food question

[kennyfromny]

can someone answer this for me? why does everyone say to never feed a dog human food, just dog food? i've heard that it will kill them but here's the thing..

my family has owned several german sheperds over their years for the past 60+ years. normally they're fed dog food with rice or rice with different types of meats we normally eat at dinner like broiled chicken, beef with onions, steak, porkchops, etc etc and they love it. the german sheperds we've own also lived a very long time. one of them died at about the age 12 because he had to be put to sleep because he had chronic arthritis. our youngest german sheperd to ever die, died at the age of 11. out oldest german sheperd died at age 15. these sheperds have lived past the average life span of german sheperds which are normally only up to 10 years. so why is it that people say not to give dogs these types of food?

our dogs were taken to the vet on a regular basis for plain check ups and never had any sort of problems. they have always been healthy and just died naturally except for one which i had mentioned, had chronic arthritis (he was huge! so we called him king)

[Jennicat]

Because in general, people food is not balanced for a dog. My grandmother chewed tobacco until the day she died at the ripe old age of 98, but I'd still not reccommend to others to do it. :)

Not to mention that many dogs have problems with human food digestionally, either barfing, loose stool, etc. :)

[kennyfromny]

hm thats weird, my dogs never had those problems

[Jennicat]

Yeah, and my grandmother never got mouth cancer either, but other people sure do, and chewing tobacco still isn't healthy. :P

Basically, table scraps are bad because they are not nutrionally balanced. You have no clue what type of nutrients your dog is getting. With a dog food you can easily see that your dog is getting the correct amount of each nutrient.

That being said, dogs live to huge ages on any number of horrific things. There's even a girl on one of my journal sites who's feeding her dog a raw vegan diet... that's right, raw veggies.

[Whoops]

Actually they do feed them human food it is called the BARF diet! Seems like grandpa knew what he was doing when he fed Rover his food. :hyper:

[opokki]

can someone answer this for me? why does everyone say to never feed a dog human food, just dog food?

Because people tend to give their dogs the leftover garbage..fat trimmings, grease and other unhealthy foods. Also, some human foods such as Onions are toxic to dogs.
My dogs get some human foods ocassionally but only healthy stuff and only in small amounts.

[kennyfromny]

a vegan diet is bad. i asked my grandparents in the past about why they feed the dog regular food a lot rather than only dog food? their answer was quite similar to the way i feed my rabbits, they said that they try to give it a diet as close as possible to the diet it's ancestors had. they also mentioned that at the vet, he had told them that there is no best dog food for a german shepherd and that every dog has it's own unique diet. according to the environment, beef, wheat, and cabbage are among the most common foods for a german shepherd.

[Trishy]

yeah, you can give your dog human food, but keep it low on the veggies, they aren't made for them, but they still can eat them just of course don't give them a plain veg meal with only vegies(and no, grass isn't veggies, grass is sicky food and should allways be not aloud to munch on it)

You just shouldn't prepare the food as if you're going to eat it, people tend to want more sugar, flaver and such, when a dog DOES love it, but their system isn't prepared for it.

They will gain more weight with our fattier foods, but so long as you keep it down to where they can still run it off, it's fine

[Soleil]

(and no, grass isn't veggies, grass is sicky food and should allways be not aloud to munch on it)
Actually some dogs eat grass because they like it. Yes, some do eat it when they are feeling ill and want to throw up, but allowing your dog to eat grass is not going to harm them (as long as you know whether pesticides are not being sprayed!! :rolleyes: )
There are many diets available for dogs that may or may not work for the individual dog. Just as there are many diets that may or may not work for us. If it ain't broke- don't fix it.

Smiles,
Soleil

[Jennicat]

The BARF diet is NOT table scraps. The BARF diet is feeding dogs Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. Depending on the day this can range from raw meaty bones to organs from animals. They are typically picked up from the butcher for the animal, and are fed raw and whole. Not the cooked remnants that their owners don't want.

[kennyfromny]

when we fed our dogs human food, we never added anything to the foods to alter the taste. we've thought about serving them raw food before but didn't because we thought it may make them sick

[creativz]

A lot of human 'scraps' are far too salty for dogs. My dog ate more veg than meat, but I always tried to keep a good healthy balance.

[Kayl]

can someone answer this for me? why does everyone say to never feed a dog human food, just dog food?

Because they buy into what the dog food companies say about requiring a "complete and balanced diet", which most people tranlates to "difficult so I"ll leave it to the pet food companies".

In all actuality, a raw diet is the best thing you can do for your dog--raw meat, bones, and organs. Not table scraps or grains or anything, since dogs are carnivores and are best suited for digesting meat protiens (yes, dogs will eat veggies and grains, just so long as they don't make up more than 5% or so of the diet but they're not required). Your grandpa had the right idea. Feeding a proper raw diet prevents a very large percentage of the health problems seen in dogs today--shortened lifespans from cancer, tooth problems, diabetes, etc.

I, personally, don't agree with Barf--it relies on too much bone, too many veggies to prevent constipation from too much bone, and too many supplements that aren't necessary, but it's better than kibble by far. I feed prey model--10-15% edible bone, 10% or so organs, the rest meat--and it has done wonders for my dogs. They even stopped liking to snack on most veggies--used to love carrots, olives, anything else dropped, but now they've limited themselves to peaches and green beans. ^_^ Silly pups.

[Jennicat]

Because they buy into what the dog food companies say about requiring a "complete and balanced diet", which most people tranlates to "difficult so I"ll leave it to the pet food companies".

I would have to state that kibble is a more complete and balanced diet compared to giving dogs table scraps. It's one thing to feed raw, which allows for balancing the diet, but feeding leftovers is another ballgame altogether, which is what I assume the original poster was talking about.

[Kayl]

It sounded to me like they gave the dogs the same kind of meat they got, not scraps. If they defrosted pork, the dogs got pork. If they defrosted chicken, the dogs got chicken. Kennyfromny, wanna jump in and clarify?

[LikeItOrNot]

Giving dogs leftovers was fine like 30+ years ago. Ask your parents and grandparents what they were eating back then for meals. People food was a lot different then. It was different. Now people food and "leftovers" started turning into crap like Mcdonalds, grease, proccessed crap, crap carbs, junk food, sugar...and dogs started getting sick. So somewhere along the line, probably started by vets having to deal with stomach issues like vomit and diahreah.. The myth of "don't feed dogs people food" started.

Kind of ironic since you have dog food out there with the same proccessed crap. Yeast, Corn, Wheat, Rice, Flour..:rolleyes:

[AllAnimalLover]

COOKED SCRAPS is what is bad for a dog. I agree with most of the previous postings, except for a few sentences. Onions are toxic to dogs just as chocolate is. Onions cause a irreversible anemia. Chocolate causes other problems of course. Too much fat and grease cause painful pancreatitis, that costs alot of mulla to get fixed.

The BARF diet is not just bones, meat and veggies thrown into a blender and grinded up. It is balanced with addatives and other suppliments. Plus bones cause a WHOLE LOT OF OTHER PROBLEMS. You can buy calcium or bone power which is easier to digest and doesn't cause blockages.

The problem with feeding human food to dogs are - it's cooked. there are spices (usually). other foods that are toxic cooked with it. feeding the scraps that we don't want (fat edges)..etc. Small pieces of steak that doesn't have BBQ sauce or pepper or salt on it is fine. Just don't feed them the whole steak or pizza slice!

[Kayl]

Plus bones cause a WHOLE LOT OF OTHER PROBLEMS.

Tell that to the 3000+ people on the RawFeeding Y! list feeding bones from beef, pork, chicken, duck, lamb, etc without a problem. If they're raw and not the weight bearing bones from large ungulates (cow legs, for example) they're digestible and dogs love'em and need'em.

If you're feeding a proper diet, supplements and additives will cause problems, not prevent them.

[superjack]

one word...pancreatitis. there you go, kenny. there's your answer. don't believe me? check out this link. my mom's dog died from pancreatitis. he ALWAYS had human food...and def. too much of it. dogs do not need human food.

pancreatitis in cats and dogs (http://vetmedicine.about.com/cs/dogdiseasesp/a/pancreatitis.htm)

[Kayl]

one word...pancreatitis. there you go, kenny. there's your answer. don't believe me? check out this link. my mom's dog died from pancreatitis. he ALWAYS had human food...and def. too much of it. dogs do not need human food.

pancreatitis in cats and dogs (http://vetmedicine.about.com/cs/dogdiseasesp/a/pancreatitis.htm)


We've had a few people on the Raw Feeding board whose dogs had bouts of pancreatitus on kibble. Once switched over to a PROPER raw diet, hasn't happened since. What was your mom's dog eating? You say he had too much of it--as in he was fat? That will cause it.

[AllAnimalLover]

oh ok, bones don't cause problems...hmm tell that to the 5 dogs that I saw this summer with impaction in their stomach...and guess what it was. I've seen good results and bad results on the BARF diet. So, it's up to you.

[LikeItOrNot]

one word...pancreatitis. there you go, kenny. there's your answer. don't believe me? check out this link. my mom's dog died from pancreatitis. he ALWAYS had human food...and def. too much of it. dogs do not need human food.

pancreatitis in cats and dogs (http://vetmedicine.about.com/cs/dogdiseasesp/a/pancreatitis.htm)

She must've fed that dog pretty shitty and caught on too late about what was wrong with it.. I've never even heard of a dog dying from Pancreaitis, usually it's managed by a diet change. Vets usually prescribe some crappy kibble like Science Diet, but it works.

The only way I could see a dog dying from that is if it was throwing up and had diahreah for like a week before they finally decided to take it to a vet. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[AllAnimalLover]

ok, explain to me how Science Diet is crappy kibble.....It's not my fav, but....

I've seen a couple of dogs die from pancreatitis. It's a very painful disease, and causes a bunch of other problems. I have also seen a dog have pancreatitis about 5 times because it's owners wouldn't stop feeding it table scraps.

There are a bunch of treatments. Mostly just giving the stomach a rest, putting the dog on fluids and giving it antiemetics (antivomiting). The gradually introducing a well balanced, good quality kibble. But it's up to the owners what to feed the dog

[LikeItOrNot]

oh ok, bones don't cause problems...hmm tell that to the 5 dogs that I saw this summer with impaction in their stomach...and guess what it was. I've seen good results and bad results on the BARF diet. So, it's up to you.

Cooked bones cause problems, too much bone causes problems and unblanced diets cause problems.

And all the idiots that feed "BARF" that don't know what they're doing are the ones with any problems. I got this same bs story from my vet. Then he proceded to tell me how he just saw some lady with a dog that had massive stomach issues because she fed him nothing but chicken wings.

I'm sick of hearing how bad and dangerous raw is because of the idiots out there.

[LikeItOrNot]

ok, explain to me how Science Diet is crappy kibble.....It's not my fav, but....

Well, here's the ingredients in their regular, adult dog food..

Ingredients
Corn meal, chicken by-product meal (a source of natural chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine), soybean meal, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), vegetable oil, chicken liver flavor, dried egg product, flaxseed, dried chicken cartilage (a source of natural chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine), taurine, L-carnitine, preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid, minerals (salt, potassium chloride, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), rosemary extract, beta-carotene, vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (a source of vitamin C), niacin, thiamine mononitrate, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement).


Do I really have to explain beyond that? :rolleyes:

[Kayl]

I agree with LikeItOrNot--the idiots out there feeding Barf are only doing raw feeding a disservice. A proper raw diet does not consist of 50-60% bone. That will definitely cause problems, hence the reason he added all the veggies.

No. Have you ever seen an animal alive with that much bone? Not gonna happen.

A proper raw diet consists of 10-15% bone, 10% organs, half of which is liver, and the rest is pure meat.

Just to add to LIkeItOrNot's bit on Science Diet, it's one of the worst foods out there in my opinion--about equal to purina, pedigree, etc, and only surpassed in the badness quotient by Ole Roy--especially because vets recommend it. Dogs (or people for that matter) can't digest corn. This is why dogs on kibble have such big honkin' poops--the majority of what they eat is indigestible. And all the chemicals in there--oh lord.

[AllAnimalLover]

As I said before. It's not my fav diet. I haven't seen alot of improvements on it. I've seen more on Royal Canin and Medical (to which they do feeding trials to measure how much goes in, and how much goes out, to make sure alot of it is digested.)

There are alot of idiots out there that are not following the BARF diet properly. I'm not stupid, I know what the BARF diet is. But I find when people do follow it properly, their reasons for doing so, it's completely off the wall - one such as- I want to feed my dog what he would have eaten in the wild- ya, you see alot of poms and shitzu's out thre mowin down on some cows that they caught eh? Plus some people skip the bones part because of some problems of impaction. Any grinded bone can ( this is not definate) cause problems. Powders are much safer. But that again is up to the individual to decide. This diet has to be properly balanced with addatives so that the calcium will be absorbed. If there is not potassium....there is no calcium absorption, or utilization.

I am not for or against the diet. I do not know enough about it. I would not blindly suggest it to anyone. I would recommend going to a vet specializing in holistic/alternative medicines, and then getting a second opinion and then balancing them out yourself. Remembering that it takes alot of time and patients, and the dog may not even like it.

[superjack]

well, my mom's dog had been eating human food practically his whole life and he was pretty old when he died...15 years old.

he actually was vomiting a lot and she took him to one vet that gave her some dumb diagnosis...gave the dog IV fluids and sent him on his way. it wasn't until the dog was half dead from dehydration that a good vet caught the problem...pancreatitis. by that time, it was too late. he was a little fighter, but he didn't make it.

[AllAnimalLover]

Owners have to question what 'diagnostic' procedures are getting done. A simple 50 dollar blood test would have told you that it was pancreatitis.

If your animal is sick, and you are concerened, don't let the vet convince you of anything without giving you the reason he is thinking of this vertain diagnosis. Blood work was off, stools, urine sample, ultrasound, x rays etc. Ask them...this is your pets health, don't go by it lightly