......ann

Very good advice!  That's what makes it so difficult.  Sometimes, while it makes for convenience, the swelling of the "world wide web" makes it even more confusing, and "deceptive" for consumers.  There are some smart Capitalists out there....and let me tell you - they know how to write!

I appreciate your advice.  I do believe that if I find something that will not cause my dogs to have skin and coat trouble, a problem in rottweilers, then I will definitely try it.  I am glad you posted here, since you have experience as a buyer for the feed store.

I will have to check out the Merrick you mention.

Nutro has always had an active sales campaign, situating themselves in pet stores with free samples to push the product, so many people, including me, succumbed to the belief that it is an honest, healthy pet food. 

Thanks again!

[Kermit]

With that in mind about dog food companies trying to push their products so hard, and even lying, it makes me more inclined to believe in a raw food diet or home prepared diet, because the folks who have done that research aren't going to make any profit at all if you feed your dog home-prepared meals. There's nothing in it for them, they just really honestly want your dog to be healthy.

[mitchie]

I can't help myself when the topic is dog food!   The Whole Dog Journal does a survey
of dry and canned dog food every year.  My rottie has been eating Solid Gold for 3 years
now.  Before that I had a vet that thought Daisy should have allergy shots for itchy, dry skin-
I did a ton of research on what is in dog foods and switched to Solid Gold.  Viola! Her coat
is so beautiful!   She gets a tablespoon of flax seed oil on her food too.  My yellow lab
benefits too-she has fur soft as a bunny!  They eat better than I do! 
Daisy is allergic to chicken-so anything that even has a trace of it I avoid.  I have good
friends who have their 2 newfs on Solid Gold too.  We're all keeping track to see if any
of our dogs ever get ear infections.  -so far none of them have!  It's the food!
I love feeding my dogs good food and I appreciate being able to do so!
They love it to!

[ann]

    it is so hard to find a food you trust and feel  good about feeding...i talk to so many company reps..and they all say the same thing good nutition less stools bla, bla bla.....i have never talk to a rep. for canidae,wellness or merrick the foods are so good they sell them selves..and they don't spend alot of money on advertsing and don't have a whole slew of reps out thier pushing thier food so i feel they spend more of thier money on quality ingredence..i might be wrong but i always felt when  something goes commercial the quality goes down....ann

[moonlitcroatia]

With that in mind about dog food companies trying to push their products so hard, and even lying, it makes me more inclined to believe in a raw food diet or home prepared diet, because the folks who have done that research aren't going to make any profit at all if you feed your dog home-prepared meals. There's nothing in it for them, they just really honestly want your dog to be healthy.

They may be very honest, but sometimes ill-informed, when it comes to over-the-counter ingredients.  I believe it will take a few hundred years' leap back to acquire truly healthy meat, dairy, seafood, grains, fruits and vegetables.

It is so bad out there throughout the world that countries that are extremely proud of their "organic, GMO-free" harvests are actually threatened by the U.S. with acts like being kicked out of international organizations and trade bargains if they refuse to accept import of U.S. biologically engineered crops.

In some cases, it is even illegal to bring seeds of veggies like carrots, etc., that are REAL, untampered, across borders into the U.S.

I don't know.  I am sure many, many things that I do are extremely unhealthy.  I have a Pur Water Filter for the dogs' water and we drink "bottled" water, which probably doesn't matter.  Oh, wait!  The sewage treatment plant blew a barrel and blasted a man into the afterlife last year, hence leaking sewage into the good ol' boys' Spokane River....Ughhh hh!

It is very difficult.  I mean, on a microscopic level, I feel I cannot even say that my vegetable garden in the back yard is truly organic.  After all, the pollutants that are flung through the air from a busy thoroughfare a block away must stick to veggie leaves.

I probably sound neurotic here, but really I am not, because I decided that it only contributes to anxiety issues to try too hard to find answers to all of the chemical situations out there.  There are so many in power with big money who really do not care at all about us as individuals, only as numbers and casualties, and I can tell you right now that during the making of a HUGE percentage of their products, even those who say they do not, administer gruesome tests on animals, including cats, monkeys and even our dogs.  Suffice to say that they also use segments of the population as guinea pigs.

But you guys have me thinking now about looking into other types of food.  I still can't say whether I trust ANYTHING much anymore.  By far I do not think I have a "defeatest" attitude, because I do not choose the cheapest routes, but the ones that weigh out, at least, logically in my mind.

Sorry if what I've said is depressing.  It is a CONUNDRUM for me!

And the really funny part is that somehow I think the meat from the grocers is really bad for people, but I do eat some...I need to be slapped!