Question by Mayu: Raw vs. high quality vs. commercial foods?
I’m in the process of gathering reserach about various dog foods. And there is a lot of debate about various dog foods.
1. commercial foods carry a lot of unneccessary fillers like corn and soy. Corn and soy have been shown to exasperate skin allergies as well as cause minor gastric issues in some dogs. mostly because corn and soy is not digestible even in humans, and consuming in large amounts, soy and corn can potentially cause bloat since it is a high gas food.
on the other end you hear, “every dog I’ve ever owned has been on purina or beneful and I’ve never had a problem. Studies that say corn and soy are alergents are highly exaggerated and my dog has eaten actual corn off my plate and never got bloat.
2. The raw diet is giving a dog what they would get in the wild. It provides necessary nutriants they would not otherwise get in processed foods. Many raw diet feeders will see their dog’s coats getting shinier and will see the dogs getting leaner and healthier.
on the other side of the coin there are those who say, there has been no study that has shown the raw diet to be anymore beneficial than a high quality food, except studies dont by the raw diet industry.. in fact there have been studies from independent parties that show feeding the raw diet put a dog at higher risk for salmonella poisoning, as well as putting a human at risk for salmonella. raw foods are salmonella carriers, and even if a dog does not get sick, they can shed salmonella in their hairs and feces which can spread the illness to humans. there are also choking risks. Even veterinarians recommend against the “BARF” diet… and, how many wolves do you see shopping in the frozen meat section of walmart? Part of what makes the meat healthy has been processed and frozen out of it. The freshness of the kill holds benefits for wild dogs, especially when the blood is still pulsating through. So how is the raw diet like eating in the wild?
3. In high quality foods, meat is the more important ingredient, while in commercial brand, unnecessary fillers like Corn and corn meal are the most important. They also do not contain soy, corn, wheat or wheat gluten (which were two ingredients that were making dogs sick during the big dog food recall scare a few years ago) they also don’t contain by-products (which are made out of the left overs of meat like for chicken by-products… beaks, tallons, gizzards, some feathers)
on the other side of that coin, you have people who insist there’s nothing wrong with corn or soy, by-products are no different than chicken meal, and while these products don’t contain wheat, they do contain barley and rice which are also grains, and that it’s just a way to make more money.
I am not a dietary expert when it comes to dogs, and I want to make sure I’m giving all sides a fair shake.
I was hoping you could give me your opinions
Best answer:
Answer by UHaveToBeKiddingMe
1. I used to have a dog sanctuary-the dogs lived their entire lives with me-rescues that no one else wanted. I had as many as 13 dogs at one time. They all lived and thrived on Pedigree dog food. Go figure. No skin allergies.
I had some very long lived dogs for their breeds as well 15 and 14 year old Dobermans, two Rottwielers that lived to be 14. So, the food Nazis may trash it, but I have real life experience with it. The only dog I had that I fed a premium food at that time died at a young age for his breed 8. Again, go figure.
Currently I have five dogs. Three have been on Pedigree their whole lives. They are 11, 14, and 14. Medium to large dogs. No skin issues, no health issues.
I am doing the premium dog food experiment with my two dogs that I show. I am currently getting them off Merrick as my Collie is having skin issues for the first time in her life. I am not overly impressed with the expensive dog food, as I see no difference in my dogs coats etc. They are switching over to Wellness. I had used Blue Buffalo before, but my dogs just hated it, including my dog who would eat cardboard and find it tasty. I also used Solid Gold in the past.
2. My dogs come from breeds that have not been “wild dogs” in a long long long time. I personally think the raw thing is a fad, and has no real benefits.
3. So, with four years of feeeding Premium dog food to two of my dogs I still am not impressed.
Having used Pedigree on at least 30 dogs over the last 30 years, I have had great results.
I really think the premium dog food is a lot of hype.
What do you think? Answer below!
, he could bearly go outside becuse of the sun , also hes allergic to ALOT of things and by a lot of things i mean almost everything as in dogs cats all difffrent types of tree , grass , hey , peanuts , almonds , wheat , – so many allergies omg :/