I think most Dogs foods (esp canned) are full of crap they don't need and no nutritional value.?

Question

What do you think of cooking up large batches of meat & eggs and freazing up daily portions? Any professional animal nutriential advice appreciated.. Thanks

Answer 1

You are right; lots of dog foods are bad for your dog. They meet the govermnet required minimum standards, but they are full of fillers (corn or soybean) that's not nutritious, by products (chicken beaks, feet, intestines), etc.

However, there are lots of dog foods that are actually quite good for your dog. Canned foods, in general, are better for your dog than dry foods (they are less processed and more nutritious).

Try a good quality brand from a pet store (not store brands). Brands such as Eukanuba, Science Diet, and Iams aren't really all that good for your dog. They contain byproducts and fillers, and are essentially cheap foods with an expensive label.

Look for a brand with meat as the #1 ingredient; meat meal is OK, but make sure it is named,not generic "meat". Look for chicken meal, lamb meal, beef meal, etc. Meal is just meat with all the water taken out. It's more concentrated, and gets more nutrition into your dog.

The dog food should also contain a carbohydrate source, such as oatmeal, potatoes, and brown rice. Brewer's rice a leftover of the brewing process for beer and is a common ingredient of dog food. It isn't as nutritious as whole brown rice. I've also heard that white rice isn't as good as brown rice.

Also look for a food with natural preservatives, such as Vitamin E. BHA is a preservative commonly found in cheaper dog food, and it has been proven to cause cancer in lab rats.

Some good brands of food are Nutro Natural Choice, Natural Balance, Diamond, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul, Wellness, and California Natural.

If you want to cook food for your dogs, talk with your veterinarian to make sure you are providing a balanced diet. I've heard that a diet with 1/3 cooked meat, 1/3 carbohydrates such as potatoes, rice, or oatmeal, and 1/3 cooked veggies is a good place to start. Include a daily multivitamin to make sure your dog gets enough vitamins and minerals. You might want to provide bones or rawhide so your dog can clean it's teeth.

I had some friends who cooked for their dogs, but had to stop because the dogs weren't keeping on weight. It also became kind of annoying to cook constantly, and it was difficult to travel with the dogs. They switched to Diamond Lamb formula, and discovered that it was cheaper than cooking, and their dogs looked better, too.
Hopes this helps!

Answer 2

A raw diet is the best kind your dog can be on, since it's straight protein and all. But not every dog food is full of crap, it's mainly brands you can buy in a super market, such as Pedigree, Purina, Iams, etc. Anything with byproducts and ingredients such as corn is crap. My dog is on a holistic diet, Natural Balance, a USDA approved food, no fillers, no by products.. made from real meat sources. There are many other wonderful alternative foods out there such as Natural Balance. It costs a bit more then supermarket brands, but it's very much worth it! Raw diets are great but can become expensive, but if you have the money to spend on it, go for it.. you're doing a great thing for your dog! Just wanted to try and give you options in case a raw diet might be too much.

If anyone is interested in looking at more holistic kibble/canned diets, you can check out this website for a list of quality dog foods: http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/criteria_list_of_better_foods.htm

And here, you can grade the food your dog is currently on: http://www.oes.org/page2/9674~Grade_Your_Dog_Food.html

Answer 3

Yes they are. NEVER NEVER EVER give your dog canned food unless they are toothless or sick. They will become addicted to the food which has little nutritional value. If your dog is already on canned food the best thing to do is to just cut them off now. They will eat when they are hungry. Do not weaken. They will eventually eat. Cooking specific food for your dog is a good idea if you have a lot of money and time. Iams is a good cheap food (Although some people claim that they abuse animals in experiments, so you might not want to support them) Eukanuba is really good but pricier.

Answer 4

Dogs need balanced nutrition for canines. There are alternatives to feeding commecial dog foods but people food, or just meat and eggs will not meet their needs. Here is a raw feeding site:
http://www.rawdogranch.com
If you want to know some quality commercial dog foods that are balanced without toxic preservatives or "rendered" ingredients, there are plenty of them out there. Some of the better foods are:
Royal Canin, Dick Van Patten's Dog food, Nature's Recipe, Authority Harvest Baked, Flint River Ranch.
Some good additives to quality dog foods are a few spoons of cottage cheese, or pumpkin pie filling
Plain Yogurt, like Dan Active..
Occasional eggs, raw or scrambled.
If you are changing foods, go gradual.
I had my dogs on a raw diet for a few mos and they did really great on it but it was a task to provide all they needed plus one of my dogs (all three are rescues) had a history of pancreatitis and I had to grind up the wings and necks to be sure she didn't swallow too big of a piece.
If commercial foods had no nutritional value then dogs would die after a few weeks or mos. of eating it.
Some foods put dogs at risk for not being as healthy as they could be or having irritated skin, getting sick, but even the more commonly available foods are not altogether bad.
Some exceptions are gravy and sauce filled foods, foods with lots of fillers and by-products.
The ones I listed are commercial doggie health foods. There are others too.
My dogs love a slice of Pet Botanics Lamb Log or Beef Log cubed and mixed into their food.
That is also healthy and dogs love it.

Answer 5

This is certainly true of cat foods. I make a raw meat diet up for my cats. It's trickier with cats as the meat cannot be cooked.

You can put in a search for BARF (biologically appropriate raw food) and come up with lots of information about feeding your dog in this healthy way. Many breeders of cats and dogs are doing it and weaning the puppies and kittens to it, specifying that the diet be continued by the adopter.

There are a number of Yahoo groups for raw feeding of cats and I am sure there are also some for dogs. People on these groups will help you in formulating the proper diet for your dog.

Answer 6

Canned foods....bad.

Dry foods that are quality like the ones at http://www.frrco.com/121668 are void of fillers, preservatives, colors, and other junk. They use human grade ingredients that are baked, so they are very healthy.

Because of the high quality, dogs also poop less, so you have less waste to clean up....another perk to add to the list!

There are some good books out there about feeding your dogs a Raw or Natural diet. Please talk to a vet and read up on it before you make the switch to be sure your dog gets all the nutrients he/she needs.

http://www.libertydogtraining.com

Answer 7

I agree about most dog foods being crap--but there are good quality dog foods out there. They cost more but have human grade ingredients. Due to one of my dog's illness my vet told me not to feed her dog food so I cook for them--even the ones who aren't sick and the dogs look really good and seem very happy w/ their food.

Answer 8

I think that would be fine only you might have to add veggies or vitamins to it. I have found a good dog food called Canidae which is supposed to have human grade meats without grains.

Answer 9

That's not entirely true. Lots of dry dog foods have great nutritional values, Iams is one. You just have to read labels!