Pellets and complete foods vs what nature intended

Pellets and complete food were made for convenience they come complete with all the animals nutritional requirements and help keep the animals teath and gums healthy. But why can't domestic animals be fed what nature intended???

If we can't even provide them with a basic natural diet should animals have ever been domesticated in the first place???

But it all ways amauses me to think that while we feed them a complete mix we still have to be told to supplement their food with fruit and veg or something like that to suit the animal thus unbalancing the complete diet anyway.

Who tells you to supplement complete foods with fruit and veg or "something like that" (and what is "something like fruit and veg")?

What are you feeding your dog on now?

Well for some people who have kids (single parents also spring to mind), particularly young ones and look after their kids; wash/dress/cook, take them to school every day and work 9-5 etc etc it can be nice to know that "the work has been done for you" in the case of complete foods. Not all complete foods are bad for dogs. Back in the day when more dogs were fed scraps/meat etc, people were not working the hours (bar the odd exception like farmers), and it was a womans job to cook/clean. Eating scraps to isn't exactly healthy either!

Unfortunately breeding has a part to play also; Like Dalmatians being prone to kidney stones caused by uric acid not being broken down enough. Being someone who is also prone to stones, I have to be very selective over the meat I eat but also quantities too.

As for supplementing, I don't find this with complete, and rarely with raw unless feeding certain things like fish. The dog, like us will take what it needs vit/min wise and discard the rest, so over a period of time you can balance the diet.

Havent changed her food

Im just curious about food for other domesticated animals, when I was a kid and first had pets all the books said to supplement the diet with fruit of veg for animals like Rabbits, hampsters ect.

For enrichment purposes to stop them getting bored, even when I went to college teir animals diets were supplemented by by fruit veg ect and they still had a complete food available to them o.0''

Well it is like eating well and having a bar of chocolate? Something nice on occassion...

If the body doesn't need it, it will discard it.

for animals like rabbits and guinea pigs, there is no such thing as a complete food, although they are marketed as complete.
Guinea pigs need extra vit c which comes from veg and fruit, rabbits not as much but still require some veggies to enrich their lives. along with hay of course to keep teeth down.

My Degu's refuse point blank to eat hay or vegetables so the only way I could give them the correct diet is to feed dry!

With Degu's being such specialised animals I'm not sure I could give them the correct diet with out complete food anyway though?

My rabbits refuse to eat hay - they still get it though, just in case they change their mind. But I still have to feed them store bought food.

I think i'd always go down the route of as natural a food as I could possibly give nowadays. If I had ferrets they'd be on a raw diet, not the kibble type stuff you can buy.

My mice were always given things i'd harvest for them whilst I was out and about - grains, corn, fruit, greens etc - along with their usual food.

What kind of hay do you feed them?
Is it brown or green?
What does it smell like?
Short strands or long chunk ones?