You are what you eat applies to dogs!

[Ed P]

Interestingly it appears that larger dogs get heart disease due to consuming certain brands of pet food. No specific info in this Gizmodo story but dog owners may like to track the subject.

[Richard]

An interesting report as we are responsible for 95% of the feeding of the two we dog sit. I noted that the comments suggested that there were concerns about the grain free variants. I wonder why people are so concerned about getting grain free as I have not heard of anything but a tine number of intolerance cases in dogs. It is much the same for humans with numbers now trying to avoid gluten because someone they once knew might have been coeliac or something else.

In this case to which you referred it appears likely to be a USA problem though of course bad practices can travel to other places. The food on which ‘our two’ appear happy is a fairly main stream food to which they insist on having added fresh cooked vegetables. The Husky being especially keen to complain if the mix is not to her exact standards. Currently, sprouts and minted vegetables are top of her selection list, cauliflower less so

[Ed P]

To me they seemed to point a finger at dried food – in that situation it is difficult to see what is sourced from meat protein and what is vegetable e.g. processed soy bean unless it is specified.

[Richard]

I agree that the report was less than transparent and suspect that in the absence of a smoking gun that may not have been accidental. Certainly the links suggested that grain free was a major issue for most, perhaps all  products to which they pointed. I am not familiar with USA dog foods but did not recognise any of the makes.

[Bob Williams]

Richard that is interesting. One of my German Shepherds was given a mix once a week of my own make: contents of a slow-boiled and simmered (for 5 hours) sheep’s head with other sheep bits, made into a stew with dried biscuit and beef gravy. That recipe was passed to me in the Army by an old RAVC Warrant Officer. However, my Blue would only eat it if it also contained cabbage and peas! His BM’s were legendary in kennels. Rest of the week, proprietary dog foods with a little dry mix and an occasional small piece of raw beef. I kept promising him some IRA testicles as a snack, but was only able to fulfil that promise once. ??

Dogs are all as individual as we are. Another GSa rescue that became my dog and trained for the workshop, JJ, would not drink water on a hot day. Being an outdoor dog, JJ had a very thick coat: loved cold weather. So it was imperative that he drank. I found that he liked milk and the only way to get him to drink, was to pour a little cold milk into a dish and keep adding water. Now dogs are not supposed to drink milk, but the amount he got was very small and he just kept drinking the water as the milk slowly disappeared. He was the biggest GS I ever had and hated everyone and everything outside the workshop. I used to take him out late at night on a short lead, down into the forestry that the village was surrounded by, to give him exercise. We walked miles in the dark before I took him back, then he would settle down with his squeaky monkey toy for the night. Any burglar breaking in would have been lucky to get out in one piece. He loved my family, tolerated the boss’s family. He is laid to rest on the bank above the workshop compound, where he used to sit in the sun, at lunchtime sometimes with his huge head on my lap, nicking my lunch. RIP, JJ.

Bringing back his football. Again. And again….

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

That seems like a totally BS test. I’d take that with a pinch of salt. Given its so lacing in any substance, I’ll be more interested to see if this is just a one off story or the (bad) start of something bigger.

Time will tell, but if I see scare stories popping up referencing this study, well know its been leaked for a reason.

 

[Ed P]

Steve the only person ‘leaking’ it over here was me as the linked Giz site is a US only one!

However General Foods own the world, so who knows what we get except that it must conform to fairly stringent EU standards that make allowance for idiots who taste their pet’s food. I’m sure that Trump would like to change it all hence my comment about putting it on a watch list.

[Richard]

It is not quite fair to accuse anyone of leaking. It appears that the concern is present in the UK and was being discussed in 2018. It has again been raised in the past few days, with the British Veterinary Association (BVA) “This is a complex scientific issue that may involve multiple factors, though the overarching link appears to be grain-free diets.” I am unclear why the fad for grain free should have caught on, since dogs, foxes and wolves have been eating a variety of grains alongside other food sources since before there really were any things resembling modern dogs.

[Author]

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