The great dog food debate

I thought I’d write a blog post because a friend and I were having a debate recently and I wanted to get other peoples’ opinions. The subject was dog food, which came up because we were chatting about the horse meat scandal.

My dog Daisy has a few health problems, some of them caused by intolerances to certain foods. As such, I have to be very careful about what I feed her. They only use natural ingredients, proteins from human-grade meat and no preservatives – perfect for my poorly pooch.

I’m very much of the opinion that the more natural the dog food is, the better. Like human food, processed ingredients are convenient but can cause health problems. In addition, if dogs were living in the wild, they wouldn’t be munching on artificial colours and flavourings.

However, my friend, who is also a dog owner, dismisses this as holistic mumbo-jumbo and thinks I’m being too fussy. I know it is up to her what she feeds her dog but surely low-grade, processed meat cannot be good for our pets.

What do you think? Also does anyone feed their dog a raw diet? I’ve read an article on this forum about it and it sounds interesting (although a lot of work).

Hi ,I totally agree with you and think it is important to feed as good a quality food as can be afforded. I use Acana with my lot and supplement it by cooking for them roughly about three times a week. I used to give them raw green tripe which I bought frozen for them and defrosted and researched the Barf diet but it seemed that with as many dogs as I have I would have required a lot of space to store it all. Then one of my dogs became ill following a routine vaccination and after a lengthy time was finally diagnosed with Immune mediated polyarthritis which put paid to any raw feeding. People get very sensitive when it comes to the subject of dog food and like me everyone has an opinion. I think the best guide is whether your dog in general is fit and well on the diet you are giving them.
A good book I found was Raw & Natural Nutrition for Dogs: The Definitive Guide to Homemade Meals she also has a 'another site' page.