Dog Food - Page 3

I was being serious. I didn't know if you were being serious or not.

No, I'm not talking about smelling poop; I'm talking about how the dog itself smells.

Think about what motivates scientific studies. Now think about who would possibly pay for one on this subject.

That's a good point - but then both types of companies would be doing the studies - the companies that produce premium foods and the companies that produce low end food. 

I can't smell my dogs - but that's likely because I live with them.  It only takes 20 minutes for the human nose to acclimatize to new smells, so to speak, so it's not a good gauge with which to determine the long term effects of foods.   If there are dogs with different smells, that does not necessarily make the dogs less healthy.  There's no link from smell of a dog to it's overall health - that I can see.

I'll keep looking.

I disagree; raw fed dogs typically don't have the doggy smell- you know, that greasy coat smell? Doggy breath is also something my dogs don't have. I don't think dog breath is something you acclimate to.

The problem w/better food companies is they often don't have the money to advertise, let alone do years' worth of studies. Look how many Beneful commercials you see; how many Orijen commercials do you see? The better ingredients are very pricey.

Hi Jenni:


I don't think dog breath is something you acclimate to.

The human nose acclimatizes to ALL smells - it just depends on how close and frequent the smell is to the nose.  .  

The costs of the pricey foods should include advertising and research costs, if not, it's probably just bad business, imo.  I have no9 idea on the cost/sale price ratio that high end dog food producers have, though.  The problems as I see it is that we really DON'T know if the raw food is better. It's just guess work.   Intellectually, I agree with you, but I want some science to back up my suspicion.   Hell, I haven't even seen any anecdotal evidence of increased longevity or decreased disease yet. 

Anecdotal evidence abounds. Do a really easy experiment. Take a dog fed shit food its entire life, then put it on a balanced raw diet or a super premium food. See what happens. There ya go.

The human nose acclimates to all smells, but only if it smells them continually. If you smell dog breath only when your dog is in your face, you will notice a smell or lack of smell. You may not notice a general dog smell b/c you are constantly smelling it, but just breath, you'd notice b/c you'd only smell it at certain times. General dog smell is different; it gets in your carpeting, etc. and your whole house smells and of course you don't notice it.

Take a dog fed shit food its entire life, then put it on a balanced raw diet or a super premium food. See what happens. There ya go.

I am not about to do that because I don't have a dog that has been fed "shit food" so have nothing to compare to.  Do you?


The human nose acclimates to all smells, but only if it smells them continually. If you smell dog breath only when your dog is in your face, you will notice a smell or lack of smell. You may not notice a general dog smell b/c you are constantly smelling it, but just breath, you'd notice b/c you'd only smell it at certain times. General dog smell is different; it gets in your carpeting, etc. and your whole house smells and of course you don't notice it.


Yup. :)

Go get one from the pound.

I have had lots of second hand dogs that I have done this "experiment" on.

WHY OH WHY would I go and get a dog from the pound?  I'm not looking for another dog. 

A simple answer is all I'm looking for.  All I am getting is ... well, frankly, nothing substantive. 

My question is then...  if you have done the "experiment" - what can you tell me with respect to the EXCAT health inprovements or improvements in longevity?  And frankly, it's not really a scientifically valid comparison because you don't know what the dogs from the pound had in terms of food prior to you receiving the dog, and you don't know what helath problems or genetic problems or the normal lingevity of the dogs would be... 

But I am curious... what did you observe when you started feeding the dogs the better quality food? 

Go feed your dogs Pedigree. What do I care?

I was being sarcastic about getting a dog from the pound. Sheesh.

How long have you had dogs? What is your experience level? I'm being serious here. I'm curious b/c you are asking things that people w/a lot of dogs or a lot of years in dogs just take to be fact.

I have taken dogs fed kibble who were fat, their teeth looked like they had algae growing on them, and they stunk, not to mention suffered from allergies and ear infections, and changed their diet cold turkey, and w/in as little as 2-3 weeks, they were hardly recognizeable as the same animal. Teeth were clean, coat glossy (sometimes they lost most of it and then grew it back better than ever), stink was gone, and they had a waist again. What this country thinks is acceptable condition for its pets disgusts me.

Are you going to challenge the premise that exercise promotes weight loss next?

How long have you had dogs? What is your experience level? I'm being serious here.

Over 40 years. 

I'm curious b/c you are asking things that people w/a lot of dogs or a lot of years in dogs just take to be fact.

That is my point.  You're just getting it.  I, too, have just taken it for a fact - but now I'm questioning my lack of questioning.  It's a good exercise.  You may want to try it sometime. 


I have taken dogs fed kibble who were fat, their teeth looked like they had algae growing on them, and they stunk, not to mention suffered from allergies and ear infections, and changed their diet cold turkey, and w/in as little as 2-3 weeks, they were hardly recognizeable as the same animal. Teeth were clean, coat glossy (sometimes they lost most of it and then grew it back better than ever), stink was gone, and they had a waist again. What this country thinks is acceptable condition for its pets disgusts me.


That's all you had to say.  Thank you.  That is at least an answer.  Was it so hard? 

The entire "get another dog"  "are you serious"  "take a dog fed on shit and change the diet" ALL of that was unnecessary and unproductive dialogue.  (and sarcasm is generally used as a defensive mechanism when one is not confortable with straghtforward dialogue - and it doesn't work well on messageboard mediums without the intonation and inflection) 

Are you going to challenge the premise that exercise promotes weight loss next?



Where the HELL did that question stem from?   It has absolutely nothing to do with the issue of scientific evidence of improvement in health from expensive dog food.   Not one thing.  Nada.  Zilch. 

There is a significant amount of scientific evidence that exercise promotes weight loss.