Back in my day, they didn't have all these Petco and Pet Smart "superstores" with the aisles and aisles of pet toys and fancy collars (that look right out of an S&M catalog) and oversized pet pillows that would the Queen of Sheba envious. Why those pet stores are setup with the idea that if you don't walk about of there with at least $100 of their useless, overpriced merchandise, then you are shortchanging your pet in some way - you cheapskate!
When I was a boy, my cat caught mice and my dog chased cats. We fed them whatever was left over for dinner and they liked it. I taught my dog to catch a frisbee out door and make do with the "people" toys we have lying around. As for the cat, we let it fend for itself and it lived something like 12 years and had a seemingly happy life. Dog got hit by a car when it was about 7 (that's 54 in people years or something like that) and it's frisbee catching days were over but it hobbled along happily for another 4 or 5 years after that and continued to be otherwise healthy with a shiny coat and a good disposition. We might have given it a can of Alpo now and then but pretty much it survived on people food and what it was able to pull out of other people's garbage cans.
When we were growing up, our dog ate table scraps. I don’t think my folks every bought a can of dog food.
Not everyone treats their pets like dogs.
My vet is doing some research and says that he sees cancer rates in cats and dogs hovering around 50% and that’s just too high to be natural. He believes it’s directly related to the rise of manufactured pet foods.
If I catch a dog in my garbage can or chasing my cats, it’s off to the pound for that mutt.
all i can say is my two babies (Jake & Maggie) love grits, bacon and cheese....