PSA: Dog/Cat Pet Owners

[AnonymouseUser]

Thanks for the link, going to try out Chicken Soup since it's just about the same price as Purina One.

YW. I used to think even Purina's premium brands would be decent, but that site shows otherwise. Also, the main reason I buy DVP's Natural Balance is that the closest pet store is a Petco about a mile from home, and that is the best brand they carry.

That site generally has a similar review as the one I got in the OP.

People can take that how ever they like. I think its a great resource

Yes, they are similar, though the site I linked has reviews of both cat and dog food. Regardless of which site you use, please do your pet a favor and buy them some quality food.

 

[rockyct]

You keep asking about 'real evidence', have you even done any research?

Most think their cats are heathy as well...however; most cats are actually overweight if indoors and malnourished if outdoors.

The average cat is lucky to see a vet once a year.

People live on hotdogs out there, they probably think there is nothing better either; just more expensive.

Feeding a cat a high quality pet food is not that much more in cost. They should eat less so the product goes further.

Our cats do see the vet every yet. Both are indoor cats. One weighs 9.5 pounds, the other 10.5 pounds. I would hardly consider that to be overweight. Neither of them have skin problems and both have beautiful fur. All these sites say how horrible most food is, but I don't see any legitimate research on it. We have plenty of evidence on what the best diet is for a person, but there's little independent research on the best food for cats and dogs.

 

[TrueBlueLS]

I use Healthwise for my beagle which is rated as a 3 star food. How much can I believe their rating, I can't. Do I trust my vet that I've been seeing for the past 15 years, hell yes.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Our cats do see the vet every yet. Both are indoor cats. One weighs 9.5 pounds, the other 10.5 pounds. I would hardly consider that to be overweight. Neither of them have skin problems and both have beautiful fur. All these sites say how horrible most food is, but I don't see any legitimate research on it. We have plenty of evidence on what the best diet is for a person, but there's little independent research on the best food for cats and dogs.

Not all cats are the same, so some may handle the cheap food just fine, though it may lead to problems later in life. One of our cats did not do so well for years, regardless of which average brand of food we bought. He was lethargic, stayed hidden most of the day, and had a poor coat to boot.

Changing to DVP's Natural Balance made a huge difference in him, to the point that he was basically a different cat. He is more energetic and playful at age 12 than at age 5, a lot more social, and his coat has improved immensely. What I suspect is that he has a wheat allergy (very common in cats), and found the site I linked to while searching for foods that are wheat-free.

 

[DrPizza]

A vast majority of modern domesticated dog breeds have only really existed for a short period of time, and many were the result of heavy, unhealthy breeding practices to accentuate certain features that were actually detrimental to the animal. These breeds probably have pretty different needs compared to the wolf-like companions of our ancient ancestors, who probably could handle a lot more robust food options. There are surely a lot of breeds of both domesticated cat and dog who ideally would be fed specialized diet because of their accentuated mutant features.

Anyway, neither the wolf-like ancient companion dogs nor the absurd-looking purebred dogs of worthlessness were bred to eat corn gluten meal, nor was corn gluten meal something that was a table scrap in ancient times. So I think you would agree with the basic premise of the low-rated foods being suspect. The higher-rated foods are, by your reasoning, not really that great either. I agree with that.

Pretty much my point, except that you seem to be implying that most recent breeds have only evolved from wild animals for a few hundred years. While the breeds have only been around for a few hundred years, their ancestors have been around, eating table scraps from man, for 1000's of years. They're still decendants of those animals.

 

[apac]

I feed my dog Science Diet Active. Recommended by both the Vet and the humane society I adopted her from. Rated 1 star by this site.

OK experts, what *should* I be feeding her. Requirements is it has to be a dry form dog food because I take her between my house, my parents, and my girlfriends place and don't have the time to buy all the fresh ingredients.

 

[Ns1]

I feed my dog Science Diet Active. Recommended by both the Vet and the humane society I adopted her from. Rated 1 star by this site.

OK experts, what *should* I be feeding her. Requirements is it has to be a dry form dog food because I take her between my house, my parents, and my girlfriends place and don't have the time to buy all the fresh ingredients.

your pet food (only grabbing first couple of lines)

Ground Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Dried Egg Product, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C),

my pet food

Chicken Meal, Ground Whole Brown Rice, Ground Whole White Rice, Oatmeal, Rice Bran, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Avocado Meal, Flax Seed, Dried Alfalfa Meal, Avocado Oil, Herring Meal, Lecithin, Natural Flavor,

Notice where "chicken meal" and "fat" lie on your ingredient list versus mine

Yours
Protein 29.8
Fat 27.2
Carbohydrate (NFE) 35.4
Crude Fiber 1.8

Mine
Crude Protein (min) 23.00%
Crude Fat (min) 13.00%
Crude Fiber (max) 4.00%

Less protein, less fat, more fiber.


I would highly recommend Avoderm. It's got a shit ton of vitamins/nutrients in it to help with your dog's well being + coat, and is a very low fat dog food so you don't have to worry (as much) about your dog getting super fat.

We free feed our dog + give him plenty of exercise, and he is a perfect weight/size for his breed.

 

[apac]

Getting fat really isn't a concern for a while, she's got ridiculous energy drive. At perfect weight for her as well.

I'll check out Avoderm though. Other suggestions?

 

[alkemyst]

Our cats do see the vet every yet. Both are indoor cats. One weighs 9.5 pounds, the other 10.5 pounds. I would hardly consider that to be overweight. Neither of them have skin problems and both have beautiful fur. All these sites say how horrible most food is, but I don't see any legitimate research on it. We have plenty of evidence on what the best diet is for a person, but there's little independent research on the best food for cats and dogs.

It's out there just not a lucrative market. Hell most veternarians never have a nutrition course and at best it's given by one of the food manufacturers (usually Purina). Most people shop pet food purely on price...most people put a low dollar limit on the care they will provide their pets...most people don't take their pets to the vet.

There is no argument with easy searching that most store foods for cats and dogs is akin to junk food for kids. It's designed so the pet's gobble it down and their people assume it's good. There are enough posts out there to severe health problems easily linked to these low quality foods...it's hard to find. Much like trying to search if a hot dog diet alone is that bad.

This shell game is played with most products though. Laundry detergents could be sized down so a tablespoon or two is enough for a load, but people think more is better. Same with sudsing agents added, people think bubbles = cleaning.

at 9 and 10lbs your cats are probably in the right weight class, what food are you feeding them?

 

[0roo0roo]

I feed my dog Science Diet Active. Recommended by both the Vet and the humane society I adopted her from. Rated 1 star by this site.

OK experts, what *should* I be feeding her. Requirements is it has to be a dry form dog food because I take her between my house, my parents, and my girlfriends place and don't have the time to buy all the fresh ingredients.

it doesn't matter. from time to time add treats or a bit of stock pot meat or scraps and you'll have a well rounded diet not based on one food source alone. people treat their dogs like children these days and have emotional reasons why they get all finicky about their food. its not as if they have double blind testing to verify their claims that xyz food is making their dog super healthy, their dog would probably be that way regardless, but its not really about that, its about making themselves feel good.

 

[Ns1]

it doesn't matter. from time to time add treats or a bit of stock pot meat or scraps and you'll have a well rounded diet not based on one food source alone.

How does adding protein to an already protein-laden diet make it "well rounded"

 

[alkemyst]

I use Healthwise for my beagle which is rated as a 3 star food. How much can I believe their rating, I can't. Do I trust my vet that I've been seeing for the past 15 years, hell yes.

Most vets don't get nutrition classes in school. Much like drug reps and doctors, the pet food industry goes after vets with promotions and the like.

Purina and Hill's are the two #1 marketers.

Unless your pet needs a specific health defect treated there are far better foods than Science Diet.

Being you are feeding a '3 star' food I wouldn't worry so much. I'd say the average american is probably eating at the equivalent of a 2-3 star deal.

 

[0roo0roo]

How does adding protein to an already protein-laden diet make it "well rounded"

Maybe its not, perhaps you'd like to live on a pill diet of healthy gruel It just adds a little variety, at worst it does nothing, at best it fills potential nutritional gaps. It really doesn't matter, most dogs lay about all day, unless you are running 8 miles a day theres no reason to fret too much about the dogs diet.

 

[Ns1]

Maybe its not, perhaps you'd like to live on a pill diet of healthy gruel It just adds a little variety, at worst it does nothing, at best it fills potential nutritional gaps. It really doesn't matter, most dogs lay about all day, unless you are running 8 miles a day theres no reason to fret too much about the dogs diet.

At worst it makes your dog fat, since "most dogs lay about all day"

If you want to fill nutritional gaps, feed your dog veggies + fruit

 

[ArJuN]

According to my sister our pup is on a 5-star food. He's a spoiled and happy dog, so I guess he's down with it.

 

[mooncancook]

Cheap dog foods produce a lot of poops and not enough nutritions. I found that Orijen's 6 Fish to be the best combo of quality and taste for my dog. I'm mixing a little bit of Orijen Red in the diet also. I have a 21lb dog so it's not too costly.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I feed my dog Science Diet Active. Recommended by both the Vet and the humane society I adopted her from. Rated 1 star by this site.

OK experts, what *should* I be feeding her. Requirements is it has to be a dry form dog food because I take her between my house, my parents, and my girlfriends place and don't have the time to buy all the fresh ingredients.

I feed my dogs Orijen but it's not available everywhere. If you currently go to Petco or PetSmart, I recommend Wellness. Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance is pretty good too.

 

[PaNsyBoy8]

Getting fat really isn't a concern for a while, she's got ridiculous energy drive. At perfect weight for her as well.

I'll check out Avoderm though. Other suggestions?

We just moved our dog on to Taste of the Wilderness, its similar to EVO but much cheaper. We were on Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul before but wanted to mix up the foods our dogs eat, we were told that dogs should stay on the same foods, and variety is a good thing, helps with food allergies and such.

One thing to do is just look at the ingredients before you buy the food, we try to find ones where they have meat before they have meal, fats and fillers.

 

[CPA]

Not really the Wellness Core ( 6 stars) stuff is 51 bucks for 26 lbs the stuff we are giving her is $55 for 16 lbs so it would be cheaper.

Not cheaper than my Iams 40 lb at $33.

 

[alkemyst]

We just moved our dog on to Taste of the Wilderness, its similar to EVO but much cheaper. We were on Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul before but wanted to mix up the foods our dogs eat, we were told that dogs should stay on the same foods, and variety is a good thing, helps with food allergies and such.

One thing to do is just look at the ingredients before you buy the food, we try to find ones where they have meat before they have meal, fats and fillers.

Changing foods instantly is a good way to cause a lot of gastric disturbance in a dog.

 

[0roo0roo]

At worst it makes your dog fat, since "most dogs lay about all day"

If you want to fill nutritional gaps, feed your dog veggies + fruit

i'm assuming you aren't a moron and supplementing to the level where you make your dog fat

stop trying to make feeding an animal rocket science.

 

[thescreensavers]

Not cheaper than my Iams 40 lb at $33.

So choose a cheaper but better quality food then. Its cheaper for us and still 55 bucks for a 16lbs bag is not like crazy expensive, the bag lasts along time with our 11 lbs dog.

 

[PaNsyBoy8]

Changing foods instantly is a good way to cause a lot of gastric disturbance in a dog.

We are slowly swapping her over.

 

[SP33Demon]

We are slowly swapping her over.

Sent you a PM Pansy for more info on that dog food.

 

[DrPizza]

Changing foods instantly is a good way to cause a lot of gastric disturbance in a dog.

Maybe some dogs. A minority of dogs. It's not a common problem.