Pet food - did anyone see this article (even tho is Daily Mail!)

[iggypiggy]

Just wondered if anyone had seen this - a friend sent me the link, before you all think I read the daily mail!:

Pet food Article

It is basically saying that pet food is not always the best thing for your pets...

Which is something I've know for ages (and why I feed a raw diet) - but am interested that it has been covered by the media, there's not been much interest in this before.

Incidentally - there are good brands of pet food - I am just always surprised at how few people worry about what they feed their pets!

You've just reminded me of a very scary incident we had when the pup was little. She was a very bad traveller and was always sick in the car. One day, we actually managed to do the whole 2 minute drive to the beach without any vomit, and we were so pleased with her! I picked her up out of the car and placed her on the ground, just in time for her to throw up. As she retched, I saw something long shoot out of her mouth and disappear back in. I thought I was seeing things, but when it happened again I quickly stuck my fingers down her throat and pulled out a WHOLE rawhide cigar

Bloody neighbours had given it to her - it was about 6 inches long and half an inch wide! God knows when she swallowed it, it had turned all soft and gooey so thankfully it didn't damage her. As you can imagine, the neighbours got a mouthful that day!

Have to agree with Midori. I have seen first hand the difference in health of the same dogs fed a healthy raw food diet and then a commercially produced food.

When I sold my old house the estate agents said to me that she was amazed that dogs lived there as you can usually smell if a house has a pet dog in it as soon as you come in the front door, but my house just didn't smell doggy. Since living here, I sometimes feel like I am living in a stinky kennel. The house is clean but the dogs themselves smell due to the commercial petfood they eat.

Commercial petfood, regardless of what goes into the mix, is superheated, extruded into whatever shape they want it to be and then sprayed with a mix of colourings, flavourings and vitamins/minerals. It couldn't be less natural if they were trying. The superheating alone destroys what little nutritional content there was there to begin with, hence the reason they have to add in vitamins and minerals. I remember thinking when I first read all the literature that they may as well sell cardboard chunks covered in vitamins syrup.

I have hated feeding my dogs commercial food and this thread has given me the kick up the you-know-what to try and sort something out so we can start feeding them properly again.

i am a big fan of BARF - though in general if a creature is happy with its food, no reason to change.

and it is very cheap especially when ordered in bulk direct from supplier (instead of buying from Pets AtHome freezer section)

turned my dogs health fortunes around like magic anyway - and it isn't mean to just be meat, isn't the notion to mix in bits of veg/ starch/ biscuit to adjust the fibre balance (constipated dog = add more biscuit! liquid dog = less biscuit, and maybe add some egg..) to substitute the grass & other rubbish dogs naturally forage for themselves?

and much much cheaper than those dry 'complete' foods vets are paid to recommend - that my dog wouldn't eat anyway.

Oh, ffs, they are animals.

Dogs in particular will eat ANYTING and are bloody scavengers.

(my comment wasn't to anyone in particular, btw)

I just don't get the pet worshipping that goes on in this country, even though I do love animals.

It isn't pet worshipping. For me its about taking my responsiblity as a pet owner seriously. If I don't do everything necessary to ensure their health and wellbeing, then who will?

Yes dogs will eat anything (well some dogs will anyway) but that doesn't mean its good for them and it doesn't follow that feeding them highly processed, reconstituted sludge plus colours, flavourings and vitamins is doing the best by them.

Zoos etc feed their animals species appropriate food to keep them healthy, what's wrong with us doing the same for our dogs?

then why drop in a thread about pet feeding?

and i'm not talking crap when i say my dog may not have lived to this day without the right diet.

the dog may smell right, but i have to say, the food smells awful!!

especially Tripe

sick emoticon<

though that seems to work wonders for dog.

Eurgh, tripe. I had blanked that particular olfactory pleasure from my memory. (and that's not an envy emoticon iykwim )

Moosemama, Wainwrights is the pets at home's own brand 'premium' natural dog food. It's the best (readily available) food we've come across, and the only thing our oldest can eat without upsetting her tummy. It's got a very high meat content (at least 70% when you add the liver etc) and no baddies at all. It even looks meaty - it comes in a tray and it's smooth-ish, like pate, so you can either mush it up like mince or cut it into chunks, which we do. It doesn't smell too bad either, and trays are easy to stack. It comes in turkey, duck, lamb, tripe and fish, so ours get a different one every night. They do pouches and tins, but we find the trays to be the best quality-wise. It's very concentrated so you don't need to feed much - our labs are only supposed to get one tray a day each (77p) but they're very active so they also get a small meal of dry food in the morning. The dry food is about 40% brown rice and 26% meat, and again no baddies in it.

I would be interested in raw feeding for my cat - especially if it is cheaper, I had sort of looked into it before but not found much. He isn't fussy but does seem to get an upset tummy quite easily (usually eating DS' leftovers on the floor from BLW)

Well, of course it is good that you take good care of your pets. It's a shame so many animals are not cared for at all.
When I had a dog it was fed rabbit and pheasant from the estate my family (and the dog) worked on. If I had one now I'd probably buy meat for it from the butcher (even though I am veggie!)

I'm just not at all surprised that 'it hasn't been covered by the media'. It really isn't that impotant.

Pets At Home never fails to make me laugh - all the aisles of over-priced, carefully marketed crap that animals don't need. A dog needs meat and exercise. It doesn't need a macrobiotic diet and supplements.

nickytwotimes I'd rather feed my dogs the proper food than pay the vets bills from reoccuring bouts of colitis, blocked anal glands and everything else the wrong diet can cause.

You can also feed kids rubbish (that's why mums go to iceland), but that doesn't mean you should.

nickytwotimes - I would have thought that feeding animals on as simple a diet possible was hardly 'pet worship' tbh. I'd say pet worship is a term far more appropriate for things like, erm, commercial dog food in flavours like 'beef with carrots and gravy' and shaped like little bones

Bertie, the Billingshurst books cover both cats and dogs, but Tom Lonsdale focuses just on dogs (I think my memory 'aint what it used to be).

Thanks MrsL, we already shop at that pet shop so will have a look next time.

for a cat you could get e.g value chicken from tescos - though this is more hassle to prepare (if you're not feeding the bones they really like the food heated (though not, obviously, piping hot) ...like freshly killed!)

• and mix with cooked rice/pasta/spud... the amounts cats eat are pretty small so that could work out cheaper than cans.

Or fish blocks - even at £1.20 (been a while since i bought from Pets At Home) per 500g block - that should do a few meals for a puddy tat mixed with other stuff.

Nicky, I get what you mean about Pets at Home, unfortunately they are a necessary evil round here, as all the independent pet shops have now been put out of business.

I miss Lancashire, we never went near a commercial pet shop when we lived up there.

Bertiebotts I looked into this last night (at 1am - that's animal worship for you ) and found mixed information - apparently cats diets are much harder to balance than dogs. The general consensus was that dry food was bad for them, which I've known for a while, more from a dehydration point of view than bad ingredients. I've been meaning to move mine off the dry food for a while but haven't found a wet food good enough. I did come across this food on the PAH website though (seems like the cat version of wainwrights) and it contains at least 90% fish or chicken, with the rest made up of all natural ingredients. It says they should get a tray a day each, so it doens't work out too expensive (especially if it's on special offer). I just wish they'd rename it, who the hell calls a cat food "Purely Scrummy"?!

I'm became greatly disillusioned with PAH after I got a DAP spray from my vet last night and it was £3 LESS than they were charging! And the vet is next door to my work, so it saved me driving too.

PAH is definitely is a necessary evil - never have I seen so much tat in my life (dog hoodies?!) but our last decent local pet shop closed years ago and it is convenient when you have a menagerie of animals and can get everything in one place! As long as they keep making my dog food, I'm happy

lol at purely scrummy

Is it possible to partially raw feed and also feed e.g. dry food? My cat is very good at drinking water so dehydration not an issue.

oh, someone asked about number of meals - the more delicate doggys tummy, the better an idea it is to do a few small meals rather than one large one. It also reduces stressing over food (you know, dogs starts pestering as soon as you get in from lunch for their evening meal..) if they get a regular flow of meals.

I think two meals a day, one after morning walk, (if they go mad its important to let them calm down from their walk before they eat) and one in the evening works for most, though mine is currently on three and we found that worked much better.

dogs can live on a variety of foods, which is why its a good idea to varying sorts of BARF...tripe (yechh)...beef..lamb (my doggies favourite - i can't face lamb without thinking it is dog food) chicken..turkey (oddly less good) ..all with nice bones for gnawing (good for a de-stress anyway) available and water down whenever they want to drink.

Nickytwotimes - interesting point about media not covering this previously as it wasn't that important.

Important news covered by media

More tripe

Pmsl Bella.

That's why I don't read the Daily Fail.

WARNING! VERY SENSITIVE!

Sad tripe