Fellow dog owners - what food do you feed?

[sorraia]

To all who are feeding raw diets: Keep it at a minimum, raw diets are ALWAYS deficient in certain vitamins and minerals that are present for a reason in dry, semi-moist, and wet manufactured pet foods.

Remember: Dogs are NOT obligate carnivores. No, not even wolves.

And Science Diet is not bad food, it was once top of the line. The bar has just been raised and now it's a mid-grade food that can easily sustain good overall health in many many breeds.

It's not false. Nor is it objective research. It's me sitting in my Animal Nutrition course, which is aimed entirely at the nutritional requirements of canine/feline diets what good methods are for providing them with solid maintenance nutrition throughout all life stages.

I'm not going to repeat everything everyone has already said. I am going to say I disagree with your assessment of raw diets. I have to ask, what kind of animal nutrition course you are taking, and who is funding it (or who is funding the professors). Nutritional research is notoriously flawed to show results in favor of the funding source. I’ve been doing nutritional research for a few years, including reading articles from scientific journals (over 100 articles downloaded). This is the trend I’ve seen in doing my research. If the funding source says “xyz” nutrient or food is healthy, then the research study will show the same. If the funding source says “xyz” nutrient or food is unhealthy, then the research study will show the same. It’s a flawed system, and there are ways to tweak studies without outright lying. What this means is you need to take everything you read and hear with a grain of salt, and do your own research.
Dogs are carnivores. They are not obligate carnivores like a cat is, but they are carnivores. Canines are only opportunistically omnivorous. Some species (i.e. foxes) are a little more opportunistic than others. Typically the plant matter canines will consume are sweet tasting fruits. Courser plant matter that is available year round (i.e. leaves) can’t be digested by canines, as they do not have the digestive system. (I say this not only from my independent research on nutrition and physiology, but also as a biologist by trade.)
As I stated in my other reply, my dogs and cats are on a purely prey-model raw diet. They have been for years. They get blood work done at least once a year, and are regularly seen by the vet. Everything always comes back normal, and ideal. If a raw diet weren’t complete and healthy for them, I’d be seeing that by now.

[anatess]

I fed my dog pedigree his whole life and he grew up to be a big strong wonderful doggy Pedigree was the only brand of dog food that didn't give him horrible gas and diarrhea.

What other foods have you tried?

We feed pedigree large breed, never heard of raw feeding looks interesting. This is my big girl

Lots of people fed their dogs Pedigree and they grew up to be relatively healthy dogs well into old age. It's just like ball pythons getting fed small mouse all their life and they still thrive and grow up to be relatively healthy snakes well into old age.

It's crap food and should not be recommended, but, of course, you decide what is good for your dog or ball python.

When you have dogs like English Bulldogs you'll see a drastic difference with Pedigree and the like. Purebred English Bulldogs fed on Pedigree is a sure bet of $$$ vet bills.

[anatess]

And here's my dog "pantry". Yep! I scored a 21 cubic feet freezer in craigslist for $100. If I fed my snakes FT, this would be where it would go... but I feed live, so the dogs and the birds get to own the freezer.

And yeah, those small yellow tubs? Pork brains. Yep! $1.99/lb at the local meat market. And the thing on the bottom that says "treats" - lamb liver, chicken liver, rabbit liver, beef liver... all kinds of liver. Yum. LOL.

Each container is one serving. 1 day for 1 dog. So, my kids can just grab a container for each dog to thaw before they go to bed and they can feed them in the morning. Easy breazy.

[jclaiborne]

I started with Taste of the Wild, and then moved through all the "high end" foods, seemed like nothing worked for all of my dogs, until I tried Kirkland brand. Now that is all I feed. They all love it and with 5 dogs its a great dog food for a great price.

[AlexisFitzy]

Oh well, I wasn't really recommending pedigree 100% I just wanted to say that that's what my dog ate. He was a bouvier des Flanders/Golden Retriever mix and was a very very large dog. We've tried lots of different foods can't remember them all specifically because we tried a long time ago in his teen years. But kibbles and bits was the main one that gave him gas and diarrhea the others he just wouldn't eat. He was really picky. But that's was just for him personally. I don't know what makes pedigree such a bad dog food and I'd like to know why you think that. I can't really recommend a dog food for your new corgi puppy. Just try whatever you think is best and something that he will eat. Dogs don't eat all kinds of dog food. But Hossy lived for 15 years which is very long for a dog his size. When we did take him to the vet the veterinarian told us that he was doing amazingly well for his age and size. He never had any serious health issues. His only Heath issue was allergies. We had to put him to sleep this year August 10th because he was very very old and was struggling so much just to walk and go to the bathroom and really enjoy life. But whatever dog food you choose I hope it carries your new puppy through a long long happy life


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[TheSnakeGuy]

I attend the Vet Tech Institute of Houston. Nationally accredited program, and one of many existing schools. My nutrition class isn't geared or biased toward anything other than knowing what it takes to make up a healthy animal diet. They wouldn't be teaching us anything that we weren't meant to pass on to pet parents to ensure their animals' health. There is no emphasis towards any specific food brand or type.

[Cipher]

I do a rotation diet. Currently I'm feeding Merrick, but I've fed everything from Nature's Variety Instinct to Orijen to Fromm and many, many more. Always grain free. I change brands after every 12-15 lb bag, but I have a small dog so it takes a few months to get through one bag. I like trying different brands, and I really think my dog appreciates the variety. These days I can switch his food cold turkey without having to do the annoying transition thing, which is nice.

[satomi325]

Dogs have been eating and thriving on raw far longer than kibble has been invented.
I agree with 100% with Pookie, Sorraia, and Anatess. A balanced raw diet does not cause deficiencies and I personally believe that SciDiet is still really nasty/below average. Might as well put a dog on a bread and hotdog diet in my opinion.

(The first 5 ingredients of a kibble is the bulk of the diet.)
The first 12 ingredients of an adult Science Diet:
Ingredients: Lamb meal, brewers rice, brown rice, corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat, whole grain sorghum, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), cracked pearled barley, chicken liver flavor, flaxseed, lactic acid.

Now compared to a quality kibble.
Orijen adult kibble:
First 12 ingredients: Boneless chicken, chicken meal, chicken liver, whole herring, boneless turkey, turkey meal, turkey liver, whole eggs, boneless walleye, whole salmon, chicken heart, chicken cartilage

Orijen Freeze dry:
First 12 ingredients: Chicken (ground with bone), turkey (ground with bone), whole herring, chicken liver, chicken heart, whole eggs, spinach greens, pea fiber, turkey liver, turkey heart, whole flounder

And I don't think I have to explain a raw diet. Especially if its whole prey.

I've taken a number of animal biology, physiology, and nutritional courses myself.
Studied Animal and Wildlife Biology at UC Davis with a little Animal Science on the side.
And was praised for feeding raw by their vet school staff.
Most of my ferrets are fed whole prey. Only one is a strict kibble eater because he doesn't want to switch, but he's fed Orijen cat.(Ironically, his name is Pookie)
My dogs are on a mixed kibble/raw now, but I would like to transition to 100% raw.

In the end, everyone should feed what works for you and your dog. But know that not all food is made equally. Surviving, living, and thriving are completely different things.

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[anatess]

I attend the Vet Tech Institute of Houston. Nationally accredited program, and one of many existing schools. My nutrition class isn't geared or biased toward anything other than knowing what it takes to make up a healthy animal diet. They wouldn't be teaching us anything that we weren't meant to pass on to pet parents to ensure their animals' health. There is no emphasis towards any specific food brand or type.

What does your Nationally Accredited Program say about the biological value of Brewer's Rice, Brown Rice, Corn Gluten, and Whole Wheat to a dog's diet? I would think that this program has mentioned that by FDA regulations, a dog food's ingredients list has to be listed according to pre-processed volume, right? Those 4 ingredients are in the top 5 ingredients list of Science Diet.

Also what does the Vet Tech Institute of Houston say about the 24% protein content of Science Diet? Does it think that most of that protein comes from the animal meat that is listed as the first ingredient, or does it think that it comes mostly from the next 4 ingredients?

Wait, even before that... does the Vet Tech Institute of Houston believe this claim from the Hill's website:
Corn is an excellent ingredient because of the benefits it brings to the product. Corn is a highly nutritious ingredient chosen as a source of protein (for muscle and tissue growth), carbohydrates (for energy), fiber, antioxidants (Beta-carotene, Vitamin E, Lutein) and linoleic acid - an essential fatty acid that promotes healthy skin and a luxurious coat.

Hill's uses grades 1 and 2 corn for our pet foods, which are the grades traditionally used for human food products.

While some individuals are concerned about allergies in pets, corn is NOT a common cause of adverse food reactions in pets. Studies have shown that corn causes no more food allergies than any other grain.

Most grains, including corn, are poorly digested before they are cooked. Once cooked, however, they become highly digestible. Corn is also highly digestible, higher than several other grains such as rice, wheat, barley and sorghum.

Does the Vet Tech Institute of Houston teach that just because Corn is finely ground and cooked which makes it highly digestible that that makes its proteins have a high biological value? (In case your school did not teach you this, corn has a biological value rating of 54% compared to muscle meat at 92%).

And, on top of that, does the nutrition class mention anything about the glycemic index of finely ground cooked corn and how that affects dogs?

There are a jillion more moving pieces to this... these are just the main things that are easily "pointable".

I really, honestly, want to know what that school is teaching you about dog nutrition.

[anatess]

I don't know what makes pedigree such a bad dog food and I'd like to know why you think that.

This is really a crazy thread. We're talking dog food and I, among others, are telling people about the difference between feeding high quality food versus Pedigree and Science Diet...

For all we know, we're talking to people who feed Fruit Loops to their kids everyday for breakfast and chicken nuggets for lunch (very common thing in the USA).

If you're the fruit loops/chicken nuggets to your kids kinda person, the Pedigree is just going to fly over your head. Lots of children grow up and die of old age eating Fruit Loops for breakfast.

So, we Prey-Model Raw feeders would be like your human Paleo Dieters. The BARF/Blue Buffalo/Fromm/etc crowd are those who would go buy their groceries from Whole Foods and maybe the edges of Publix where the fresh stuff is or the middle part under the Health Food sign. The Science Dieters would be those who buy the main bulk of their groceries from the middle of Publix, and the Pedigree folks would be those who feed mainly on Ramen Noodles.

Here's the first 3 Pedigree ingredients:
Ground whole corn, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal

Corn - high protein, low biological value. Poultry by-product... beaks, feet, dregs. Maybe feathers. Maybe unidentifiable bird-like roadkill. High protein, low biological value.

In other words... Ramen Noodles. Crap Food.

What's very interesting about this is that there are lots of people who feed Prey-Model Raw, or BARF, or Fromm, or Blue Buffalo to their dogs who feed Fruit Loops everyday for breakfast and chicken nuggets everyday for lunch to their kids.