About a Cocker Spaniel Puppy

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#21
I used to feed Bimmer Eukanuba, until I did a little research and found out that the ingredients really were only slightly better than "grocery store" type dog food. I wanted a dog food that used human grade ingredients that were organic and did not include any chemicals or especially meat treated with hormones or antibiotics. I feed Innova, although there are several other truly superior foods, mainly because it includes a variety of organic vegetable and fruit ingredients as well as the high grade organic meat I wanted. I wanted the variety of food sources in their food mainly because the Fila Brasileiro diet is historically varied as the breed developed in areas of great poverty where there was not a large quantity of meat to spare for the dogs. This breed has been thriving on that type of diet since the 1600's and I'm not inclined to mess with a formula that's been so successful! Bimmer does exceptionally well on this diet as well; both dogs' coats are unbelievably soft and shiny. If I remember correctly, Chazhound uses a very high quality feed called Flint River for his Shelties.

There are actually quite a few high quality organic dog foods, and you can research them on the Natura Pet website where they have a protocol that lets you compare foods and gives you details on each of the ingredients. If you got to www.naturapet.com you can find out just about anything you want or need to know about different dog foods. It's good to have a few different brands to choose in case some are not available in your area. The interesting thing is that these foods are really no more expensive than the Eukanuba or Science Diet. You will find, too, that your dog will eat less of the food that is providing high nutrition, and there will be less waste.
I'm glad to hear you've got a vet who likes your baby. That makes a big difference. I've run across a couple of vets who didn't even seem to like animals! I don't know why someone who didn't like animals would bother to become a vet.
 
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#22
Serena, you may be able to answer this question for me: so many vets' offices sell Eukanuba or Science Diet to the exclusion of feeds that actually ARE healthy; what kind of incentives are these companies providing to the vets?
 

Blondie

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Thanks people for your valuable help! Well I was feeding Blondie with Pro Plan Puppy but well.. what can I say? I didn't like this product much. We were about to run out of food today so I went to the store and got Eukanuba :( before I read this thread. I suppose I'll start looking for those other types of food you mentioned but I'm also afraid I'm going to make him go sick from changing his food so often! I feel terrible :( He's not willing to eat the new product yet, even if I mixed them 75% - 25% as I read somewhere, to do the transition. He doesn't eat that much during the day, just like three times and not a lot, perhaps 1 1/3 cup a day. And you know? I had never given it a thought that most certainly, vets get incentives from the companies AND that they'd sell poor quality food to keep them in business. That really makes a point and well, blame my ignorance on never having a dog before! You could perhaps ask me about something else and I'm swear I'm not that lame :p
 
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#24
Serena, your take on vets sounds EXACTLY like mine on MDs! I've wondered about the pet food business, though, as almost any vets office has a shelf full of either Eukanuba, Science Diet or both. I thought perhaps there might be "incentives" as there are (although we're not supposed to know it; the CIA doesn't have as much "deniability" as the medical community) between the pharmaceutical companies and MDs. I will qualify that, though, by saying it has been my privilege to know several MDs who were truly dedicated, caring and ethical professionals.

Okay, now for you, Blondie! Ignorance is nothing more than not knowing. There is nothing shameful in honest ignorance. The shame comes with willful ignorance, the twin of stupidity. Honest ignorance and the search for answers is the hallmark of an intelligent and aware consciousness. Congratulations! You've got that in spades!
 

Blondie

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Thanks people :eek: Well I'm trying, yes! Well, about the pet food, yes I'm sure they get incentives, just like MDs, I just had never thought of that much. Blondie doesn't seem to like Eukanuba much so far. He manages to eat just the Pro Plan part of the meal, and leaves out the rest. I wonder how long it's going to take for him to get used to the new food. Yes I've thought of that and I don't want to mess with his tummy, so I'll feed him that and after a while perhaps I'll try to change it, I don't know. You know, here where I live it's kind of difficult to get those brands you mentioned, and I can't shop on the Internet because of the same thing :( But I do want to do the best I can for the puppy, so I'll have to keep researching on what I can get and what's best for him. If you didn't know, I live in Costa Rica :D
 

Brattina88

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#26
Serena said:
My personal opinion about Eukanuba and SD? I think their both junk, .... the ingredient list does not impress me at all (poor quality ingredients, too many chemicals and preservatives) not to mention it's really overpriced.
Whoa, how did this one slip by me? :p I've loved dogs, owned dogs all of my life. After all these years of fostering, rescuing, and helping my mom with a little breeding I have NEVER heard anything the least bit negitive about Eukanuba. :eek: Everyone (breeders, vets, traininers, other foster parents) have always talked this food up. My Maddie has never eaten anything but Eukanuba, but now you make me wonder. Which food is "better?" I used to always say Eukanuba when people asked me this, but now I wonder about this other food, which, I have to be honest, I've never heard of it. A friend e-mailed me a link to a site about the Iams company and how they're mistreating/neglecting their lab animals... I'm confused. Maddie is a little overwieght, the vet said that it is a common cocker trait, but it shouldn't be. Its hard to excersize her in the yucky winter conditions here, but we do get out and I walk with her on the treadmill ( people have argued with me on this one, but she likes it and I have taught her the proper behavoir on a treadmill with the moving belts and her floppy ears ) :D She often loses her wieght and has great structure during the summer (she gets SO much excersize when its warm, and when we go to the camper) so I worry about what kind of food she should get in relation to her activness. Her vet (he's a good vet, just doesn't always say things I agree with) says I shouldn't worry about this to much, but I want the best for my dog! Any oppinions on this?
:confused:
 
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#27
I'm sure you're there with her when she's on the treadmill, so she's supervised. I think it's a hoot! Post a photo! It's got to be easier on her (and you) than being out in bad weather, getting cold, ice forming between her pads and all the typical winter discomforts.

For a long time, Eukanuba was thought of as the "standard" for premium pet foods. Not anymore. You can compare it and get descriptions of the contents at the website in the earlier post. I was surprised, too, when I checked it out. I also checked other chows made by companies other than NaturaPet to make sure they weren't skewing the information against everyone else. They give good information on other foods that have similar qualities to theirs, so I felt confident about the information.
 
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#28
The two real "kickers" for me on pet foods are: 1. Do they use "human grade" contents; and, 2. Are the ingredients wholesome and organic, not treated with hormones, chemicals, antibiotics, pesticides, etc.

It's bad enough that our food is adulterated with these substances to such a great extent, but our dogs - and cats - seem to me not only to be more susceptible to this type of contamination, but I feel responsible for making sure the food I give them doesn't cause them ill health and discomforts later in their lives. It also saves money in the long run, as we don't have the skin allergies and other attendant chronic health problems.

The bottom line is, though, that you've just got to do the best you can for your pet given the circumstances in which you find yourself. That has to include what resources are available to you in a given area.

This is an observation I've made that I will pass on: Dogs love liver, and I used to be guilty of fixing it for them on occasion as a treat. It finally hit me, in a moment of lucidity, that one of the main purposes of the liver is to filter toxins out of the blood. Many of the worst toxins - and heavy metals - are then stored in the liver. Guess what? After actually using my head, I wouldn't give my dogs liver for any amount of begging! The same goes for kidneys. The treat of choice is now (although I do it rarely) a braised beef heart, with the broth saved for re-heating and ladelling over their chow on cold days.
 
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Blondie

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#29
Hello People,
This thread has become really interesting regarding pet food and I've found it very informative because I've asked countless people now here and they say Eukanuba's the top dog food you can get here :( again. Now, I have never considered given the dog any "real" food, meaning something else that's not Concentrate, for several reasons, but the most important thing is, people around here have gotten their dogs accustomed to eating just anything (especially meat and fruit as treats) and so when some "mean" person (call it neighbour or just anybody that dislikes the dog) gives them some poisoned meat, they'd eat it. A friend of mine has a dog and eats nothing but Eukanuba, and she told me a month ago she found a very nasty porkchop in their yard, and the dog didn't eat it! So he didn't get poisoned. It's not that neighbours around here kill everybody's dogs, but it's a way to keep them safe, even. And Brattina, if Maddie has only eaten Eukanuba all her life and she's healthy and as beautiful as she is, and being Maddie a Cocker Spaniel, at least I stopped feeling I'm poisoning Blondie with this product!
 
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#30
Dogs taking any sort of food is something that we do need to think about now. Our Buffy was poisoned by the landlord of the property next to our farm (he put in a bunch of rental trailers) by baiting her with a big chunk of meat laced with anti-freeze. She was just two years old and it broke my heart. Bimmer wasn't hurt because he's always been very wary of taking food and is picky about eating any meat that we don't give him or he doesn't hunt for himself. After Buffy was poisoned, he's become so wary that he won't even take dog treats from my Mom. He brings them to me and drops them at my feet and won't eat until I pick it up and tell him it's okay. We're trying to teach Shiva not to take food from anyone but us as well.

Charlie had a friend who trained Dobermans. His Dobermans would bite anyone other than their owners who offered them food! That's taking it a bit far, but sometimes you feel like that.

And no, you're not poisoning your dog with Eukanuba, it's just that the additives, hormones and chemicals in the foods can lead to things like skin problems as your dog becomes elderly. Frankly, the quality of my dogs' food is better than what is available to me at the grocery store! The meat in the store has been raised with hormone injections to increase weight gain, fed with chemically altered feed, arbitrarily injected with antibiotics as a standard practice . . . scary isn't it? I'm so relieved every time I go to the freezer to pull out some beef since I know it's come from our field and eaten nothing but clean grass, hay and sweet corn feed! No hormones, no shots, no chemicals. The thing is, we just do our best for our pets with the resources we have. The most important thing is that we love them and are responsible for them.
 

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