Dog food….the HORROR - Page 3

Victor is one I have never tried .. a dealer close to me has it and I will compare it to my standard .. worth a try.  Don't let any good dog food get too popular as the "big" grain companies will buy the company and destroy the brand to save their cash cow larger brand's market share.  The worst news is to hear that your go to brand has been acquired by one of the big grain and meat corporations with 20 brands because you know what is coming .. higher prices and lower quality.  I started feeding raw human grade meat because the class action lawyers keep the big grain and meat companies honest with the human food supply .. sorta??  

I approach the topic a little differently..food for thought..excuse the pun..;)
I think it is a false sense of security to assume that because the dog appears to be thriving currently on a "cheap food" that he will necessarily continue to do so over the course of time., Most times our poor eating habits / choices don't catch up with us until years later,,Also, have you ever noticed that when making healthier diet choices one tends to have some "negative" physical symptoms. Not an indication of the quality of the diet, rather it takes the system time to adjust  to the change,,We should give the dogs system some time to adjust to new diet changes before jumping to the conclusion that the change is a bad one,,,
I am convinced that not every food works for every dog, but quality nutrition is quality nutrition~~you are what you eat !  , Balanced nutrition, quality ingredients, appropriate ratios, and so on, will give our dogs the best chance of "long term" health and "quality" of life,,,Yeah, we all know dogs that have lived to 17 on Ole Roy  lol,,I recall a few myself, and their appearance and quality of life were nothing to brag on...Are there dogs that appear to do well on cheap, low quality food?, yes, but we should not make the exception the rule...
Just my opinion, not directing my comment to anyone in particular,,,,
 

I see it in my puppies that I keep to 1 year of age  .. slightly better growth and performance both physical and mental over a long period of time adds up to a noticeable improvement.  I have never seen a dog food study comparing absolute optimal animal protein and fat based diet (fresh meats) to the best commercial formula .. never going to happen.  Too much money made in the cheap byproduct industry that is dog food to ever let consumers get the idea that dog foods aren't wonderful for our dogs.  I compare the dog food industry to the margarine and hydrogenated fats we were told were better for the human diet than animal fats such as butter or lard.  Turns out the animal fats are more healthy for us humans than the plant fats in margarine and Crisco but the money and marketing behind margarine and Crisco were too strong for science or government to fight.

This is a great topic, and everyone is making it interesting. While this has been going on for a long time, just recently I ended up at online video ads by the FDA on "Medicated feed" for cattle. I thought that was secret and while we knew, we were not allowed to officially know :)

Did anyone see how Walter Martin touched on that reproduction problem the university concluded was caused by medicated feed in food animals in that video interview posted by Ibrahim a while back? When asked to elaborate about that he backed out fast with " I dont know what they did to fix it"... because the answer is they give the dogs more antibiotics as the solution.

All the meats even go back to corn through the feed with cattle/chicken. They have a good documentary on that called "Corn King". So, maybe they are going to change to soy now, don't know.
At least today we can look things up with more ease, but, it is the same problems that seem to go on forever.

I too have gone the "grocery store" route before. When I had my first GSD back in the late 1990's I fed him Pedigree for several years. As I did not know any better. I had seen all the commercials on TV about Pedigree so I thought it was the best food to feed him. When I learned more about dog food, I switched him to Pro Plan Select Turkey and Barley and he did really well on it for years. Then I put him on Solid Gold lamb/rice until he passed away.

When I was a kid my mom fed the dogs Sturdy dog food. Not sure it that food is still made or not. If I remember correctly the dogs did well on it. Good coats, no stool issues, great energy levels...etc.

I have gone through a couple "hard times" and have fed Iams. The dogs did ok on it. The cats did ok, but my one cat did get some dandriff on it. He has, for the most part of his life, been fed a grain free food. I prefer to go the grain free route.

GSD LINEAGE,
It is kind of interesting that you mention that old topic about the "medicated feed" for cattle.. and also the corn fed cattle and chicken. At work the other day a couple of the employees and I were talking about this very topic. I had said that I felt that reason  that beef and chicken were so high on the food allergy list for dogs was because cattle and chicken are mostly farm raised, hormone fed, corn fed (which is sprayed alot with pesticides). While venison, bison and lamb are usually free range fed. As well as most salmon is wild caught.
I wonder if there is some trueth to my theory?!

Factory farmed meat is known to contain an imbalance of omega 3s to 6s, 1:20 or more. Wild game is close to a 1:2 ratio, grassfed beef somewhere around 1:5. This is directly related to both the difference in diet and the difference in exercise. I think that sometimes, issues with raw feeding are related to feeding grocery store meat as a raw food source - generally factory farmed, corn fed. I would think that some dogs would've more sensitive to that quality meat than others. It would probably make them look worse to eat that meat than to eat most kibble as the effects would be potentially much more concentrated, given all the other things that are put into the meat.

It is all interesting. I do feed dog foods which steer away from corn and soy and canola (GMO) fed feedstock as much as possible, avoid hormone and antibiotic fed animals but, honestly I have also had dogs live to be 15 on what we now call "crap" food and a neighbor has an 18 year old sibe on Pedigree.   I think a difference, though, is that now there is stuff in the food (mentioned above) that was not back then. Maybe its all more genetic than anything else. Some food even had wild caught horsemeat. Who knows maybe we are all being duped but I figure grass fed livestock and pasture raised poultry (which you really do not find) is better for the environment and the animals. The thing about sending chicken to China for processing now makes me sick. I wonder how much of THAT will wind up back here in pet food?

Facing same struggle with cats.  OMG I fed cats dry food for years and 18-20 healty years was pretty normal for our indoor/outdoor cats. Now I hear I must feed them grain free wet food so that they can live to be 12 and that I can't let them outside. 

It really is a conundrum. AAFCO studies were based on animals fed a grain based diet so some nutrients may be "off" for those high protein low carb formulas everyone feeds. That is certainly what the Nature's Logic guy asserts and  I have fed mostly that food for the past year and have been happy for the most part but am still planning to switch things up to higher carbs to keep some weight on the dog and I think he needs a change. [who really cannot handle Orijen or Acana]. I think I am mainly going to just rotate more and get a wider diversity. Drop down to 30/20 maybe even 26/15. 

I feed Victor dog food in the teal bag. I feed 4 cups and 1leg quarter to my 7 mo GSD and 6 cups and a leg quarter to my 85 lb. GSD. My adult male looks and acts good on it but gets the shits atleast 5 days a months (?) The puppy does great.
I tried a bag of Purina ONE and its the shits literally, but again the puppy does great. So back to Victor at $29.99 a bag.

Paul

I think what is important is that it seems like everyone on this post is trying to feed what they think is best for their dogs (and cats)  rather than what is just the easiest/cheapest.  Unfortunately, we all can't personally raise the meat that we feed to our dogs (or ourselves).

I vary the meats that I feed raw and I rotate my kibble with several different manufacturers.  I figure that way the variety will balance out in the end. Hopefully.  I switch cold turkey from one brand of kibble to the next, no mixing.  I've never had any stool issues.  Maybe the variety of food helps their digestive system cope with changes better.  I also vary the cat's diet (he is not one of those picky cats).



 

I would add....I remember my last vet ( old guy who has seen it all) bred Goldens and told me he bought Pedigree or Purina (I forgot which). He said there was never a food recall with the food like all those expensive "fancy" foods. I found that comment interesting but do not know the accuracy of the statement.