Animal fat is not any better for Koko's arteries than it is for yours. Same with sugars. A little fat with the itra is a good thing. Comet got two pieces of deli-thin sliced pure beef bologna with his each morning. That was probably too much fat, but it's what I did. When I give him yogurt, it is plain yogurt although I will often give him the least teasponsful if I am having flavored yogurt. Frankly, he kind of shares a little bit of whatever I am having as long as it is somewhat healthy for him.
I know we have talked about kibble. I have pretty strong feelings on dog food simply because of my personal experience with a couple brands. I started feeding what the breeder recommended (can't remember what it was now, but it could only be purchased 40 miles away at high end pet stores, and in 5# bags ...did not know to try the internet at that time, but honestly I did not believe dog food could really be BAD as long you bought the more expensive brand...). Comet has been plagued with eye infections, ear infections, hot spots, dull coat, and itching for most of his life. I had fed Nature's Choice, Nutro, Eukanuba, and Purina PRO Plan. They all stunk, his feces were extremely foul smelling and large, his coat was dry and brittle, and he had gas a lot. Not having other experience, I did not know this was not normal. He also had constant ear and eye infections.
Then came the "food scare" and I started reading the labels. The food I had been feeding, like just about all the mass marketed brands, was eventually on the list, and I cut open (so it could not be stolen and fed to other dogs) and threw in the trash 3 40# bags of PRO Plan which, like all those foods above, was full of grain including wheat gluten. Glutens and grains are not good for dogs. They cannot be digested by the animal, so they pass through resulting in loose, big, foul smelling feces. The dog food companies put the grains in as fillers but also to be able to print higher PROTEIN numbers on the labels. But, of course, protein that is not digestible is of no benefit to the dog, so those numbers are very misleading to say the least. Chinese gluten was found to be the culprit in the food scare, but it is important to remember that the melamine found in the Chinese gluten was not determined to be accidental contamination. The Chinese have long been putting melamine into their human grade wheat gluten -- it tests as higher protein which translates into more $$$. It's my guess that the Chinese manufacturer cut costs a little too much this time by putting so much melamine in the gluten that it began killing dogs (kidney failure)...and they were caught. Hoardes of companies quit glutens from China. Other companies developed foods without glutens. Some developed food without grains at all. Some already had foods that never had any of the above. I think this event changed the pet food industry -- at least for awhile.
I switched to Canidae -- a relatively inexpensive all natural kibble. I also began giving supplements at that time (Missing Link Plus). The change in the coats, teeth and general health of my dogs was astounding to me. Comet was diagosed with blasto a couple weeks after I began feeding Canidae, but his symptoms began before then as he was misdiagnosed for awhile. After a year or so, though, the company began outsourcing to Diamond Foods, changed the formula, and I began to notice the dogs did not like the food, vomited some, and had lots of gas. When I checked my retriever forum online, I saw that others had the same complaints. I then switched to Orijen -- a Canadian company of very high quality natural ingredients. Orijen is great food, but my Comet is not retrieving in competitions anymore, and now that River is in rehab for knee surgery, his career is done too...so they just don't need 47% all natural protein. So, 8 months ago I switched them to Taste of the Wild. They really like this food (which I always supplement with a handful of chopped cooked chicken or beef), and they are doing really well. The rehab tech where River is living (Raleigh) is now feeding his dogs with it and recommending it. I supplement with salmon oil and a Cosequin multi vitamin.
This is WAY more than you asked, but ... I hope you have had time to look at the ingredient label from the Nutro kibble you are feeding. Those grains and glutens provide no nutritional benefit, One can argue that they provide some benefit as fibre, which is what produces the large stinky stool, but a dog's short digestive tract is not designed to digest grains. The worst thing about grains in your dog's diet, though, is that grains are the most likely cause of allergies in dogs. This was certainly the case for my Comet -- who has not had one ear infection, eye infection, hot spot, or excessive itchiness since getting off a diet that included grain. His allergies were always treated by steroids...ear infections by antibiotics. He was on one or both most of his life. That had to be awful for his immune system, and I honestly believe it made him more susceptible to blasto when it crossed his path.
My .02
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Topic: What should KoKo be eating? (Read 1505 times)