Interesting article on processed pet foods............. - Page 1

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Rik

by Rik on 01 June 2021 - 17:06

kind of a long read so maybe not everyone's cup of tea.

Why do pets like processed foods


by GSCat on 01 June 2021 - 20:06

Reminds me of the cigarette and vaping industries.

by ValK on 02 June 2021 - 00:06

i don't know Rick but seems article isn't true.
only two of my later dogs was ones, who got opportunity to try processed dog's food.
Ari dismissed it from first try.
the second, Siegie, wasn't as picky but neither enthusiastic about it. he definitely preferred raw meat and stuff from our table.
i have seen other dogs who love the human's food but never seen the dogs with contrary preferences.

Hundmutter

by Hundmutter on 02 June 2021 - 02:06

Haven't read it properly yet, but very taken with its reference to : "the pragmatic German Shepherd found carrying a bag of dog food around the streets of Houston after the Hurricane..." LOL

Funny, isn't it, when we are told by veterinary science that dogs have so few 'taste buds', that so much R&D energy goes into making commercial diets more 'palatable' ?

by Klossbruhe on 02 June 2021 - 12:06

Research has shown that human tongue taste buds can differentiate these tastes--sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. All other tastes, for example strawberry or coffee etc., come from our noses. When our noses are plugged up from a cold, we cannot taste these things, only what the tongue can discern.

Research with dogs is much more difficult for while they can indicate preference, they cannot speak. For a long time it was thought dogs were color blind. We now know they are not. Just how much of the color spectrum they can see is still being debated, but they do see color.

As for what dogs can taste, any dog owner knows that dogs can taste and have preferences. Research is in its infancy. I once read an article which maintained (God knows who wrote it) that dogs' taste buds were in their stomachs!! Anyway, there is no reason to believe that as mammals, dogs tongues can taste anything different than ours and that the rest of their tastes come from their noses.

That being said, it is hardly surprising that most dogs prefer human food to processed dog food. Millions and millions of dollars are spent on research by flavor scientists by major food companies to make it taste good. To give but one example, food companies have never been able to recreate the flavor of a fresh banana in processed foods despite constant efforts They have had better success for example recreating the taste of an apple. Now, back to dog food.

Kibble for the most part has only very low level smell and virtually does not have after being baked any of the smells of chicken, beef, fish, veggies etc that are advertised on the bag. Canned dog food does better. A can of Limited Salmon diet for example does vaguely smell of fish and does taste different from a can of Limited Lamb diet. But...do they taste like fresh salmon or lamb....obviously, the answer is no. However, canned food does have definite tastes well beyond kibble. Though in my 30 years of GSDs, I briefly fed raw, and for a while even cooked, being lazy I have mostly used kibble mixed with canned food and I have tested and used, over the years, many brands. At the moment, I can tell you that one of my three GSDs prefers Lamb, another Fish and the third has no favorite. Of course, one company's Limited Lamb diet, for example, will taste different from another company's.

After reading the article, I am surprised at the conclusion which I find about as accurate as saying a dog's taste buds are in its stomach. Dog companies may be spending a lot of money on trying to make processed dog food appealing, but just smell it and compare it to the smell of your dinner and I think you will conclude that the dog companies have a long way to go before dog food smells anywhere near as appealing to what we eat.


by Klossbruhe on 02 June 2021 - 14:06

As a postscript to my previous post, I forgot to mention that the author says that dogs like to eat feces (we just has a recent thread about this). There was an adjective missing. Some dogs like to eat poop not all, not even most. Perhaps as many as 25%. Yes, they like to smell urine, but not because they find it appealing. And yes, they steal dirty socks etc, but do they want to eat them. In my experience, they may want to play with them, but not eat them. In my opinion, the theory as to why smells which purportedly appeal to dogs is inserted into kibble, which essentially has not too much smell, at least to our noses, certainly much more to dogs, but still a low level smelling food, does not explain why they might prefer processed foods which I think any test on a large number of dogs would probably disprove...

Rik

by Rik on 06 June 2021 - 13:06

valk, I really don't agree totally with the article either. For many years, I bought bulk raw hamburger patties (1/4 pound) and added 1 a day to my dog's kibble. sometimes I allowed them to thaw, sometimes they were still frozen.

never one time, in many years and many dogs, did they eat the kibble first. they always gobbled down the raw pattie each and every time first.

jmo,
Rik

Sunsilver

by Sunsilver on 06 June 2021 - 16:06

Rik, reminds me of an informal study I once read about - think it was a pet column in the local paper!

The guy timed how long it took his dogs to eat different kinds of food. Regular kibble took the longest, followed by wet dog food.

Table leftovers, probably the least-balanced thing you can feed your dog, were gone within seconds! :D

Like us humans, they don't always make the best choices when it comes to food!! (Not saying the raw patties were a bad thing, but they're not balanced the way a good grade of dog kibble is.)

by ValK on 07 June 2021 - 10:06

Sunsilver - "Table leftovers, probably the least-balanced thing you can feed your dog"

what make you think so?
do you really believe that nutrient processing system of dogs way too differ from same of humans and our food is lacking an ingredients necessary for dogs?

Sunsilver

by Sunsilver on 08 June 2021 - 23:06

Valk, here's the list of supplements included in the dog food I feed. There is absolutely NO WAY the food off my table contains all of these!

Yes, I'm sure there are valuable nutrients in it that the dog can certainly digest, and I'm sure some of these vitamins and minerals are present. But a balanced diet - seriously??

Potassium Chloride, Salt, Choline Chloride, Dl-methionine, Taurine, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, D-calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement), Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Iron Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate)





 


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