:lol: :lol: Commercial dog food has only been available to the masses in the US since the 1930's. Dogs are descendants of wolves - I've watched a lot of TV documentaries and read many a book and have never heard of wolves in the wild munching on kibble. They catch and kill prey (MEAT) and then eat it, when they eat the stomach contents, they get their veggies - as much of their prey are herbivores.
In the late 1920's canned dog food was introduced by Ken-L-Ration. By 1941, canned dog food represented 91% of the dog food market but this reversed during World War II as tin was felt to be an important resource in the war effort and by 1946, dry foods became more popular. Kibble as we know it today appeared in 1957 when the Purina company began marketing dog chow and cat chow.
ok for almost 100 years..... gazillions of dogs including mine, my parents and my grandparents have lived long, healthy lives, off of store bought dog food. and gazillions more will too.....all I am saying.
:roll: I love your math. . .I guess I'm a gazillion years old, since I was born the year kibble, as we know it, was first marketed. My dad, who was born in the early 30's told me that they always had a dog (his dog as a child, lived to be 17), but in the first five or six years after the Great Depression, many people were scared it would happen again, not many people spent money on anything they didn't absolutely HAVE to have, so canned 'dog food' was never considered. The family dog received cuttings off roasts and veggies as his mom prepared meals as the dogs in his parents families always had. If you are over 35, ask you grandparents what they fed their dogs.
Me too girl. Dry food only and very few table scraps. Growing up none of our dogs ever went to the vet. My Dad treated them himself with all our other farm meds for livestock.
I feed mine Nutro Natural Choice Lamb & Rice (I use both the regular and senior formulas) and I mix it with half can (between 4 dogs) of Nutro Max Beef & Rice canned. I was cooking for my dogs but... Anyway, just out of curiosity I thought I would see what was mentioned about dogs in the Bible. I knew the verse about dogs returning to their vomit, because when mine do that :ack: I always quote that verse to remind myself that they're normal. :lol: Here are the verses from the NIV Bible: Hmmm, looks like dogs lived outside and ate whatever they could find to eat back then. Whether they get home cooked or commercial food, I'd say most dogs have much better lives these days!
Sorry, I havent read all the posts so this may have already been said... Always read the labels! One of the biggest ingrediant in dog food is "Chicken by-product". What that is, everything from the chicken. The beak, the toe-nails, the feathers, etc. Its a cheap filler. The odor you smell that is lying in your backyard well, lets say the chicken by product has ALOT to do with it. Dont be fooled by the dog food that has the "healthy looking vegetables" on the bag. You wont see it in the labels. I suggest any sort of dog food that DOES NOT have by product meal in it. Read the labels. If your dog has itchy skin, buy dog food that has oatmeal in it. If you want a shinnier coat, buy food with fish in it. Also, you feed your dog less with premium dog food because they dont use any of that cheap filler stuff. For example, if your dog wolfs down his grocery store bought food, its not because he likes it, its because they put a meaty tasting coating on the outside of the food to draw your dog into eating it. Plus, there is no wholesome ingrediants in the dog food so your dog will eat more to get full faster. I suggest checking out Petsmart/PetCo premium dog food (Nutro, Blue Dog bakery, etc). Read labels, ask the dog trainer (they are educated in dog food) and really educate yourself on what you are feeding your dog. Hope that helps! Heather PS- Iams has the highest salt content in any dog food out in the market. Just an FYI...when Hills bought over the company, they changed out the ingrediants to make it cheaper to make, therefore, they can now sell it at grocery stores. Its not a healthy dog food anymore, it was until Hill's bought it. Just an FYI.
Shelby's stomach can't handle "table scraps". I do give her rib bones - she goes bonkers when I take them out of the fridge.
Puppy Chow and Ol' Roy.... I have 3 Pitbulls....2 of them are just puppies and the oldest one is almost 2, The puppies eat Puppy Chow and the oldest eats Ol' Roy.
That would make sense. When we first got our older puppy (now almost 9 months old), I fed her Science Diet Large Breed Puppy. She was kind of so-so on it and I did notice she was licking her paws. The one at Petco told me that it was because of the sodium content in the food and that Hill's had one of the highest. So we switched her. After some switching around for both dogs (the aforementioned 9 month old plus our 5 month old), we now feed Nutro Natural Large Breed Puppy Controlled Growth. Our preference is the Large Breed Puppy Lamb & Rice, but it hasn't been available for a good month or 2 now. They get the Controlled Growth dry and we then mix in the canned Lamb & Rice Large Breed Puppy. So far, so good. They're going back on the Large Breed Lamb & Rice products once they're available again. According to the Nutro rep that was at our local Petco on Sunday, it should be soon. Our older dog (15 years old) is still on a Hill's product, but it's the one that can only be bought at the vet. I've switched him a few times to a regular senior formula, but he immediately gains weight again. So, he stays on the Hill's Prescription Diet W/D. It stinks because it's not cheap, but you do what you have to do.
For those who feed their dogs "human food" or want to , Food Lion had their bagged, frozen chicken breasts and tenderloins buy one get one free when I was there last night.
Dog Food of Choice The dog food of choice for me is Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed which is to control growth. So far it is working on our four month old puppy.
When I first moved out on my own and got my own dog I was feeding her just a can of skippy moist dog food. I went to dog grooming school where I met my ex wife, she taught me that moist dog food pretty much was garbage, especially the brand I was using. and to switch to Mighty dog beef. Which i still use to this day. And to mix 1/4 can of it with two cups of Iams Mini chunks. I did that pretty much up to the day I lost my other dog. When I adopted Laila, I was told she gets fed twice a day, one cup of dry food in the morning and one cup in the evening. I did notice times when she was still there where they would give her moist mixed with dry. I had been able to give her just dry, sometimes i would wet it down. Learned it from a friend who has a special needs dog as well. But to try not to do that. As some of you know Laila is on a bunch of meds. fluoxetine, tramadyl, rimadyl and glycosimine. At first she was willing to take her meds wrapped in cheese, but sincem we have run the gambit of cheese, cream cheese, peaunt butter, hot dogs, pill pockets.... and it becomes a matter of wills who is going to win when she needs her meds. What I have had to do and I know it is only a temporary solution is to mix her rimadyl (chewable type), 1/2 glycosimin into the dry food, and put the fluoxetine and tramadyl into 1/4 can of mighty dog and mix it in with 3/4 cup of Iams mini chunks. This way she gets her meds and eats her food and no battle of wills she is also limited to having to stay at 40lbs and below since her skin had no room to grow
