Spoiling our Dogs and Puppies

[Sachita]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

Ok, so I just had to run over to my local pet store to pick up the Orijen 6 Fish Food, even though my dog still has quite a bit of the Newman's left (I actually didn't even think about that). Looks as though the 75%/25% transition mix of old/new food will be for a rather long time!

What struck me was the fish smell...wowsa!

Yes, reading about the regional farm use for Orijen (never frozen), along with the nonhormone/antibiotics that I mentioned before is what pushed me over the edge in my decision.

Also, my personal opinion is that for humans fish is best, chicken should be used minimally and always organic, and beef should never be injested (even grass fed). I do the best I can to eat as a seagan (vegan+seafood, but do eat chicken sometimes b/c I miss it), as I believe this is the healthies way for a human to eat. Is this the same for dogs? I don't know, but it seems to me that we look to put into our dog foods the same things we put in human for health (berries for anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, etc effects), so should we look to use the same meat sources for our animals that we believe are best for us?

Study after study is showing how red meat increases cancer rate in humans. It is suggested that we eat very little to no red meat. Dogs have a really high rate of cancer. Should we avoid giving our dogs red meat and seek plant based proteins as forward thinking oncologists are suggest for humans? I don't know. But, that was one of the reasons why I was buying Newman's Organic. A lot of the protein was plant based. HOWEVER, the protein is too low, and the meat source is chicken. They don't have a fish diet, either.

Does anyone have a link that gives information on which animal sources are best for dogs? I would love to read something like this.

P.S. Sachita, I don't know if you were referring to Newman's dog food or not (maybe just their human foods?), but they don't use any chemicals in their dog foods.

Thanks for the discussion, everyone!

I don't think Newman's is bad, at all. If you look at the list of ingredients you'll spend a few hours just looking them all up. I am not big on fish as part of a main protein source on a daily basis. I would choose red meat but hard to find safe red meat. Bison is good and lower in fat. I personally use chicken and turkey. Rabbit and deer is suppose to be awesome for dogs.

I would just transition to Orijen maybe the one with chicken which also has salmon meal. Then you can add stuff. If you switch protein sources like let's say you go from a primary lamb food to a salmon you're going to have major diarrhea. It's ok to feed them the same. What you can change up are the healthy oils, greens and some limited fruits. If you have your own hens or access to someone who has free range eggs these are good sometimes.

About bones- I don't give bones. Bones are tricky and can be dangerous.

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/Cons.../ucm208365.htm

In fact I really don't give any hard chewy if I can help it. This puppy I have now has the toys, socks and pressed bones. hard bones are not going to clean your dogs teeth. If you have build up consider a spray with enzyme to help dissolve it. Giving your dogs a proper diet with the right food will help greatly, however some dogs do have bad teeth. Bones are not the answer.
Petzlife makes a great spray and or gel for this and its natural.