I sent a bunch of lovely puppies to their lovely new homes last weekend, so of course had many, many conversations about all things doggy. We talked about shots and immune systems, flea killers and immune systems, heredity and immune systems, and -- of course -- food and immune systems. We also talked about vets, training, socialization, grooming, appropriate exercise, and a million other things, of course. Yet one of the most interesting, and confusing, topics I find myself discussing with puppy owners is food and feeding. It's counter-intuitive to think that food is so confusing, yet even among long-time fanciers what to feed, how much to feed, when to feed and even how to feed are topics we always seem to be bandying about.
Here is the first of what will no doubt be a series of rants on dog food. By the way, I am not a canine nutritionist, and I don't even play one on TV. Nevertheless, I have some opinions and observations that I'm (cough) more than willing to share. This week, I'd like to address the following:
My Vet Says, "Only Feed Dry Dog Food"
I'm not always the suspicious type, but every once in awhile the cynic raises her ugly head. When one of my puppy buyers said this to me, my response was, "Did you ask him who paid for his scholarship to veterinary school? Did you ask him who sponsored all of the nutrition seminars he has attended? Did you ask him if a dog food company ever took him out to dinner or gave him a lot of free samples? In fact, did you ask him how many classes he took in canine nutrition?" Of course I don't know that any of my suspicions is true; I just suspect that we are all influenced by who butters our bread.
My understanding is that for a very, very long time one of the domestic canine's major jobs was following man around eating his trash. We create so dang much garbage, it certainly would be a positive symbiotic relationship. I know that my dogs seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to the end of meals. When the last fork is put down on the table, they're all there waiting for their lick or taste. They don't need a lot of cues.
I feed a dry dog food as a base food. Since I have a lot of dogs (10 live here at this writing) and don't have unlimited resources, I have found a food that consistently produces good results and have fed it for over five years. (Before you ask, it's Purina ProPlan.) However, I don't think that dogs or people should live on cereal alone (even if the cereal has lamb as its first ingredient), so I supplement the food. I add Vitamin C for joint/tissue health (around 500 mg per day) and Vitamin E for skin/coat health (400 iu per day). I also add any of the following on a completely unpredictable schedule:
Cottage Cheese Plain Yogurt Whole Cooked Eggs Raw Ground Meat
Apples Broccoli Cheese Chicken
Bananas Chicken/Beef Broth Tuna Spaghetti NoodlesI'm careful. I pay attention to anything that has onions or a lot of garlic in it and avoid adding more sugar or salt into their diets. But the way Summer goes nuts when I'm cutting up an apple, I have no doubt that this is not a foreign concept to the canine psyche.
My advice to new puppy people is this: Feed a good food, watch how your dog does on it, supplement if you feel like it and let him enjoy his meals. Although I would buy a more expensive, more natural food if I had one or two dogs, my guys do just great on the above plan. And every time I start to get arrogant about feeding my dogs better than the next guy, I run into some pet owner who has a 15-year-old Golden that ate dog chow all its life. Clearly, no one knows everything.
Do your best to do your best. It's really all you can do.
