You won’t believe some of the horror stories I have heard about loving pet owners who have given their pet cheap dog food and lived to tell the tale. The commercial brands they may have used are different, but they are all unanimous in one aspect, if they had known, they would have invested in given their dogs the best dog foods instead.
Commercial dog food isn’t bad because they are cheap. Of course not. The problem is that realistically, healthy and high quality ingredients are not cheap. The reason why some brands can afford to lower the price on their products is because they use by-products of human food industries.
That sounds horrible, right? Well, it’s true. Many pet food brands are actually subsidiaries of human food and agricultural industries and they maximize their profits by giving these “leftovers”to their pet food division. Obviously this won’t look palatable or taste as appealing so they add in chemicals and preservatives to make it better. Unfortunately, over a period of time, harmful chemicals result in serious canine illnesses.
Avoid going the more expensive and worrisome route of having your dog sick and giving him treatments and medicines by ensuring that he has a healthy diet in the first place. Canine nutrition is an integral part of having a healthy and happy dog.
The best dog foods are still those that are natural and raw. There is nothing like feeding your dog excellent quality meat, fruits and vegetables in his meals. These are a great source of vitamins and minerals that your beloved canine needs. However, if you are unable to plan and prepare his best diet plan, it’s alright. You can find some really good dog food products in the market today.
One thing you have to remember about premium pet food is that the ingredients should be of the best quality. This will obviously be priced higher than the commercial fare but as we have mentioned before, a healthy dog is well worth the investment.
Make sure that the first ingredient listed is meat. This means that this is the primary food group used. Dogs are carnivores and they need meat in their diet. If the products used have no meat and are more supplemental in nature, then simply buy raw meat, chop them up, and mix them in your dog’s meal. Raw bones are also a great source of calcium and minerals. Chewing on them also helps in preventing bad doggie breath.
The most ideal processing method is by dehydration or freeze drying. This is virtually removing the liquid out of the ingredients so that the nutrients are more concentrated. When you soak them on water or thaw them out, your dog is getting food closest to its natural form.
Find out more about what make the best dog foods when you read other helpful articles in this site today. I now you love your dog and you want him to be as healthy and happy as possible like how I do mine. Enjoy!
Taste of the Wild is the brand I prefer to feed my animals. Per your guidlines I checked the ingredients in the food, they seem to be OK. They have several flavors these are the ones my animals preferred. We had 2 dogs with health problems and they did very well on this. They have since passed away from their health issues.
Both were rescue dogs one an 11 yr old dachsund who only had a few teeth left and was turned into the county shelter here in NM. My room mate volunteers grooming there and knew he would be put down so we loved him for six months.
The other was a pit bull puppy who had come from a cock/dog fighter in my neighborhood and when he proved to not be vicious AT ALL the man was going to use him as a “bait” dog and stopped feeding him. The puppy resorted to eating chicken feed. A neighbor knew I always stopped to love on this puppy when I was next door and he would come bounding toward me and jump into my arms. So when the jerk who owned him said take him or I’m gonna kill him. So I took him in and he thrived for about 6 months and then started having issues with gastric distention. On the advice of someone who had been through this disorder and recommended that the surgery had ended up a recurring event for her dog and financial considerations I chose to treat him holistically. We did OK for a while but eventually it just was a chronic issue and Rascal was very attached to Scooby (doxie) when Scooby passed Rascal lasted 8 days and literally died while I left the room for about 10 minutes. Reading the issues with corn and the toxins my poor Rascal probably had no chance at a long life but we made it for almost 2 yrs.
I still have 2 older dogs (both rescued by me) Thor was run over by a car right in front of me and I stopped rush hour traffic in both directions till I could get him with the help of another bypasser we used a blanket and picked him up I took him to a unknown vet in the local area who advised his back was broken and should be put down because his back legs were paralyzed. Yet when I declined euthanasia because he wasn’t my dog and hoped to find the owner, who of course wasn’t interested in a vet bill or a crippled dog. I went to see him for myself and when he heard my voice started dragging himself toward me. The vet had him in appalling conditions. Cold concrete kennel no bedding in his own urine and feces. After I ripped the vet tech a new orifice, demanded she clean the kennel and get him some bedding I sat on the concrete floor and helped him “sit” with his hind legs propped out front with his front legs on either side. He had such a sweet loving face I just knew I had just “adopted” this dog with no idea on how to care for a paralyzed dog.
So 1 week later I brought him home expecting that he would get some “wheels” as soon as I figured out where to get them. I made him a nice comfortable bed in a kids play pen for when I was at work. I never had to express his bladder or clean up poop. He was self sufficient and went out with my other dog to do his business and was active and “ran” around the yard with the other dog. The first day I went back to work after bringing him home he was definately not impressed with his daytime accomodations when I put him in the play pen he just looked at me like “really? REALLY?” When I came home that night BOTH dogs greeted me at the garage door. To my complete amazement not one single accident in the house. He held it till I let them out. From then on he had free run of the house like the other dog.
ONE week after bringing him home he greeted me at the garage door as usual and it took me a minute to realize that he could “stand” up! As long as he was stationary could get his legs under him and stand there all weeble wobbley. From there he started walking and running on all fours again. A miracle for a dog that the vet recommended to euthanize.
Buster was about 5 weeks old when I saved him from another dog trying to kill him. He so far has no health problems. And our 3rd dog is another pit bull puppy about 3 months old now that was found with her mother abandoned in the desert. The poor family that found them thought the mamma had been hit in the head. Technically true because she had been SHOT in the head and had the bullet hole in scalp and probably the actual bullet was somewhere subdermally but she looked more shepard so the shelter would take her but the puppy looked straight pit bull and would have been euthanized so with two little girls sobbing we agreed to take the puppy. She is happy and healthy so far.
I also have “a few” rescue cats as well. 3 that I bottle fed because they just barely had their eyes open when they wandered to my house from a colony of feral cats up the road. One female who was under my car at work at midnight when I got off work and had been mauled by a dog “judging” from her reaction to my dogs. I now know EXACTLY how young a cat can get pregnant and HOW SOON after giving birth said female can get pregnant again!!
Now to my testamonial on this food. I wanted the animals to be on a better food after reading a book by Richard Pitcairn, DVM, PhD – Complete secrets to the natural health of dogs & cats. He shares your opions and views on commercial pet foods. Following his guidelines regarding commercial foods I chose this one from all the rest. We have 2 national chains PetsMart and PetCo and I combed every aisle and every bag and can of food for dogs and cats. This brand is NOT sold by either of those companies by the way. I happened to be in a feed store getting organic sunflower seeds for my african grey parrot when I saw this brand of food.
It met the guidelines he recommended. Like you the main ingredient should be MEAT. My dogs and cats thrived on this. When the first litter arrived with only 3 kittens the mamma was ravenous all the time so I supplemented with fresh fish and the canned variety of another brand called AVODERM , which was decided on by using his guidelines and the ingredients or lack thereof and some taste testing by the cats of other brands which were not well received.
Dogs and Cats LOVE the dry variety of taste of the wild cost of a 16 lb bag is $21.00 in my area. 40 lbs is in the $40.00 range. They all thrived on this food including the two who passed.
I would like your opinion on the brand. I have scanned the bags for the ingredients and the company contact info and attached them with this email.
Unfortunately financial concerns ( I support 3 adults, 3 dogs, 4 cats, 8 kittens and 1 african grey parrot on 20 hrs a week) and am getting food from a pet food bank at this time to supplement what I CAN afford to buy. I am trying to keep the dogs and cats on as good a food as I can buy and the bird has always been on a natural diet with fresh fruit, veggies, some raw meat and sunflower seeds along with a organic pellet food that she does enjoy.
So my second request , if you haven’t gone blind from reading this is:
based on my limited funds and organic meats are not readily available in the markets here what types of raw foods would you recommend? Hamburger? I buy 85/15 for human consumption. Is a higher fat content more adviseable for the animals? In the near future I am looking into range fed beef. I grew up on a ranch with our own beef and don’t tolerate commercial meats well myself so buy organic if I can get it and my brother now has a small ranch and am working on a deal with him for a beef for myself.
Hi Delta,
Wow! What a lengthy comment.
And I take my hat off to you rescuing and caring for those dogs who had relatively little life left, and who you gave quality of life to for the time they had left.
There should be more people like you.
As for your questions – Taste of the Wild is an excellent food line.
And as for what type of minced meat, hamburger is fine. Fat is good (in normal proportions) for dogs – i.e. there is no benefit to a dog in cutting off the fat from meat – so the cheapest cuts of meat are absolutely fine.
It’s interesting that you yourself can eat organic meats but not commercial meats – it really goes to show that there definitely IS a significant difference and that the commercial methods of farming certainly can be detrimental to our health.
Regards,
Brigitte