MaggieD
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2010
- Messages
- 43,244
- Reaction score
- 44,664
- Location
- Chicago Area
- Gender
- Female
- Political Leaning
- Moderate
Josh, our German Shepherd, is 13 years and 2 months old. He's alert, happy and thin. Unfortunately, he has problems with the nerves controlling one of his back legs, so he's a hippity-hop boy. But he goes for a 1/2-mile every single day...happy as a clam.
He's my fourth shepherd. The only one who's lived past 11.
Why?? Because, for the first six years of his life, he was kept on a "model's diet." He was skinny as a little bone when we got him. When we drove him home, we had him in the back seat with a 50# bag of dog food. We had to put it in the trunk, because he began chewing it open on the drive home he was so hungry.
Of course, we fed him more -- and he probably gained 15-20#. But he's still thin. We feed him rotisseried chicken broken apart (pre-cooked from Sam's Club) along with 2 cups of high quality dry food. (Twice a day instead of one big meal....1 cup dry food and chicken each meal.)
I just thought I'd pass along what I wish I'd found years ago . . .
If you're buying the "homeless variety dog food," you're doing your loving family member a terrible injustice. (IMO, of course.)
Congrats Maggie - hope he continues to prosper.
My previous dog, a border collie, lived past 15 years when many/most only survive to about 10-12 - I fed him a calcium enriched cheese slice every day to help protect his bones - I swear by it.
My current dog, an australian shepherd, similar to the border collie as a bread, is just under 12 and she's had weak hindquarters all her life but she's on the cheese treat every day too and it's helped build up her chest and shoulders to help compensate. She does suffer from arthritis too, though, so she gets some glucosimine sulfate every day too now, for the past couple of years, and that's helped her a lot.
And she gets senior's dry food with no corn or cornmeal products - that is the worse thing for dogs ever.
That means nothing. I can point to plenty of other cases where pets are fed a generic pet food and live far beyond the average lifespan. I have a friend whose cat, who ran around outside, who ate a garbage diet and lived to be almost 28 years old.
That means nothing. I can point to plenty of other cases where pets are fed a generic pet food and live far beyond the average lifespan. I have a friend whose cat, who ran around outside, who ate a garbage diet and lived to be almost 28 years old.
Josh, our German Shepherd, is 13 years and 2 months old. He's alert, happy and thin. Unfortunately, he has problems with the nerves controlling one of his back legs, so he's a hippity-hop boy. But he goes for a 1/2-mile every single day...happy as a clam.
He's my fourth shepherd. The only one who's lived past 11.
Why?? Because, for the first six years of his life, he was kept on a "model's diet." He was skinny as a little bone when we got him. When we drove him home, we had him in the back seat with a 50# bag of dog food. We had to put it in the trunk, because he began chewing it open on the drive home he was so hungry.
Of course, we fed him more -- and he probably gained 15-20#. But he's still thin. We feed him rotisseried chicken broken apart (pre-cooked from Sam's Club) along with 2 cups of high quality dry food. (Twice a day instead of one big meal....1 cup dry food and chicken each meal.)
I just thought I'd pass along what I wish I'd found years ago . . .
If you're buying the "homeless variety dog food," you're doing your loving family member a terrible injustice. (IMO, of course.)
food makes a large difference on a dogs wellbeing,just like it does a humans.
buying them cheap dogfood is like feeding a human mcdonalds every day,sure your fed,but its not healthy.
if you wanted a good dog diet,try buying the cheaper ground beef at stores,then mixing it with different grains and vegetables to see what works.i say experiment because i had a dog in the past who was alergic to both rice and corn,it would cause her hair to fall out,but she was fine with practically anyting else.
A man after my own heart. I completely agree with you. Dogs (cats, too, I'm sure) get all sorts of horrible skin conditions from eating crappy, low quality food. And they have to eat SO MUCH of it! They get bloated. They get fat. If we just fed our dogs what we eat . . . veggies, meat, some grains . . . they'd be SUCH happy, healthy critters.
Purina and others would have us believe there's some secret to feeding dogs well. There isn't. They can be happy and healthy eating just as we do.
yeah its very important to their coat as well on their food.both cats and dogs are omnivores not carnivres like their wild counterparts,they need certain nutrition.problem ofcourse is cheap fillers,they are mostly gluten and corn.heck your average dogfood is probably made of mostly orse testicles,eyeballs,ground up bone and marrow etc,just leftovers.
ofcourse i also have a belief a dog cant be eaing food more expensive than mine,which is why i reject these top dollar dog food brands,when i can make my own with ingredients i can see,not just dried kibble at premium prices more exppensive than my food.
There's some truth to what you say but with a qualifier - in nature, virtually nothing tastes good to a dog/cat that isn't naturally good for them as well. Not so true in the pet food industry. With my current dog, any food with corn or cornmeal products gives her cramps and diarrhea and almost all no-name pet foods are loaded with corn and cornmeal products because it's cheap filler.
If you're going to have a pet in your life at least have some concern for the wellbeing of that pet. Their lives are so relatively short as it is, why make life shorter for them.
An outdoor cat, aside from the dangers inherent in that lifestyle, is probably eating healthier than most housecats. Still, you're probably right, but like Canada John says, their life spans are sooo short -- and they find such great JOY in wonderful, tasy food -- it seems a shame not to feed it to them.
Josh, our German Shepherd, is 13 years and 2 months old. He's alert, happy and thin. Unfortunately, he has problems with the nerves controlling one of his back legs, so he's a hippity-hop boy. But he goes for a 1/2-mile every single day...happy as a clam.
He's my fourth shepherd. The only one who's lived past 11.
Why?? Because, for the first six years of his life, he was kept on a "model's diet." He was skinny as a little bone when we got him. When we drove him home, we had him in the back seat with a 50# bag of dog food. We had to put it in the trunk, because he began chewing it open on the drive home he was so hungry.
Of course, we fed him more -- and he probably gained 15-20#. But he's still thin. We feed him rotisseried chicken broken apart (pre-cooked from Sam's Club) along with 2 cups of high quality dry food. (Twice a day instead of one big meal....1 cup dry food and chicken each meal.)
I just thought I'd pass along what I wish I'd found years ago . . .
If you're buying the "homeless variety dog food," you're doing your loving family member a terrible injustice. (IMO, of course.)
food makes a large difference on a dogs wellbeing,just like it does a humans.
buying them cheap dogfood is like feeding a human mcdonalds every day,sure your fed,but its not healthy.
if you wanted a good dog diet,try buying the cheaper ground beef at stores,then mixing it with different grains and vegetables to see what works.i say experiment because i had a dog in the past who was alergic to both rice and corn,it would cause her hair to fall out,but she was fine with practically anyting else.
While I agree entirely, that's just not the case with most animals. They use corn mean and the like, not only because it's cheap, but because for the overwhelming majority of animals, it's just fine for them to eat. There are a lot of premium pet food companies out there that are only too happy to tell people that it's bad for their animals when there's no evidence to back that up. It's a marketing ploy, nothing more. For every animal that you can find that lived less than the average lifespan on a generic diet, there are animals that lived longer than the average lifespan. For every animal on the expensive stuff that lived a long time, there are animals that died younger.
I think this is a little bit like natural medicine.
Are there natural remedies that work? Yes. Your doctor might recommend something like fatty oils for joint/heart health. They might recommend aspirin, which is basically tree bark. They might recommend a steady intake of cranberry if you have UTI problems. There are all kinds of natural things that do work.
But because there are some people who look at natural medicine because they completely distrust synthetic medicine, this leaves room for quacks and con artists to make up a bunch of crazy stuff and sell you crap that doesn't work, because they're selling it to people who will automatically discount ANYTHING modern medicine says.
However, that does not mean that some natural medicine doesn't work.
Same deal here. Are there dishonest companies making extraordinary claims? Yes, absolutely. There is also a fanatical camp within the raw feeding faction that says all commercial pet food is bad, and there is no such thing as animals getting sick from contaminated meat. These people are willfully ignoring reality because they distrust everything science says.
However, there is actual science to support some of the harms that come from low end pet food.
There is actual science that, in cats, an all dry food diet can lead to urinary and kidney problems. There is actual science that for many animals with IBD and other bowel problems, getting them off of starchy food can dramatically improve symptoms. There is actual science that cats and dogs don't metabolize that stuff very well to begin with, which can cause weight gain and related issues, and they can develop allergies with repeated exposure.
There's all kinds of diets you can feed an animal that will be healthful for them, both commercial and not. There are all kinds of diets you can feed an animal that will be terrible for them, but commercial and not.
The trick is not being a fanatic or a sheep. To really look at it objectively.
Would Pia die next year if I suddenly gave her nothing but dry food? No. But by the odds, and by the science, she will live longer if I don't.
Anyone who knows anything about nutrition for dogs, would know a BARF diet is far,far superior to any dry food. I can't understand why no one hasn't mentioned it
Landywood Pet Foods : Home
There are also accounts claiming that a raw diet killed their dog. There is no evidence that it's automatically superior, sorry. It's all emotion.
A lot of the dog's lifespan depends on what the breed is. Irish Wolfhounds? Lucky if you get 7 years. Lots of breeds have suffered from their bad manipulation in the past, so many German Shepards got messed up hips wise from irresponsible breeding. I lost my wonderful Irish Terrier last November after 12 years, but before that, I had an epileptic Airedale that lasted 5, and an oorang Airdale before that only lasted 7. Boxers have all kinds of problems, as do Pugs, Dalmatians, etc. If you want a healthy dog, choose a healthy breed.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?