RD is quoting vets from all over the country. 1 quote: don’t fall for the raw diet nonsense (yes, I say that too). They’ve seen more people AND pets get sick thanks to that.
Dogs are NOT wolves. They have been domesticated for eons, and are not used to eating raw any more than we are. As natural animals ourselves we don’t “cook”, so we should be eating raw meat, too, by that thinking. We are omnivores and that includes meat.
Sorry, but just on *millions* of anecdotal tidbits alone, I see nothing wrong with “kibble”. Our dogs are NOT dropping like flies. There’s no need to “re-think”.
Actually, your dog’s natural diet is probably simply human leftovers and such. Kibble is a very very modern thing for dogs to eat. I’m not sure it’s helpful to say dogs are not wolves. They are the same genus, dogs came from wolves, and it stands to reason their nutritional needs would be quite similar. To say that if dogs should be eating raw meat we should too is nonsensical since humans and dogs are quite different, our systems and dogs are not comparable.
Now, having said this, I’m not a rabid raw food advocate, I think people should feed what they’re comfortable with. But I do agree that vets are often very uninformed in the area of nutrition. I worked for a vet, and I know where they get the majority of their information. Dog food companies.
The vet I had while I was feeding raw was quite against it when I started. But, when she saw the results she was very impressed. My old dog at the time (who lived to be nearly 13) had the cleanest teeth you have ever seen on an older dog, and never had them cleaned. I’m sure it was from eating bones every day.
Again, I”m not trying to change your mind. But there are a lot of good points in the raw food camp, and having done it myself for a number of years I assure you my dogs were quite healthy and my vet approved after her initial hesitation.
You are correct, Rebel, that our modern dogs will probably survive whatever crap is put up on the shelf by modern marketing, and will be bought and fed by people who just don’t think beyond the cute and clever commercials.
But, do these pet food manufacturer believers really trust, or want to live on Ensure, Lean Cuisine, NutriSystem, Slim fast, etc, year after year, themselves? Would they (or you) expect perfect health in the long run?
Our dogs will not drop like flies if we feed them crap, and neither will we. But do we really want to pay for all the consequences of eating that crap in the long run, or see them suffer the consequences?
Just because we don’t drop from a crappy fast food diet immediately, (and our dogs don’t either), it doesn’t mean it is a sensible long term strategy for our/their optimum health, and minimal health expenses/bills.
Please don’t get confused - I really don’t care what anyone feeds their dogs, or themselves, but it drives me nuts when people think a bag of over-cooked extruded pink slime, mixed with all sorts of stuff no dog would select out of a trash can, then spray -coated with a few basic vitamins, is equal to a fresh natural diet that includes raw meaty bones, some cheap organ meats, and a few cooked vegetable table scraps.
I just can’t understand why people who consider themselves conservative when it comes to politics can’t figure out how much they are manipulated by modern advertising in any other area but politics.
But, all of you, I don’t care what you feed your pets. I only offer my opinion for those who have ears to hear.
The rest of you would do our country much more good if you vented your spleen at the crappy bunch in DC. Pretty soon they will be telling you how much you can eat, of what, how it can be seasoned, and probably will be demanding that we turn in all our family pets as useless eaters.