Posted on 03/30/2007 6:23:02 AM PDT by Milwaukee_Guy
"No, but Natural Balance Duck is too high in copper and if you have a breed prone to copper toxosis this would not be a good choice of foods."
Good info.
I have 2 cats who are getting the Catfood..
At least it doesn't have gluten in it..
One can only hope no Melamine either.
Check out Nature's Logic Foods or Nature's Variety.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read all of that and to type this post.
I agree with you that Abady's statement that "no" pet food company can afford to use human grade meat was a (for lack of a better word) stupid thing to say. Obviously if customers are willing to pay for it, then a pet food company can afford to use it. So that was just a dumb thing to say.
FWIW, the frozen food that your friend's site lists is just one of many products that Abady makes. I don't feed the frozen product, I feed the dry/granular product. The product I feed does contain rice (the only grain it contains).
I completely understand what you're saying about not feeding any grains at all. I've just had such great results with Abady that 'even with the rice' I'm still sold on it. But I'll definitely read more info on the link you provided.
Her site has been put together over several years and kept up to date. She has a very sensitive breed of dogs, The Sharpei, so has had to learn a great deal to keep her dogs healthy. I know she attends many, many seminars on pet health and nutrition, which is one reason I recommend her site.
I think you said you have Ridgebacks, they may not be as affected by grains as my breed -- cockers and my breed has no where near the problems as The Sharpei. If you have the time a day reading through her site would probably be very interesting to you. I get the impression you want only the best for your dogs.
Yes, I have Ridgebacks, and as a breed, they typically have strong systems. My two will eat anything (pickles, grapefruit, you name it). So with regard to wanting the best for my dogs... I wouldn't go that far. ;-) I definitely want to give them whatever keeps them healthy, and with Ridgebacks I have a much wider range of options for what "works" for them because they have such a strong constitution to begin with.
I used to have a Shepherd who had allergies, and with him, I tried a zillion things to help him but nothing worked until I gave him Abady the last 2 months of his life (before he died of cancer). But the reason it was so difficult was because the Vet told me he was allergic to beef, so I didn't have many options. The Vet was wrong about being allergic to beef, but I didn't find that out for at least 5 years of trying every non-beef option I could find.
So it's not that I want the "best" per se, because that, to me, means that I would give them caviar (for example) just because it's the best, when Salmon would be perfectly healthy and good. But I do want to give them what will keep them healthy. I'm fortunate to have a breed that is tough and healthy in general, and that's one of the reasons I chose this breed.
I think it's incumbent upon breeders to NOT breed animals that have health problems.
Check out Nature's Logic Foods or Nature's Variety.
___________
What about "Chicken Soup For the Cat Lover's Soul?"
I just ordered some because I read it had good quality ingredients. I needed to get my cat off of Eukanuba.
There is a holistic cat list on yahoo you might want to join.
A lot of lines have been and are showing more weaknesses because of poor diets, poor breeding practices and over-vaccination and too many drugs.
Owners need to educate themselves and get over what I call the white coat syndrome of being intimidated by their vets into doing something for their pets that may be in the vets best interest, not necessarily the pet.
Ps.... I don't feed caviar either ~LOL~ though my dogs loved canned sardines and Jack Mackeral as a treat (wash the salt off first)...
I absolutely believe that puppy mills and backyard breeders are the number one problem in perpetuating health problems in our dogs. The only breeding I believe in is by ethical, responsible breeders who do all the breed-appropriate health screening, temperament evaluations, conformation assessments, and breed-appropriate competitions (conformation, performance, field trials, etc.).
Good food will never fix a poorly-bred dog. Bad food can ruin a well-bred dog. But if we can start with a well-bred dog, then we can maintain a healthy dog by feeding them quality food.
I wish we could educate the masses on good breeding vs. puppy mills and backyard breeders. But until that day happens, I would be happy if everyone would just rescue a dog from their nearest kill shelter.
I had 2 Rhodesians about 20 years ago. They were 2 of my best and most favorite dogs. Where did your dogs come from?
What we learned, all to late for this poor dog, was every rabies vaccination he received his disposition worsened. He was one of the many dogs out there who have been damaged by that vaccine. He improved when we put him on a healthy, raw diet. Most of his lumps went away, his ears cleared, etc., and then along came the next rabies shot and it was two giant steps backward.
He died of congestive heart failure and we learned a lot from him, but it was very sad that a smart, personable dog, who was mentally damaged to begin with from abuse, had so many more problems because of a mandatory vaccine.
Interestingly enough, quite a few people are titering their dogs these days and are learning that the vaccine stays with them for a very long time, and some dogs never vaccinated are titering for antibodies against most diseases, including rabies (which is not supposed to be a vaccine that sheds in the environment).
Anyway, this went way off topic, but it's a subject near and dear to my heart, because -- yes -- if a weak dog is bred it passes the weakness down the line. I believe the same applies to humans as well, we are just seeing it much faster in pets because they have so much shorter lifespan. it is actually a warning for us all.
I have been feeding my 3 dogs Natural Balance for a year now. I switch around between the different blends. The venison and potato made them too fat so I backed off of it. What is this about the copper in the duck?
I forgot to ask, how about home cooked dog food, do you have any recipes?
Not sure what you mean by where did they come from. My first one came from a breeder in New York, and the second is a puppy that I kept when we bred my bitch.
Yes, Ridgebacks are great dogs, but they're definitely not for your average dog owner. They're a unique breed that require some specific "owner" requirements that most people don't have (i.e., their prey drive is so high that they can't be off lease in unsafe environments, etc.).
Yes I meant who was the breeder. Mine came from a breeder in Houston. He was from South Africa and brought his dogs from there. Mine were fine without a fence even living in the city until we had a death in the family. The dogs sensed a changed in us and became more and more protective of our property. When the post office stopped delivering our mail I had to get a fence. They were 2 of the best dogs I have ever owned.
Agreed, on all counts. I attribute my otherwise very healthy Shepherd's allergies to bad vaccines. That's why I haven't done any vaccines on the Ridgebacks since the puppy shots. You and I both know that annual vaccines are merely a way for Vets to do an annual checkup on animals, and that many pet owners wouldn't take their animals to the Vet even once a year if not for the vaccines. That's true for me - I know when my dogs aren't healthy, so I don't need to take them to the Vet once a year to confirm they are healthy. My nearly 6-yr old RR has never been to the Vet because she is healthy as a horse.
And yes, Shelter dogs often come with "issues" -- but so do all those puppy mill dogs and backyard-bred dogs. So if we could just get all the shelter dogs adopted, rather than killed, then the demand for puppy mill dogs would DISAPPEAR and the millers would go out of business. (In a perfect world.)
And yes, I also agree about poor breeding in humans. If only every human would evaluate whether or not they should be passing on their genes before breeding! Too bad humans are stuck on that "it's my right to breed" issue. To them I say, "I agree, it's your right, but it doesn't mean you have to exercise that right! (So do us all a favor, and don't!)"
~LOL~ I can think of a lot of human breeders who shouldn't have...
When I mentioned prey drive, I didn't mean towards humans. !! LOL I meant towards cats, squirrels, rabbits, etc. If they see a fast-running-little-furry-thing and you don't have 100% reliable recall on them, they are highly likely to chase the prey... and they will ignore the fact that they are running out into the middle of a street where they can potentially be hit by a car, etc. All I meant was that Ridgeback owners have to be especially diligent regarding the safety of their dogs... they're not like Labs or Shepherds.
Ridgebacks are naturally protective of their home territory, that's one of the things they were bred to do. And due to their size, they can obviously put a little fear in people. But sometimes this protective instinct doesn't kick in until 2 years of age or so. I've known puppy people who have wondered when their dog would start barking when the doorbell rang... and then when the dog turns 18 months or 2 years they write back and say "Ok, now he does it!" It doesn't need to be trained, it just happens when the individual dog matures and recognizes it as their job to protect the pack.
LOL... me too! In fact, MOST!!
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