Dog food;

junkyard

I've read a number of articles lately about dog food and that it might not be the best option for your dog. A lot of the meat used for animal food comes from diseased animals or animals with a lot of chemicals in their systems. I've started feeding my dogs home cooked chicken and rice and they seem to enjoy this food a lot more than canned food. Has anyone else heard anything about this?

Rogueish

There is a lot on the net regarding the raw food diet for dogs it is also called the BARF Diet. Google the BARF diet and you will get some good ideas.

The boxerworld website has a good forum that discussses the BARF diet here's the link http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=5

Good Luck

junkyard

Thanks for that Rougeish.

EGAR

Yep, my dogs BARF too and they are alot healthier, especially when it comes to skin problems.

Sarah

Carb

Our vet told us that dogs should only get small amounts of chicken as its bad for them. Apparently it contains too much protein.

On what actually goes into dog food, I work in a turkey processing factory, and the offal such as hearts livers etc. use to go to a dog food factory. I don't know what else goes into the dog food, or what other producers use. Generally, we only use samll amounts of tinned food and mostly dry dog food for our dogs.

flynnc

you can try and get pro plan i feed it to my dogs it made with class one meat which is the meat that is fit for humans

fits

Oh I feed pro plan too! Thats good news, I wondered what went into it..

eiretamicha

Please forgive the copy and paste, but I'm at work and don't have time to write out a reply.

To maintain optimal health in an animal, we must think about how the animal's wild cousins maintain their health. These animals live their lives by three very basic principles: fresh food and water, daily exercise, and fresh air.

For most people (myself included), it can be very difficult to give our animals a life similar to their wild cousins. This means abandoning almost everything we were ever taught about our pets, and starting from scratch. It means we can no longer use the phrase, "It's just a dog..." or "It's just a cat..."; it means we have to truly understand the mild consequences we may face in adopting a creature. We're not only the animal's family and pack-mate, we're the animal's care-taker. And it's up to us to provide the best living conditions possible for our pet.

Dry kibble is not a natural food. It (along with canned animal food) is made with the diseased by-products of the meat industry, the leftovers that are not fit for human consumption. If this wasn't bad enough, many dry kibble brands also use unnatural fillers such as cardboard and wood shavings in their foods. These aren't just extreme cases, these are standard cases. An animal fed nothing but dry kibble will have a poor-quality level of health, and will more often than not have a significantly shorter lifespan than an animal fed a proper diet of fresh, handmade food.

If you are still interested, I suggest checking out the following websites:
http://www.barfworld.com/
http://www.barfers.com/
http://rawfeddogs.net/
http://www.rawfoodlife.com/barf_faq.html

And for the kitties in your family:
http://catnutrition.org/

I wrote this in response to someone on another thread asking about dry animal food. I hope it will help with some of the answers you are looking for!

Also, this site makes for very important reading.

junkyard

Thanks for the info everyone.