LAST week I wrote about the dog food industry and how dog and cat deaths have been linked to commercial food and treats manufactured in China.
In that column I suggested that people educate themselves about the ingredients in their pets' food so they can make informed decisions on the healthiest way to feed their pets.
There is so much information available online regarding canine nutrition and it is best for dog owners to learn about it for themselves rather than trust unreliable and biased information.
But where does one start?
The amount of information on the Internet can be overwhelming.
First, decide how you plan on feeding your dog and do your research from there. There are three major ways most people feed their pets: raw, cooked and commercial. Raw feeding is a combination of raw meat, raw bones and raw vegetables. Cooked is a combination of cooked meat and cooked vegetable (cooked bones are never recommended as they can splinter, cause internal damage and are very difficult to digest). Commercial food is kibble and/or canned dog food.
The biggest factor for most people when deciding how to feed their dogs is cost. That is why commercial food is so popular - it is cheap and convenient compared to raw or cooked food.
According to Wikipedia, "It wasn't until the mid-1800s that the world saw its first food made specifically for dogs. An American electrician, James Spratt, concocted the first dog treat. Living in London at the time, he witnessed dogs around a shipyard eating scraps of discarded biscuits. Shortly thereafter he introduced his dog food, made up of wheat meals, vegetables and meat. By 1890 production had begun in the United States and became known as "Spratt's Patent Limited." Canned horse meat was introduced in the United States under the Ken-L Ration brand after the First World War as a means to dispose of deceased horses. The 1930s saw the introduction of canned cat food and dry meat-meal dog food by the Gaines Food Co. By the time the Second World War ended, pet food sales had reached $200 million. In the 1950s Spratt's became part of General Mills. For companies such as Nabisco, Quaker Oats, and General Foods, pet food represented an opportunity to market by-products as a profitable source of income."
Makes you wonder, huh? I recommend everyone read the Wikipedia entry on dog food. You will be surprised by what you read and come away with a great deal of unbiased information about dog food.
As I have stated before, I am an advocate for a raw diet for dogs. My dogs eat raw because raw does not contain any byproducts, meat meals or meat byproduct meal (mystery meat). I can guarantee what is in the food because I can see it with my own eyes. But I don't feed raw exclusively. My dogs also get cooked meals and, on occasion, commercial food. The commercial food I choose mimics a raw or cooked food diet, which would consist of a meat-based protein source and vegetables. Processed grains are linked to allergic reactions and depressed immune systems in dogs.
There are many grain-free commercial foods on the market and they are more expensive than grain-based foods. There are also many local independent companies producing raw and cooked dog food.
I have also seen "fresh dog food" in my grocer's freezer which sort of looks like a log of bologna. What do I think of this product? Well, do I really need to elaborate on the contents of bologna for humans, let alone dogs? I didn't think so.
The first step in taking charge of your dog's nutrition is to decide how you want to feed your dog, then be open minded and educate yourself based on that choice.
Joan Klucha has been working with dogs for over 15 years in obedience, tracking and behavioural rehabilitation. Contact her at k9kinship.com.
