My wife makes the dogfood, and meters it out in weighed and measured proportions. She also has the dogs on a health plan with regular checkups (great deal, actually; one fee, unlimited visits, covers anything that crops up, and routine stuff, too).

God help those of us who might funnel them table scraps without her approval. I say that tongue in cheek. God won't help us. He doesn't want to get in between.

thanks jeff

^^^^^^

+1

We have been feeding our dogs Acana for years.
Last year I decided that no matter what dog food I buy or how much I pay for it ( Acana near $100 a bag, had 4 large dogs at the time and would go through a bag a week)Its still dog food and probably made with the worse crap imaginable.
I decided that I would make my dogs food and supplement it with the Acana.

I take a large pot and mix 7# of Costco 80% hamburger meat,4-5 bananas,3 beets,a dozen eggs(with shell ground up in a Vitamix)a pound of carrots,4 apples,4-5 sweet potatoes,1/4 cup of Tumeric,1 tablespoon of whole black pepper corns,and a large can of pumpkin, I add a cup of oatmeal to make it more solid.
I feed them (85# dogs)two big spoonfuls each morning. I leave the Acana down all day for them to eat if they get hungry, they usually pick at the Acana now, a bag now lasts about 3-4 times longer.
The dogs seem to being doing great.

When I grew up, in the 50's, I don't remember my parents feeding our dogs,dog food,they ate table scraps.All lived long lives. The dogs ate what we didn't or my mom would make extra for the dog.

If I feed my dog a grain based food she gets diarrea and repeat vomiting.

quote:

Originally posted by

When I grew up, in the 50's, I don't remember my parents feeding our dogs,dog food,they ate table scraps.All lived long lives. The dogs ate what we didn't or my mom would make extra for the dog.

Think of the difference of lawn chemical usage from then until now.
I knew a vet that belived as lawn chemial usage went up so did the cancer rate in dogs/cats.

I feed my dogs a blend of Acana Ranchlands and Acana Pacifica foods. They do well on them, love them. I have no plans to change. These Acana foods are extremely high-quality and are rich in animal proteins, which provide plenty of raw materials for taurine synthesis.

Everything I have seen so far on this issue is completely speculative. Correlation is not causation and neither the FDA nor anyone else has shown a causative link between grain-free food and DCM. There is nowhere near enough information to reliably state that canine DCM is related to grain-free diets. The entire discussion is misleading as well, because "grain-free"" has nothing to do with the factors allegedly leading to taurine deficiency. The issue is more to do with the legumes that are often substituted for grains, and even then there is nowhere near enough info to determine if legume-rich diets are a cause of taurine deficiency or related DCM.


Another interesting article:

Link

"Because any or all of these dietary factors could be risk factors for taurine-deficiency DCM in dogs, and because peas, legumes, and other ingredients identified by the FDA report have not yet been fully studied, the heart of the matter is that no conclusions can yet be made about the underlying dietary cause or causes of taurine-deficiency DCM in dogs.

But given what we do know, we recommend feeding a diet that contains sufficient levels of high-quality, animal-source protein, does not include plant-source proteins as primary protein sources, and does not contain high levels of dietary fiber."

quote:

General Mills bought Blue Buffalo

Sorry, I was quoting a Mars executive while discussing dog food informally. I misunderstood assuming Blue Buffalo had been purchased by Mars. He must of been giving me his knowledge of General Mills. The point is when Wellness, Blue Buffalo, Chewy were purchased by large companies things change.