longevity and dog food??? - Page 5

Sue-Ann: OFA Good at 10!  Too bad you can't clone him.  May I ask of your dogs' bloodlines?

I had a Bodo v Graefental son (1983-1996) who was OFA Fair at 8 or 9 and continued breeding (by Guiding Eyes) until he was almost 11.  He died at 13 (degenerative myelopathy) and I still miss him.   Notably, Bodo (1980 DDR Sgr) lived to be quite old -- 14, I think.

I had a english pointer who lived for 15 years, can say a full life span and was fed only wheat bread we mke here in India and cows skimmed milk all his life, not even multi vitamins. Most problems occur during overcaring. Leave them to nature also. Since years before these comm. foods started dogs were fed with the leftovers from humans which did not contain which didi not contain any high preservatives i.e. they got fresh food. There is a severe misconseption here that cows milk give them loose stool, please serve them skimmed i.e.less the fats and try. Milk is a complete food but yes it should be served in parts. They will never ever turn off their faces from a bowl full of milk, would they? Excess of anything is bad.

Sue-Ann - I know how you feel about the cloning - I'd do the same.  The nearest I've got is to get a niece from the same lines.

I also forgot to mention that the reason for staying below 21% protein is that my oldie gets really itchy with anything higher and will even rip his skin up trying to relieve it.

When I first got into dogs with another large working breed, I fed a locally milled food, first ingredient corn. Lost one 5 year old to bloat just a few months after I got him. Later learned a litter mate also died from bloat and his sire had survived 2 surgeries for torsion. After that I went to twice a day feeding the same  corn-based kibble and most of the others lived past 12, had a few make it to 13, one to 14 1/2.  Those dogs seldom saw a vet for being sick either.

Got my first GSD, fed him only the best, he died at 7 1/2 from leukemia and was sick most of his life. So far so good with Blitz, he's almost 7 and has never been sick. I feed him grain-free TOTW.

Honestly I think about  90% of longevity is genes, the other 10% food and environment.

My American Eskimo is now 15 yrs old and going. She has eaten Pedigree Complete Nutrition canned foods for most of her life. She has also had Kibbles 'n Bits & Nutro Natural Choice Small Bites before. Not to mention all the human food she's had throughout her life... She now dines on Solid Gold Holistique Blendz with a bit of Missing Link Plus supplement.

We owned an Old English Sheepdog years ago who ate Cycle for most, if not all, of her life & lived to be 12 yrs old. Our old neighbors would buy her a steak, cook it up, & serve it to her along with a bowl of beer almost once a week too..

GSDlova, your post reminded me of the second dog I ever owned, a mix doxie picked up on the streets. She lived to be 22 and I am not joshing  you, it's true. The only thing she'd eat were burger bits and table scraps. Another dog that was never sick either.

Blitz prefers Molson Ice.

 I wonder if the next generation(s) -  the ones born out of dogs that thrived on nutritional questionable diets - would live as long.  i would hazard a guess that after a generation or 2 of "poor" diet the dogs down the line would begin to show adverse effects. it might be these dogs - the progeny - that are living shorter lives even when fed better diets,  might take more generations of quality diet to regain the vigor lost to nutritionally limited diets?

 just a thought,

Susan

 I wonder if the next generation(s) -  the ones born out of dogs that thrived on nutritional questionable diets - would live as long.  i would hazard a guess that after a generation or 2 of "poor" diet the dogs down the line would begin to show adverse effects. it might be these dogs - the progeny - that are living shorter lives even when fed better diets,  might take more generations of quality diet to regain the vigor lost to nutritionally limited diets?

 just a thought,

Susan

Susan

I think the offspring of truly poor diets would live LONGER, as they would have demonstrated hardiness despite their diets.

The offspring of whelping bitches fed truly poor diets during pregnancy might have shorter lives, of course.

The interesting issue here might be that these so-called poor diets may not be as bad as we have told.

Michael

The Talk about the feeding of our Dogs has gone on for Years now, Of course there are Manufactuers of Dry Dog Kibble which are not fussy at what they include in there food and if it is right what they say on the Bag then many are sadly Lacking and our Dogs welfare  is not there worry, but profit is

But, look at it another way, There are a few Companies who are doing there best to give us a good balanced Dry Kibble and i am certain that the likes of Orijen and Firms who make Kibble with Top Quality ingredients are doing there best

Now look at Raw Feeding, This practise is not for everyone, No matter what you guys may say it takes longer to prepare and a bit more thinking about than feeding  a dry Kibble, and those whose time is limited possibly do not have time to feed Raw

Plus the main drawback for some including myself is the price and availability of the Meats and Bones we need to make up this kind of Feeding for the Dogs, For me it is just not possible

If you can get what your require then by all means give it a try

At the end of the Day if you buy your Dog the very best Kibble you can afford, I buy Orijen which i cannot really afford, But if i had to feed the two Dogs on a lower Brand of Kibble with rubbish i do not agree with, then i would certainly let them go providing they were fed on the best dry Kibble

But i and others only need to cut back a little on the human side which is of no big deal to feed them the right way

To sum it up

Both Dogs and Humans are what they and we eat, If you can master Raw feeding and the Dogs look great stick with it

If you feed a Good Kibble like i do and the Dog coat Shines with Natural health then stick with it

The only supplement mine get on top of Orijen is a Squirt of Salmon Oil and a Vitamin E capsule every morning

Plus a Raw Egg plus shell twice a week

Steve