Tuesday, January 21, 2014

To feed or not to feed, that is the question...




I get a lot of questions about diet.  What are the best foods?  Where do I get them?  When should I feed?  How much should I feed?  How do I know what is good for my pet?  What do I feed my pet?  Why did I decide on those foods in particular?

I have served a variety of different foods.  From Eukanuba (not good), to Nutro (eh), to Solid Gold (getting better), to raw (the best but not practical for my lifestyle at the time), to Orijen (top shelf), to Acana (same shelf) and Honest Kitchen (dehydrated raw!  Great and practical!  YAY!).  My last two dogs Jimmy and Tabitha both did wonderfully on the Orijen.  Tommy started out okay, but ended up not fairing so well in the end (eating an absurd 6 cups of food per day without gaining enough weight or muscle mass).  I went back to learning about dog food and I now feed 1/2 poultry based Honest Kitchen (grain free - Force or Embark) mixed with 1/2 poultry based Acana (grain free).

I have gathered quite a bit of information about the canine diet (and along the way I have learned a lot about the feline diet as well).  It's a subject I never tire of, and I feel it's also a subject you can never learn too much about.  The most important thing for me personally is to stay open minded (I'm human and carnivore's eating habits are kind of gross), and use my head when there is a question that I am having trouble finding the answer to. As much as I'm sure I could write pages and pages of my opinion and how I came to them, I have come up with a far simpler plan.   
  
I have a personal philosophy about food for myself, and extend that to how I feed my dog, because well, I love him and want him to be as healthy as possible.  First rule of thumb when regarding dog food is, if I can purchase it at a large chain store I know it's probably not a good food.  I don't want a cheaper/convenient food because more often than not they are rife with fillers and subpar ingredients.  Health, for me personally, isn't necessarily about price or convenience.

I truly believe a majority of the health issues we see today are a direct result of a lousy diet.  As a groomer I could smell when a dog was on a bad diet because just like us, it exits the body in many different forms.  I have seen dogs with reoccurring ear infections, appetite issues, weight issues, major skin issues, hair loss, weeping/dull eyes, lackluster coat, joint issues, muscle growth, even aggression issues, make a complete recovery just because the owner switched to a better food (and gave it enough of a chance that the toxins from the bad diet could leech out of the system).  As with us, diet promotes a healthy mind and healthy body.

My stipulations for dog food are as follows:  I want it to be as fresh as possible, GMO free, grain free, additive free, and filler free.  Okay, so, ingredients.  Can I read the word and understand it?  I'm not big on putting a mystery in my mouth and relying on it for sustenance.  If I don't know the word, and look it up, do I fully understand the breakdown?  If the answer is no, I don't often put it in my mouth.  I do the same for Tom.

So in the end, what is the best food?  That is up to you, as the owner, and it all depends on how the individual dog responds to the food.  Orijen is considered one of the best possible dry diets on the market today.  Tom does not do well on it, so I don't feed it.  It's as simple as that.  But as long as I stick to my basic rules about health and diet, I know I will make the right choice.  For myself and my pet.

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