Which food do you feed?

[marymrumfelt]

I agree with you totally Karen.Raw feeding is not for everyone,and is not practical for many reasons.Whether it be space to freeze or just the pure thought of feeding raw. It's not for everyone.

It always seems when a food thread is discussed,it always leans back to feeding raw is THE solution.Well its not.Which is one of the reasons,I do not post in threads as these,as the debate of foods is mind boggling.

I'm all for "if it ain't broke..don't fix it"

For us,and many here,feeding kibble,and the majority do feed a high end kibble,and feel satisfied that thier dogs are getting what they need.For some,(us included) we feed based on the best quality of kibble we can afford,we moniter the health & well being of each of these dogs daily.

If something is amiss,like lately with Jasper,we fix it.So the solution is not always raw.I don't mean to discount the benefits of raw,it just is not always the answer.

It just never appeared to me that feeding raw wasn't for everyone. It seems like when you get an animal, you feed it a species appropriate diet. I wouldn't buy a snake and not feed it mice, rats, and other forms of meat, bones, and organs. So I guess I just figured anyone who has a carnivore would want to give it the diet it needs/would eat were it left up to its own devices. I didn't know anything about raw when I got a dog, and did lots of research on dog food and that's how I came about it. It made sense to me and I never looked back. I'd also like to add that I don't don't feed b/c I feel like it will give my dog super powers and live forever. It might live less than a kibble fed dog, the whole point is preventative measures. I have known many people who had dogs well into the teenage years and fed kibble. They almost all had teeth problems and other little problems, but I suppose you could say that comes with age.

best of luck finding a kibble you're happy with!

 

[graydawntreader]

I'm sorry for my part on the raw thing...I was just agreeing with something. If you (general you) don't want to go raw, that's fine.
While I feel that raw is ideal for dogs in general (which is debatable) I understand there are things that can keep you from being able to feed it even if you want to. (One of my own dogs is primarily kibble-fed due to cost issues.) Or if you just do not want to, period, I'm cool with that, too.

Sorry for going off-topic...
anyways, hope things work out for you, Barb

 

[BarbV]

No worries to you "raw-feeders" for chiming in and giving your two cents worth. It's all welcome.

But to us that can't/won't go raw, we really want to find some good food choices.

There was a time when we were all growing up that table scraps and dog chow was good enough.

Sometimes I wonder if we've all gone crazy with worrying about what we feed our dogs.

 

[KarenCurtis]

It just never appeared to me that feeding raw wasn't for everyone. It seems like when you get an animal, you feed it a species appropriate diet. I wouldn't buy a snake and not feed it mice, rats, and other forms of meat, bones, and organs. So I guess I just figured anyone who has a carnivore would want to give it the diet it needs/would eat were it left up to its own devices. I didn't know anything about raw when I got a dog, and did lots of research on dog food and that's how I came about it. It made sense to me and I never looked back. I'd also like to add that I don't don't feed b/c I feel like it will give my dog super powers and live forever. It might live less than a kibble fed dog, the whole point is preventative measures. I have known many people who had dogs well into the teenage years and fed kibble. They almost all had teeth problems and other little problems, but I suppose you could say that comes with age.

best of luck finding a kibble you're happy with!

Most, or all of us who feed our dogs kibble do feed good quality kibble, and it IS a species appropriate diet. I never thought you fed raw because it would give your dog super power or live forever.

 

[marymrumfelt]

Oh, I see. I was under the impression that vegetables and other junk in (any) dogfood wasn't a species appropriate diet. I thought species appropriate diet meant mimicking what they(canis lupis) eat in the wild... I suppose that's a debate for another time on another thread, however. Or PM me if you wanna talk about it as I know lots of facts and don't mind explaining/educating people. Glad you feel good about feeding your dog whatever bag of processed food you chose to! It's nice to feel good about what you're feeding your bestfriend.

Oh, and I'm also glad to hear you didn't think raw fed dogs have super powers and live forever! That's good you were able to understand it's not about increasing their life, it's about making it healthier while alive. very, very similar to ours. I could eat PB&J all day long everyday and might not see any effects from it for quite some time.... but in the end, it catches up

Good luck, again, Barb. It's tough out there as the marketing and everything can be so deceiving. I will say when I fed kibble I went w/Blue Buffalo and never had any problems with it. It made my dog's coat shine and it became so soft. I don't know about the protein levels and such, though, so that might be totally out of the question for you.

 

[k9kreationz]

I emailed the nutrionist at my pet food chain with my specific requirements (Pet Value). It will be interesting to see what he comes back with.

And the most interesting tidbit of all.....ingesting a toxic substance can cause a temporary liver imbalance. Ya'll know about Bacca and his dope eating habits????? The house and Bacca have been clean for almost a year now.

I think its time to get him restested. And then decide on food

I cant wait to hear what they say too. I'm assuming you value their opinion or at least I hope they know what they're talking about. And definitely keep testing Bacca. Maybe his liver is fine now. I hope so. Poor little guy.

 

[KarenCurtis]

Oh, I see. I was under the impression that vegetables and other junk in (any) dogfood wasn't a species appropriate diet. I thought species appropriate diet meant mimicking what they(canis lupis) eat in the wild... I suppose that's a debate for another time on another thread, however. Or PM me if you wanna talk about it as I know lots of facts and don't mind explaining/educating people. Glad you feel good about feeding your dog whatever bag of processed food you chose to! It's nice to feel good about what you're feeding your bestfriend.

Oh, and I'm also glad to hear you didn't think raw fed dogs have super powers and live forever! That's good you were able to understand it's not about increasing their life, it's about making it healthier while alive. very, very similar to ours. I could eat PB&J all day long everyday and might not see any effects from it for quite some time.... but in the end, it catches up

Good luck, again, Barb. It's tough out there as the marketing and everything can be so deceiving. I will say when I fed kibble I went w/Blue Buffalo and never had any problems with it. It made my dog's coat shine and it became so soft. I don't know about the protein levels and such, though, so that might be totally out of the question for you.

I refuse to comment to such a sarcastic post. Out of respect to the forum, I will not continue along this vein.

 

[ClantyreSheltie]

There was a time when we were all growing up that table scraps and dog chow was good enough.

Wow, and I can't even take credit for this debate.

Anyway.. yes, back in the day, when people ate real food and the "scraps" were meat, or veggies, or dairy, adding that to a kibble was "good enough". But now, the "scraps" are pizza, microwaved food, salted veggies (if any) and corn. This isn't necessarily good for us, let alone the dogs. Add that to a continually icky dog food making process, and it's not "good enough" anymore. If your house is one that still manages to eat whole foods, then yes, please, give the scraps to your dogs.

My dogs are currently eating a bag of Kirkland "Premium" Lamb (it will certainly change on the next bag), raw chicken, raw organ meats, and raw eggs. Variety is the spice of life, and because I feed so much chicken, I added the kibble to give them something else. Unless of course I find some meat on sale, then they will eat that. I will steal the term "opportunistic diet".

 

[ClantyreSheltie]

There are many nutreints and minerals that are insufficent in only raw meat.

... and the rest of that sentence should read "and this is why we also feed bone and organ meats."

I had a dog food distributor try to tell me that once, but he couldn't give me any specifics when I asked him which nutrients and minerals.

If you would like to know what nutrients and minerals are essential to a carnivores diet, and in what kinds of foods those can be found, I highly recommend Lew Olson's book:

http://www.amazon.com/Raw-Natural-N...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299029286&sr=8-1

It will dispel a lot of the misinformation out there.

 

[ClantyreSheltie]

My holistic vet actually recommends against it, because he says he's had too many clients get salmonella from handling it.

uhh... dumb question. How does he know it was the meat intended for the dogs, and not meat intended for humans that caused the illness? It's the same meat-handling process for both. It's like he's too polite to say "can't you wash your hands?"