possibly worth a read!!!! ( dog food!

[Fiona]

Welcome back Cassandra
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Dogs are like Chocolate, you just can't have one!

[suzanne l]

im really sorry but i think that article is a load of rubbish. dogs that die from kidney failure at the age of 4, generally have an inherited condition which will not show symptoms until around 90 % of kidneys have failed and at which point not a lot can be done. pedigree dogs suffer from these sorts of problems a lot more frequently than mongrels or crossbreeds, so maybe we as owners should be looking into the the history and health of the breeders we buy from. too many people breed from dogs which are unsuitable and pass problems on to pups.
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your cat will never annoy by barking at 3am, he wont attack the postman or eat the curtains, although he may climb them to see how the room looks from the ceiling...

[Lorna]

I would suggest reading some of these articles if you are going to recommend feeding offal to dogs.
The liver helps filter many chemical substances, toxins and waste products from the blood. Most medicines are cleaned from the bloodstream by the liver. Offal functions to rid the body of impurities. Those impurities are within the offal you choose to feed the dogs.

Feeding raw hydatid infected offal to dogs was found to be associated with E. granulosus infection.
PL Moro, L Lopera, N Bonifacio, A Gonzales, RH … - Veterinary Parasitology, 2005


... The lack of knowledge about E. granulosus and its transmission among dog ownersmay explain the frequent practice of feeding livestock offal to dogs. ...
IE Buishi, EM Njoroge, O Bouamra, PS Craig - Veterinary Parasitology, 2005 - Elsevier

Hydatid cyst of the abdominal aorta and common iliac arteries complicated by a false aneurysm: a … - all 3 versions »
Z Pulathan, A Cay, Y Guven, H Sarihan - J Pediatr Surg, 2004 - Elsevier

... HYDATID DISEASE, a parasitic infestation, is endemic in livestock-raising countries
in which the custom of feeding offal to dogs prevails. ...
… the occurrence of pseudorabies in Sweden. II. An outbreak in dogs caused by feeding abattoir offal.
G Hugoson, G Rockborn - Zentralbl Veterinarmed B, 1972 - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

On the occurrence of pseudorabies in Sweden. II. An outbreak in dogs caused
by feeding abattoir offal. Hugoson G, Rockborn G. MeSH

All of these above are research papers from around the world which point out the danger of transmitting disease to dogs by the feeding of offal. Personally I would avoid it at all costs.

However, I also avoid feeding my children all animal products. Everyone must choose their own way.
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Regards,
Lorna, Basil & Poppy
Great Danes are not substitute children. They are much more important than that!

[kirsty]

[John Thomson]

An interesting thread this!

I constantly re-evaluate training/feeding ......pretty much everything about my dogs.......I am not naive enough to believe that I have all the correct answers!

as for feeding.....the more research that I did the more I became convinced that commercial dog food was not what was best for my dogs...........yeas there are some good quality brands out there but from what I could learn they were few and far between. A case in point was the recall of over 60 million cans of contaminated dog food in the US..........many dogs ( and cats) dies from renal failure due to a bad batch of gluten which originated in China..........google it if you want more info.

I took the decision to change to a 'species appropriate diet' which is pretty much what wild dogs/wolves eat......raw meat,( passed as fit for human consumption by DEFRA).

I have seen lots of positive benefits in my dogs which I have listed elsewhere on the forum.

Everything is a compromise........I believe that, for now, I have found the right one for me and my dogs.
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John Thomson
www.cumbernaulddogtraining.co.uk

[shirley c]

I havent read all the post about the offal, but something like that was talked about on the greyhound forum I go into and it was said as long as the meat had been frozen, it killed the parasites, but im not sure if it was the same thing or not.

I suppose its like everything else, even our food has a lot of controversy so I just like to carry on and hope it ok the way I do it but who knows
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lurchers Pixel and Zev and whippet, Fen
3 cats, Greebo, Yu and Lexx - 2 ferrets and Dales pony Jazz and adopted pony, April

[suzanne l]

Please everybody remember that when googling any topic, most of the articles that come up can be total rubbish. Anybody can write an article on any topic in the world and pass it off on the internet. Please dont take whats written there as gospel. You are better speaking to experts on that particular issue.
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your cat will never annoy by barking at 3am, he wont attack the postman or eat the curtains, although he may climb them to see how the room looks from the ceiling...

[John Thomson]

[Lorna]

It is like telling the difference between 'The Sun' and a newspaper.
Articles I quoted above are from reputable academic papers published by respected scientific journals. Articles for publication in such journals are peer assessed before publication. Reference are given also to sites and authors.
I do not trust any bald statement which has no serious scientific research to back it up.
Having written journalism I know that 'common-sense argument' is often a cover for sensationalism.
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Regards,
Lorna, Basil & Poppy
Great Danes are not substitute children. They are much more important than that!

[suzanne l]

Lorna, i wasnt making reference to you!
The obvious choice for speaking to in this case would be a Veterinary Surgeon, or a nutritionist, but a Vet is probably easier to come by. It worries and insults me that some people on this forum have such a low opinion of the Veterinary world. I know many vets, both personally and professionally, some of whom are extremely highly qualified, and none know of this apparent cover up of whats really in dog food. Yes vets who own a practice will make a profit on foods, the same way that asda does on a loaf of bread, they certainly dont recieve subsidies or bribes from manufacturers such as Hills, and do not receive free food either.
Also, all the Vets I know that have pets, feed their animals commercial diets. Now these people love their pets just as much as all of you, so surely if they thought that pet food kills, they would all be feeding a raw diet? I feed my kitten Hills science plan, and my family also use this make, if I thought for one second that this food was bad for them in any way i would not use it, I love my pets more than anything.
Im all for people feeding what they think is right, but I dont like to see things written which arent true.
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your cat will never annoy by barking at 3am, he wont attack the postman or eat the curtains, although he may climb them to see how the room looks from the ceiling...

[John Thomson]

[John Thomson]

Here is a link to the American Vetenatry Medical Association site regarding the recall of pet food including Hills cat food..........would you take the chance?

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John Thomson
www.cumbernaulddogtraining.co.uk

[John Thomson]

Jerky dog treats..........American College of Internal Medicine Website.............

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John Thomson
www.cumbernaulddogtraining.co.uk

[Janice]

It want to get into the food debate again. Dale's happily settled on Burns or JWB.

However I thought it might be worth mentioning that there have been concerns about dog toys and treats manufactured in China. It seems to the same as the problems with children's toys things like lead levels in paint. Apparently even reputable firms have been using China to produce cheap goods and the standards aren't always what you'd expect. I think its either the dog chat or border collie forum that has a long thread about toys.
I've had a look at Dale's toys but its not easy to know where they were made
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Janice and Dale

[Fiona]

All I can comment on are my own dogs and all three of mine are on a raw diet (and my cat as well). Star and Libby since May this year and Jake's breeder weaned the pups on raw. I have noticed a tremendous difference in Star and Libby, their energy levels, their coats, teeth, eyes. If they are at the vets for anything the vet always comments on there health and coats.

I love feeding raw and will never change back to tinned or kibble foods.
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Dogs are like Chocolate, you just can't have one!