Dogs diet?

[Gwyn]

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My Son has a Cavapoo. And won’t allow her to have any scraps or bones etc just these round brown unappetising looking dried food things which stay in her bowl all day till in desperation she nibbles her way through them ! My dogs lived to be thirteen and ate carrot peelings , left over porridge and any other food scraps and were alert and happy.
What is wrong with pets today! Even in Bible times dogs ate the scraps under the table

 

[JoanneF]

Dedicated dog food is a new thing - I might be wrong but I seem to remember that it was created after WW2 when human food was needed for humans, there wasn't the same availability of scraps, so food not for human consumption became pet food.

You could argue that dogs now have longer and healthier lives than dogs in biblical times, and a lot of research goes into pet food. But, that said, there are dog foods, and dog foods.

Some of the ones that rely heavily on advertising are spending more of their money on that, than on quality ingredients. And if your son's dog isn't enjoying her food, maybe she would appreciate a different one.

Have a look at www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk

It is an independent dog food comparison website which scores all types of foods (dry, raw, wet) out of 100. You can set filters for your dog's breed, weight, age etc. and for your daily budget; then you can add in any specific needs you have such as aiming for weight loss or avoiding specific ingredients. The website will automatically show the foods listed in order of what the assessors believe is best quality, and it also will show daily feeding cost (calculated from your dog's age and weight) so you can see what gives you best value for money. It has its limitations but it's a decent place to start.

If the food your son is giving doesn't rank well, perhaps you could compromise with a different one.

 

[CoCo2014]

Complete dogs foods(even the "best"quality)contain ingredients that dogs do not naturally need.
Dogs are NOT omnivores, they are facultative carnivores, the only research that indicates that dogs are now omnivores is all funded by the multinational complete dog food manufacturers.
Dogs like cats have a relatively short digestive system developed to digest meat & very small amounts of plant derived ingredients.
My dogs(I have owned dogs since mid 1950s)have always been fed a natural diet of raw meat & fish, with a very limited amount of human food safe for dogs My dogs meat is all organic & the fish wild rod caught. As I'm a vegan(since I was 12)anything they have, that is left from my food, is also organic.
Strangely enough my dogs do have one or two odd non meat/fish favourites including radishes, bananas & broad beans. They only have a very small amounts of these.
My dogs have all lived into their teens including my Cavaliers(with full sets of teeth).