Hard feelings over food debates

[BG and Gavin]

Recently some hard feelings erupted over a food debate.  Coming to this site for the first time many people do not "get" the passion of several of the members to educate others on "good" food.  I did not understand it at first either.  But from where I stand now, here are the facts:

- growing up all our family pets were fed Purina dog chow and they all lived to ripe old ages

- back then potentially dangerous ingredients from China that are now imported and used to manufacture food like Purina were not present

- there are people on this site that lost their beloved pets from tainted food made with said imports from China and others that are dealing with sick animals from kidney failure

- my 80lb dog eats 2.5 cups of good food per day, the recommended amount of Beneful for his size is 6 cups per day

- even at 2.5 times the price, my good food is a better bargain and I have a lot less "output" to deal with in my yard.

- my food is not being recalled every other month

- I am happy to support my national farmers and an ethical company that employs people within my country

[F, Calla & Luca]

You' ex said it all BG. Kudos.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well said, BG! 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The fact is that nobody on this site just goes around proselytizing about food. Everyone is free to feed their dog whatever they want, and nobody is going to say boo to them...until they go into a discussion and advise someone else to feed their dog crappy food. That's what happened in the case you're referring to. So that's the difference. You are free to do whatever you like with your own dogs, but when you start recommending products or advising someone else, especially someone with a sick animal, we are going to say something if we think bad or harmful advice is being given. 

And that's true for everything, as far as I'm concerned. Recommending breeders, recommending training methods, giving health advice, etc. You want to rub your puppy's nose in his poop when he has an accident, that's your business, but don't tell us it's a good way to housebreak a puppy if you don't want a backlash. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's my story, which perfectly illustrates the issues:

I got my last puppy in 1990 and started her on Nutro food, which was recommended to me by her breeder. She loved it and thrived. A very healthy dog who lived to be 16 with no health issues throughout her lifetime. Shortly after she died in 2006, I adopted JD, and started him on Nutro, too. He seemed to be doing well. 

Then came the recalls in 2007, and Nutro was on the list. I started educating myself about dog food. 

The following paragraph on the Nutro company (from Wikipedia) needs no explanations:

"John Saleen purchased a dog food company from a British businessman in 1926 and renamed the company to Nutro Products. Moving to Industry, California, they were a family run business with products only available locally until the company was purchased in 1976 and expanded its market. Nutro Products are now available in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and Europe.

In 1985, with the help of Dr. Sharon Machlik, they developed and introduced their MAX line of foods which made use of a chicken, lamb and rice formulation. Instead of traditional advertising, the company chose to produce large amounts of literature on the dietary needs of dogs and cats, with comparative information on their ingredients versus the ingredients of other brands, and provide this to their retailers, as a marketing tool.^{[citation needed]}

The company was acquired by Mars, Incorporated in 2007,^[1] and the headquarters was moved to Tennessee."

This is why the fact that my last poodle ate the food and lived a healthy 16 years is not a good reason to feed the same food to JD. Seems pretty simple to me. 

[BG and Gavin]

Thanks Karen for lending some hard data to support my assertions. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Karen, I have the same type of history with Nutro.  It was fine for our dog 'then' but I wouldn't even donate it to a shelter  or give to a homeless guy for his dog now.

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

I wonder how the previous owners feel about this.  I mean they probably worked their butts off to make quality food and not it's gone to sh*t.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's true of so many companies. Same thing happened to Natura, (EVO, Innova, and Calif. Naturals) even worse, because they were right up there at the top of the quality food chain, so to speak, and a year after they sold to P & G, the recalls were mind-boggling. They even put a clause in the sales contract that the formulas could not be changed for a year, or it probably would have gone to doody sooner. 

[Adrianne Matzkin]

perfectly stated!!! 

[DJ & Chance]

Excellent, BG.

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Well stated!  

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

My story involves treats. I had changed Taquito from Nutro earlier in 2007 when I heard about the buyout and started buying food at local boutiques that had better brands.  I simply forgot to address the treat problem and was feeding him chicken treats (Waggin' Train) - made in USA but imported ingredients from China.

Bottom line is T was sick for months and I finally figured out it was these treats. He barely survived and now battles kidney disease and will probably not live a long Chihuahua life.  I have to home cook for him which is a pain, but it keeps him alive.  I have probably spent over $5K just on his sickness alone.  $500 annually on blood tests, meds, etc.. 

So I will NEVER feed my dogs anything less than the highest quality food and treats - it's not worth saving a small amount in my opinion. Plus there isn't a real savings anyway as BG says above!  You feed less :)