Oh Fran, I hope Darrel is improving and will be home soon. Hugs to you and Kipawa, I'm sure he misses his Dad as much as you do.
Food for Thought?
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Pun intended.
"Our dogs are doing us a favor by eating the unwanted byproducts of our own food system. If we deny ourselves this benefit, we will have to raise cattle, sheep and pigs for the sole purpose of feeding them to dogs. That would make dogs into a luxury item that would be difficult to justify from an environmental perspective."
A link in the article takes you here: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21142870
"A new study of dog genetics reveals numerous genes involved in starch metabolism, compared with wolves."
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We don't give dogs enough credit - the option of 'gourmet' food has been around for less than 100 years. Before that they were essentially on their own. In other countries they still rely on table scraps. If they can survive on Ol' Roy they can survive on anything.
Meat byproducts aren't the enemy….corn on the other hand....is the devil. I highly doubt that dogs have evolved to process corn (starch) in such a short period of time.... looking at humans the fastest documented genetic adaptation is 6,000 years [Tibetans]. Dog genetics have been sped up considerably but even so…..meat was a fairly abundant supply for most of human history, for example native Alaskans fed their dogs primarily salmon...
It seems that corn and other starches on the other hand were a little more precious - taking time to cultivate. I think it's more likely that ancient dogs thrived primarily on meat leftovers (in addition to refuse) up until recently..... hundreds of years is not enough time to fully adapt to living purely on a primarily starch diet.
My new puppy was on Purina puppy chow when I got her and her skin was in terrible condition, she was a lot thinner than she is now, always acted starved, and had horrible dandruff. She's on a meat byproduct dog food now (not really gourmet) and is a lot healthier looking and acting. I don't think dogs need gourmet food.....they can handle more than we think they can.
My other dog Beo got into a whole bag homemade cookies made primarily with Theobromine containing dark chocolate [6oz] + [2 oz]…...in theory he should have keeled over dead. All he had was a little diarrhea [not even comparable to how sick he got on a rawhide] and managed to absorb some of it into energy….. which tells me that dogs were/are very good at processing dangerous foods ; more so than we give them credit for.
...dogs can live for the rest of their lives on ****ty dog foods with no issue....I agree with the article on that point. Gourmet food isn't necessary.... if you look at it that way. But, it's like milk tolerance in humans......most populations in the world are unable to process milk....even though a small portion is capable of processing it (the US) it just depends on the individual.
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Until fairly recently, dogs managed just fine on table scraps. (still do in many places). Commercial dog food began as a way to salvage some use out of what humans don't consider fit for the table. Put a fancy label on it, and sell it to people who had essentially been feeding the dog the same thing for free. Now the pet food companies have convinced people that you have to balance everything "just so" or it is detrimental to your dog's health. Funny how they survived for so long without such assistance! And the claim that dogs now live longer just doesn't wash. More and more ailments are showing up that used to be unheard of, and I certainly knew dogs when I was growing up that lived well into their teens on table scraps.
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Until fairly recently, dogs managed just fine on table scraps. (still do in many places). Commercial dog food began as a way to salvage some use out of what humans don't consider fit for the table. Put a fancy label on it, and sell it to people who had essentially been feeding the dog the same thing for free. Now the pet food companies have convinced people that you have to balance everything "just so" or it is detrimental to your dog's health. Funny how they survived for so long without such assistance! And the claim that dogs now live longer just doesn't wash. More and more ailments are showing up that used to be unheard of, and I certainly knew dogs when I was growing up that lived well into their teens on table scraps.
well said-processed foods do us all harm in time…..
