Feeding your dog

Probably the single most important thing you do for your dog, the thing that will affect her life in every meaningful way, is feed her. The kind and amount of food (quality and quantity) will do more than fill her up and provide nutrition, it will determine the quality and quantity of her life as well. Today, I'm focusing on quality. Most of us (in my generation at least) grew up with the big brands, Purina being chief among them because it was readily available. We could either afford to feed our dog Purina (along with whatever table scraps came our way) or we bought some other variety. Dogs weren't necessarily less of a family member, but their nutritional needs weren't considered. My first dog, Hershey, was a terrier mix of some sort whose mother was set out on our road and whose dad was my grandma's/uncle's dog (one of seven in the only litter she had because while we didn't neuter dogs, we did put her up when she was in heat... back in the dark ages that is). He lived on some off brand food, had a plate on the porch for scraps, occasionally enjoyed a roadkill rabbit or some dragged in deer parts, and would kill and eat a groundhog now and then. Beyond a rabies shot every four years, he received no veterinary care until I had him put to sleep due to kidney failure at 14 or 15 years of age. I held him while he went to sleep for the last time. Nowadays, he'd have been neutered, be seeing the vet every year and eating a totally different diet. When my lab drags in a deer part, rabbit or groundhog, I quickly snatch it and bag it for disposal. Don't want him to get worms or impacted intestines from deer hide. Table scraps, well, they tend to upset his digestive tract so they go to chickens instead. (Chickens will eat virtually anything). But my dog food isn't one of the ones you'll see stocked on your vet's shelf or advertised on television. While they were eating Purina Pro Plan a few years ago, an encounter with a dog food rating site sent me off in a totally new direction for not much more money. Why? Because over time I've learned that the extra I spend on dogfood saves me in vet costs. My long-term pal, Otis, was much like Hershey in that he was a mutt who could still enjoy a table scrap and was known to kill a groundhog in his day. Other than being neutered, he also didn't make frequent trips to the vet for every available vaccine and checkup. However, when he started aging I switched him to a Nutro formula for senior dogs. His ability to move improved and the bald spots he had developed regrew hair. He was almost 18 when he no longer wanted to walk a mile or two with me every morning after apparently suffering a stroke. We made that same trip to the vet and I held his head while we sat in the truck and said our goodbyes. At that point I became convinced that, at least in older dogs, nutrition was key. Now I've decided that much of the dog food our pets eat is like the drive through food we find so easy to feed ourselves. It's well marketed and convenient and we can live on it, at least for a while, but it isn't really good for us. Among the foods I see most often in the kennel are Purina, Old Roy, and Beneful, and I would not feed any of those to my pets. Read the labels and you'll see that corn is a key ingredient (ingredients are listed in order of how much is in the product). Yes, Old Roy may be as good as Purina at a fraction of the cost. But really, none of them are doing your pet justice. Not only that, but when I see a pet with skin problems, even if I sent them to their vet for a diagnosis, often the problem comes back as a food allergy to, you guessed it, corn. Visit a rating site, and you'll be ready to toss your dog's food and go in search of a healthier alternative. There are a number of ways to find out how your dog's food stacks up. If you want to run the numbers yourself, visit Rate Your Dog Food a site where you look at the ingredients in your dog's food and use a point system to determine how well you're feeding your pet. I was lazier and let someone else do the work for me. I went to Dog Food Advisor and looked up the foods I was feeding my pets. That site has already used a formula, which is explained, to evaluate the quality of proteins and other ingredients in food. Foods are then assigned a star rating from one to five. I found out that despite what I was spending to keep my JRT's tummy happy, the Purina formula only had two stars. I decided to look around at the general foods I see a lot. Beneful, which dogs seem to enjoy and which, due to its colors, looks so good, was one star. Ol' Roy, also one star. The same for Purina Dog Chow, Fit and Trim and Puppy formulas; Purina One and Purina ProPlan earn two stars. Think you're doing better with food from the vet? Think again. Most Hill's Science Diet formulas are two stars although the natural formula gets three; Eukanuba never gets higher than 2.5, even with its natural formula. Intead, I went to the four and five star categories and looked up foods I knew were readily available at Tractor Supply or PetSense, where I typically buy dog food. I made a list of those foods and went comparison shopping based on price. I found that for a few cents more on the pound, I could take my most spoiled companions from two to four stars and even my outdoor dogs moved into a four-star category. My big dogs now eat Diamond Naturals Chicken and Rice or Lamb and Rice (whichever I happen to find cheaper as they don't seem to care). The Beagle (Abi) and friends are on Taste of the Wild (Abi has a lot of allergies) and are able to switch formulas (flavors) without any apprent distress as all use atypical proteins. Abi's recurring stomach distress is a thing of the past although she does battle seasonal allergies that make her skin itch. I went a bit cheaper recently with 4Health, which is also four star, but she's developed the same itching she typically has with fall pollen, so we've gone back to Taste of the Wild to see if some formula variation may be causing it. I'm also adding a tablespoon of olive oil to their food at night to help combat dry winter air with extra healthy fat (a trick I picked up from frequently vetted poodles with dry skin who stayed with me). If I have anyone in who asks about skin issues or any other problems their dog is having, my first question is "What do you feed them?" Typically a low rated food is the answer and I recommend a switch. Equally importan, but something I'll save for later, is quantity. For now, read the recommended amount for the size your dog SHOULD be and feed that amount. Do not worry if every bite isn't eaten because dogs have better sense than we do. They will eat when hungry. Also, limit treats and look at the ingredients and where they are made. DO NOT BUY TREATS MADE IN CHINA. THEY MAY KILL YOUR PET.(More on treats later as well.) If you love your pet (and I'm betting you do), then take a few minutes to rate your dog's food and decide what you really can afford to keep them healthy. It can make all the difference in the world.