What is the point?

Ok ok, I know this is a raw feeding blog, but stay with me.
The other day I came across a photobucket album that was filled with pictures of many dog breeds around the 1920s. It sparked my interested, so I started to scan through them. Was I in for a shock!

Here is a picture of a champion German Shepherd Dog in 1920.
Now the head looks pretty much like a GSD, obviously there are some changes in present day. But what about the body? That looks NOTHING like an average AKC conformation champion GSD of present day. In fact, it bears a striking resemblance to today's Belgian Malinois.

As I looked through the album this trend continued. Some present day breeds seem to be merely an over exaggerated extreme of their former ancestors. Once they have gone as extreme as possible, it seems we move onto another breed to continue the same process.

Here are some more examples:

Pekingese - 1920
Tibetan Spaniel - Present
Pekingese - Present

Shetland Sheepdog - 1915
Border Collie - Present
Shetland Sheepdog - Present

Cocker Spaniel - 1911
Sussex Spaniel - Present (Already being exaggerated)
Cocker Spaniel - Present

Afghan Hound - 1902
Saluki - Present
Afghan Hound - Present

Now, I'm not saying that all breeds are like this, and even not all dogs in the breeds I've used as examples. But I have to wonder what the point of all this is. Why are we breeding for extremes like this? What was wrong with the breeds in the early 1900s? What is so attractive and important about dogs walking on their hocks, the "flying" trot, and extreme amounts of coat? Is it healthy?

I think we need to seriously ask ourselves these questions, and give honest answers. And then, maybe, we can change things.

Personally, I would pass up this dog any day, for one like this. And that ain't no flying trot people.

An Analysis of Wal-Mart Dog Foods

Let's start this off first of all, with some information on the process of making most kibble, and rendering plants. Here are some very good articles to read to bring you up to speed if you need it:

http://www.jlhweb.net/BOSS/thought.html
http://www.jlhweb.net/BOSS/think.html

And just in case you need a visual (Warning, very graphic images of a rendering plant):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9DTzDfYMxo&feature=related

Products that come from rendering plants are unspecified meat products, such as; Meat Meal, Meat and Bone Meal, Poultry By-Product Meal, Animal Fat, Animal Digest (of any type), Blood Meal, Fish Meal, Liver Meal, and Poultry Meal.

I was curious. I wondered how many Wal-mart brands have these lovely tidbits in them? So I went on their website and looked at the ingredients of all the dog food that they sell.

The following products contain ingredients that in all likelihood come from rendering plants. Some had more than five unspecified meat products, and some as few as one.

Dog Food

Alpo Come'n Get It: Mixed Grill Beef/Chicken/Liver & Cheese Flavors Dog Food
Alpo Wet: Prime Cuts Savory Beef Dog Food

Dad's Healthy Homestyle: Beef & Veggie W/8 Soft & Crunchy Pieces Dog Food
Dad's Trail Mix: W/Beef/Chicken/Cheese/Bacon & Liver Dog Food

Natural Life: Adult Complete Chicken Protein & Whole Grain Dog Food
Natural Life: Adult Lamaderm Lamb Protein & Rice Dog Food
Natural Life: Puppy Lamaderm Lamb Protein & Rice Dog Food

Purina Dog Chow: Complete & Balanced Dog Food
Purina Dog Chow: Naturally Complete Healthy Life Nutrition Dog Food
Purina Puppy Chow: Healthy Morsels Soft & Crunchy Bites Puppy Food
Purina Puppy Chow: Healthy Life Nutrition Puppy Food
Purina Little Bites Healthy Life Nutrition: Big Nutrition & Taste Dog Food
Purina Healthy Morsels: Healthy Morsels W/Lamb Meal & Rice Dog Food
Purina One Total Nutrition: Adult Chicken & Rice Formula Dog Food
Purina One Total Nutrition: Adult Total Nutrition Lamb & Rice Formula Dog Food
Purina One Total Nutrition: Healthy Puppy Formula Dog Food
Purina One Targeted Nutrition: Large Breed Adult Formula Dog Food
Purina One Targeted Nutrition: Adult Sensitive Systems Dog Food
Purina One Targeted Nutrition: Adult Healthy Weight Formula Dog Food
Purina One Natural Blends: Natural Blends Plus Vitmains & Minerals Chicken & Oatmeal Formula Dog Food

Beneful: Healthy Weight Dog Food
Beneful: Healthy Radiance Dog Food
Beneful: Original Dog Food
Beneful: Healthy Growth For Puppies Dog Food
Beneful: Healthy Harvest Dog Food
Beneful: Playful Life W/Moist Meaty Chunks Dog Food

Iams Proactive Health Smart Puppy Large Breed
Iams: Premium Protection Senior Dog Food
Iams: Premium Protection 1-12 Months Dog Food (Only Iams foods to contain unspecified meat product - Fish meal)

Gravy Train: Beef Dog Food

Rachael Ray Nutrish: Premium W/Real Chicken and Veggies Dog Food
Rachael Ray Nutrish: Premium W/Real Beef & Brown Rice Dog Food

Ol' Roy: Dog High Performance Food
Ol' Roy: Dog Complete Nutrition For All Breeds Food
Ol' Roy: Dog Food Krunchy Bites & Bones
Ol' Roy: Dog Meaty Chunks & Gravy Food
Ol' Roy: W/Beef/Chicken/Cheese & Real Vegetables Dog Food
Ol' Roy: Puppy Complete Nutrition With Beef & Chicken Flavors Food
Ol' Roy: Skin & Coat Formula Dog Food
Ol' Roy: Dog Puppy Complete For All Breeds Food
Ol' Roy: Kibbles Chunks & Chews Dog Food

Pedigree: Weight Maintenance For Overweight Or Less Active Dogs Dog Food
Pedigree: Lamb & Rice Dog Food
Pedigree: Senior Dog Food
Pedigree: Small Breed Dog Food
Pedigree: Adult Complete Nutrition Dog Food

Kibbles 'n Bits: Homestyle Grilled Beef Steak & Vegetable Dog Food
Kibbles 'n Bits: Wholesome Medley Chicken Brown Rice Fruit & Vegetable Flavor Dog Food
Kibbles 'n Bits: Original Savory Chicken & Beef Dog Food

Basically ALL dry dog food sold at Wal-mart is suspect. If at all possible I would highly recommend steering clear of any foods there. Iams was notable that the majority of their foods did not contain unspecified meat product. However if you've seen my previous post you'll know why I don't recommend buying their products.

Wal-mart used to sell a brand of dog food called Maxximum Nutrition. This was undoubtably the best Wal-mart brand of dog food you could buy. It had no unspecified meat products, by-products, or artificial colors or preservatives. It cost less than Iams, and you ended up feeding less too. If someone ever asked me what dog food to get at Wal-mart, my answer was always Maxximum. Now, for an unknown reason, Wal-mart has stopped carrying Maxximum in most stores. Why they cut out the highest quality dog food they had to offer is beyond me, but now when people ask me that same question, I don't have an answer, because I would never feel comfortable recommending ANY dog foods sold at Wal-mart now.

You may be wondering why I didn't bother to list any cat foods. I strongly believe that cats should not be fed dry food under any circumstance. Cats are obligate carnivores, who get their main source of water from their food and have naturally low thirst drives. Take moisture away from their food, and you will have major health concequences. I will expand further on that in a later post.

If you currently feed a Wal-mart brand of dog food and are thinking of switching, a great website and tool is http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com. They review most brands of kibble, and give reasons why you should or should not feed them.

That's all for now,
Autumn

The real Iams dogs.

Ever seen the commercial for Iams dog food, where there is a cute little dog running around with it's person, all lovely dovey, in wide open ranges? The commercial ends by saying, "I'm more than just a dog, I am an Iams dog."
Ah, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEt0J-UCvqA


Well, do you want to see the real Iams dogs?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s53H7LB1tGs&feature=related



Yeah. Those are Iams dogs.

Please don't buy Iams dog food or support their industry. They don't care about your dogs, or any dogs, they just care about your MONEY. Why would you want to support that?

So let's get started.

Let's get some basic information out there before I start on the "good" stuff.

I highly recommend reading through these websites, they contain a wealth of information that is vital before one can really debate the pros, cons and logic behind feeding a raw diet.

http://www.rawfed.com/myths
http://www.rawlearning.com
http://www.rawfeddogs.net

And here are some great videos on the subject that feature some veterinarians' opinions on a raw diet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8jDfxAqXNE
http://www.viddler.com/explore/jennifergoodwin/videos/4/


Now some information on what I feed.

Spirit, my 3 year old female border collie, is fed a prey model raw diet. This means she gets approximately 80% muscle meat, 10% bone, 5% liver, and 5% other organs. She is fed approximately 2.5% of her body weight, or about .9 lbs of food once per day. Preparation of her food is generally not a very long drawn out thing.

For her bone-in meals I generally feed poultry, which consists of chicken leg quarters, quartered whole chicken, turkey drumsticks, turkey necks, turkey wings, etc. I will buy a package of meat, put two pieces of meat per freezer bag, leave one bag in the fridge and freeze the rest. Each bag is two meals, and when I'm on the last meal in a bag I take another out to thaw. I sometimes have to quarter a chicken, but all that consists of is cutting the chicken into four parts... easy.

Red meat is pretty much the same. I weigh each portion out approximately, and bag them. Red meat is just cuts of meat (not ground) you yourself would buy at a grocery store. Though I like buying the "odd" meats more, such as heart and tongue.

I make an organ mix in bulk, that consists of half liver, half other organs (usually kidney), weigh it out, store it in Tupperware containers in the freezer, and feed her small amounts of the mix with her meals throughout the week.

She also gets whole fish once per week, usually tilapia (fins removed), trout, or mackerel. I don't feed salmon, because most salmon sold in grocery stores is wild caught and can contain a deadly parasite if fed raw, unless deep frozen for at least 30 days.

I add various other things to her diet, such as chicken feet, chicken hearts/gizzards, and whole eggs.

My cat Spectre is currently eating a similar diet to Spirit, but will soon be switched over to whole prey (mice, African soft-furred rats, baby chicks, button quail, etc), once I can get a breeding set-up established in our new home. I strongly prefer a whole prey diet, and would feed that to all my animals if they would eat it.

My other cat Fyre is extremely picky, and won't eat most organ meats, so I have to feed her chicken breast I grind myself, mixed with a supplement called Feline Instincts (http://www.felinefuture.com). The supplement contains no grains whatsoever, and I am very happy with it thus far, but still feed raw meaty bones such as chicken wings twice a week to maintain dental health.

I have done a lot of research to be able to get where I feel comfortable balancing their meals, and I don't suggest jumping right into raw without doing a lot of research first yourself. The links at the beginning of this post are excellent resources, and there are many books on the subject that can be found on amazon.com. Using a supplement such as Feline Instincts is also a great way to get started with raw.

There are an abundance of premade commercial raw diets, but I generally don't recommend them. One of the main reasons I feed my animals raw is increased quality control over the food that I feed, and you lose all of that if you feed a completely commercial diet.

That's all for now,
Autumn