What does "good food" really mean?

[ClantyreSheltie]

My four kids and seven grandkids have all grown up without mom and dad reading all the labels. We have become such a coddled group, so we raise our dogs the same way.

Sorry for the rant

Sure, but I'm also guessing that your kids and grandkids didn't eat the same exact diet on a daily basis for their entire lives. They ate a varied diet that balanced out the crap they ate on Monday with a nice home cooked veggie and meat meal on Tuesday.

You are asking a dog to eat the same thing every. single. day. When you choose to feed like that, the food you feed had better cover all the nutritional bases. That's not coddling, thats making sure that your dog does not die of nutritional deficiency. You know, like the Taurine problem in cat foods that killed a bunch of cats.

I personally choose to rotate foods and brands and protein sources and add whole, raw foods. This mitigates the problem of agonizing over the perfect single food. I still don't feed foods with corn, but a bag of Purina One Naturals isn't going to kill them, either.

 

[JLSOhio51]

I have to admit that I get a chuckle when this type of topic comes up. I chuckle, not because the topic may (or may not) be superfluous, but just because of the emotion and chatter that ensue when the topic appears.

But, I must also admit, when such topics appear, my inner curmudgeon emerges and the following two thoughts arise:

1. Why would anyone else care if I coddle my pet unless said coddling somehow directly effects the life of the one so concerned? and;

2. Why should I care if someone thinks (and poo poos the fact) that I coddle my pet?

Quite frankly, I think that we (myself included) spend far too much time worrying about what the dude on the other side of the fence is doing. However, I love reading these threads.

 

[Tabitha]

Jeff, your post made me smile. I was trying to figure out a way to word how I felt about Ferg's post but you hit the nail on the head dead on. And yes, I do coddle my dogs, and I'm proud of it!

 

[take4roll10]

Proud coddler here!

Very proud coddler here as well!

Unfortunately, I have not had great health success with my dogs. Possibly due to where they came from (pet stores -> puppymills) and possibly food they ate.

I got my first dog, a maltese in the early 90's. She passed away at 11 years old. She suffered from terrible allergies, bad cataracts and cushing's disease. At like 8 or 9 years old, she acted more like a dog who is 15. She was on what was is now considered low-quality food most of her life. Later in her life, we did switch to what we thought was better quality food. My second dog and my first sheltie was overweight and had early arthritis. She passed away from a heart-condition at only 8 years old.

We got my next dog, a maltese again, when I was in my late teens. I started looking more into food quality and breeders. She is from a breeder and not a pet store, but I would consider the breeder more of a backyard breeder. This dog will be 12 years old in May. She is nothing like my first maltese. Other than having a low-thyroid (managed with meds) and allergies (resolved by changing foods), she looks great for her age! She gets the zoomies every time I see her (she lives with my parents). Based on her appearance and energy, you'd think she was 5 years old.

After the heartache I felt with seeing my first two dogs suffer from health ailments, I knew I wanted my next sheltie to have the best life possible. I wanted a dog that will live a long & healthy life. For me, that starts with going to a reputable breeder, feeding high-quality food and providing good healthcare. Will my girl, who is almost 5 now live as long and as healthy as I hope? I don't know, but I'm going to set her up by giving her every chance possible. That is why I do look at ingredients and heavily research dog food quality and nutrition. I will do the same exact thing when I plan to have a baby. I don't think this is overreacting or coddling. I was raised to always question things, never settle. I like to be an informed person and consumer. I like knowing what I'm putting in my or others' bodies. You only get one chance at life, why not try to make as best as you possibly can?

As to what is "good dog food", like others have stated, I think that is different for every dog. My dog had bowel issues every time I tried Wellness, but my parents' dogs are thriving on Wellness. I don't think Wellness is bad food, just didn't agree with my dog. I think Ann's post best explains how I feel about finding good dog food. Good luck! It can certainly be a bit of trial and error.

 

[Jess041]

While I do feed my dog "fancy food" as my sister puts it, I think that good food is a food that your dog does well on. If it's making your dog sick, it's not a good food for your dog, no matter how high quality or expensive it is. If your dogs are thriving on proplan, by all means, feed them proplan.

I am not a dog food guru. I'm not even going to pretend. Missy came home eating TOTW, so that's what I fed her for a while. Then I switched over to Acana because of the recall stuff, but I wouldn't mind going back. Honestly, the only thing I pay attention to when selecting a food is that it's grain free, and that it gets a decent rating on DogFoodAdvisor.

My friend's dogs were eating Iams for the longest time, and one of her dogs was constantly having skin issues and nasal congestion, snotty grossness. She took him to the vet several times, got medicine, but never saw any improvement. I told her sooo many times to switch his food. Finally, something happened and they put him on Fromm. Guess what, his skin got better, he wasn't snotty and gross. His quality of life greatly improved. When she told me that, I was like, "seriously? I've been telling you that for a couple years now.. " Do all dogs have issues on Iams? No. But Iams ended up not being a good food for this dog.

I don't like being a dog food elitist. If your dog is doing well on a food, don't worry about putting them on something else, something more expensive. Do what works best for your dog(s), and your wallet.

 

[Jess041]

That is why I do look at ingredients and heavily research dog food quality and nutrition. I will do the same exact thing when I plan to have a baby. I don't think this is overreacting or coddling. I was raised to always question things, never settle. I like to be an informed person and consumer. I like knowing what I'm putting in my or others' bodies. You only get one chance at life, why not try to make as best as you possibly can?

I tell myself all the time I feel so bad for my future children based on how I treat my animals... poor poor kids. I worried about every little thing with Missy as a puppy (still kinda do), so I can't imagine how I will be with a baby.

Also, my first sheltie ate Pedigree her whole life. She didn't have any health problems outside of arthritis from age, and she almost made it to 16.

 

[JLSOhio51]

Jeff, your post made me smile. I was trying to figure out a way to word how I felt about Ferg's post but you hit the nail on the head dead on. And yes, I do coddle my dogs, and I'm proud of it!

Ya know Tabitha, the funny thing is, I sort of agree with the point that Ferg is making. I read things quite often here that make me think, "Why would he/she do that?" I just find it interesting that people actually create such posts (about other people's activities) and the press "send"! It ain't our business.

Don't get me wrong, I believe that folks have the right to express whatever opinions they wish (like I'm doing now) as long as they stay within the rules of the forum. I just enjoy reading some of the things that people feel disposed to comment on. It sort of reminds me of the old jokes about crotchety old men (I am a crotchety old man so I can say this), that sit on their porches waiting for someone to touch their property so that they can yell, "Hey kid, get off of my lawn!!!!" These types of posts remind me of that old guy yelling, "and don't touch the neighbor's lawn either." I love reading these posts.

 

[Bradt9881]

A trainer I know said it this way: the low quality food is like hot dogs. We can all live off hot dogs, but should we?

 

[Sharon7]

Well, I switched to Wellness Lamb/Barley/Fish mix when I decided I'd had enough of Innova's recalls, even though my girls never got sick on Innova (thank God!). I did research on dog food advisor site and posted a thread here. I needed to be careful of the protein amount because Ally has had slightly high kidney values all her life.

I switched them over last summer right at the time Brooke came to stay, and have had good results. Nice coats, good firm stools, and a major, major bonus - Ally's kidney numbers went DOWN and she is drinking less water. So I am sold on Wellness.

But every dog's digestive situation is different, just like people. I do think it is worth it to buy a food with good-quality ingredients, pricey, yes, but we are what we eat!

 

[Tabitha]

I just got back from the store with a small bag of Blue Buffalo Freedom (chicken). We'll see how it works, if I see a noticeable difference between it and Pro Plan I'll keep them on it, but if it's the same as Wellness I may try a different food or go back to Pro Plan.

A trainer I know said it this way: the low quality food is like hot dogs. We can all live off hot dogs, but should we?

Brad, I was having a discussion about dog food with someone I know the other day. He feels what I'm feeding my dogs is dumb and just a bunch of sales gimmicks. "We eat hot dogs and cheep stuff and we'er not dying from it!" I asked him how good of shape he was in from the junk food, he had no answer because he's in horrible shape and very overweight.