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I like Diamond Naturals and Natures Logic as far as dog food is concerned.
I think feeding them real food is also good if you cook it correctly (chicken, steak).
Just a FYI......FDA recalls on Diamond Naturals in 2012! The only reason I know this is because I was looking up our dogs current food because they refused to eat it and noticed all the recalls from various pet food manufactures and Diamond was a biggie in 2012! I will be checking the recall list monthly now!!!
please be aware that not every animal is going to have the same reaction to a product-good or bad. We all know cats should only eat wet food, especially males-for optimum health. yet there are those who swear they have fed dry kibble for 30 years and never had a problem. Believe me, not every dog who had these awful products from China got sick but enough did to the degree that they have finally be withdrawn.
Same goes to people meds which might make half the users sick. We don't have to have 100% of users drop dead to know it should not be prescribed to the general public.
My dogs have been ill because of Beneful, and I'll get to that after addressing something else mentioned.
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We all know cats should only eat wet food, especially males-for optimum health. yet there are those who swear they have fed dry kibble for 30 years and never had a problem.
No, we don't all 'know' because this is not exactly as you say.
The male cat is more prone to UTIs because of a small urethra. Hard foods and any food (hard or wet) that contains seafood has a higher content of mineral salts that build up and create blockage.
Both cats and dogs need dry food, and the larger the pieces the better. The hard food and the action of chewing it helps as an abrasive to keep tooth tartar under control.
In the wild, these animals would have chewed on the bones to do the work.
Now to the Beneful- awful stuff it is! Last year about this time we had not been able to get the food we usually get our two dogs. One is a larger mutt dog, and the other a (larger) cat sized JRT/Rat terrier. We bought Beneful, why we chose that I don't know. I think it was my husband who went to get the food, were normally I'm the one buying. By day two the big dog started with diarrhea, little dog had a swollen front leg. We thought she had hurt herself somehow. She was uncomfortable when I would gently test it. (This was about the time she stopped eating, as did the big dog) Then the side of her face swelled, then a back leg. Different parts of her body would swell up and that's when I realized that she was having a major allergic reaction to the food.
This is why some dogs are OK with Beneful. However, Beneful is one of the least nutritional foods out there. Overall, most grocery store dog food contains corn and corn is not beneficial to dogs in any form, it's basically 'filler'. Corn should be avoided and is one of the main reasons for skin conditions in dogs.
While it was just two days of bad food, it took over a week to get my little dog healthy.
We took the food back, told them it made our dogs sick and of course got our money back.
Amusing thing that came out of it, little dog is emotionally sensitive about certain things. She would not take food from 'dad' for about two weeks, even if it was yummy treats off his dinner plate.
No, we don't all 'know' because this is not exactly as you say.
The male cat is more prone to UTIs because of a small urethra. Hard foods and any food (hard or wet) that contains seafood has a higher content of mineral salts that build up and create blockage. Both cats and dogs need dry food, and the larger the pieces the better. The hard food and the action of chewing it helps as an abrasive to keep tooth tartar under control.
In the wild, these animals would have chewed on the bones to do the work.
Now to the Beneful- awful stuff it is! ...
Total MYTH, perpetrated by the PFI -- they have neither the teeth, jaws, (nor the necessary amylase enzymes to break down carbs), which cereal formed "food" is.
• Sharp canines made to puncture, rip and tear large pieces of meat, which are minimized to nonexistent in most herbivores...
• Jaws that only move up and down in crushing and cutting motions, as opposed to laterally (side to side) which is needed for chewing and grinding plant matter.
The above can be seen with the naked eye, if there's any doubt.
Cats as obligate carnivores need a meat diet, and moisture within its food, as they have a natural low thirst drive (all this can be confirmed by an encyclopedia). Here's a cat's -- an obligate carnivore -- mouth (BTW, dogs are facultative carnivores, scavenge whatever they can, when they need to to survive):
Just want to add that the above cited veterinarian is not on the bandwagon of some "fad".
More and more veterinarians are also speaking up regarding the conflicts of interest between the mianstream Vet. Associations & the PFI whom so generously fund everything from scholarships; research; equipment.... which is why so many pet owners believe carnivores should be eating cereal.
Knowledge is power. Pay it forward. (It was too late for mine, before I finally found it allll out the hard way.)
We fed our dogs a raw diet for 12 years and they thrived on it. It is not a fad by any means, and I totally agree with HOF4256 about dogs not needing the carbs they're getting in commercial foods. I researched foods for two years while our guy suffered colitis attacks as a pup and young adult dog. Raw food cured it on day one, and he never had a sick day again until he was 13, when he developed ulcers. Then I began cooking a bland diet that agreed with him. We lost Jimmy at 14 years of age, just two weeks ago, but believe me, raw feeding had zero to do with it.
Bottom line: if you can buy it in a grocery store, it's bad food. No debating that. When we rescued our older puppy two months ago, I got her off Science Diet ASAP. She was a poop machine, and a skinny one. We have slowly transitioned her to a grain free Blue Buffalo food and she's doing great. I don't want to do raw again because after moving to KC six years ago, the variety of foods needed for the diet was either unavailable or crazy expensive. Read the ingredients list and the nutritional analasis of a food carefully. Don't be swayed by their advertising. Dogs are resilient creatures and can live long lives on bad food, just as some people can stay healthy eating junk food -- but for the love of DOG, feed them good stuff!
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