Quote: Red Thomas

Pet food companies try and make a good product, they have a lot of money tied up in ensuring our animal has all the stuff they need. Buying Ol' Roy is like putting the cheapest fuel in town in your car. If you're driving a Yugo it probably doesn't matter what you feed it it simply isn't going to perform very well. If you have a Porsche, it'll run on the cheap stuff but to get Porsche performance you need good fuel. If your dog is a Yugo kinda dog and his only requirement is to poop in the yard; Ol' Roy is just fine. If your dog is better engineered, and, you want peak performance, ....

Bullcrap Red. And I say this with all due respect !

That's like saying MacDonalds cares what you eat and how healthy their food is for you. In fact, Macdonalds is a good analogy on two counts. They finally are doing something about the fat in their foods. Why? Not because they give a crap about you and me. It's because they were forced to. Same with the dog food companies. They are not going to change anything until they are forced to. They are adding ingredients into the dog food with what gives them the most profit while at the same time keeping themselves under the radar of enlightened citizens and potential legislation to get them to change.

I find that alot of people just don't care about the quality of food, as long as its cheap and does the trick...they'll buy it.

I mean seriously....if a 40lb bag of dog food is only costing you $10, chances are its not full of the best ingredients.
But people will still buy the cheaper dog kibble...because they have access to it.

But to Red, I do have to say i don't quite agree with your car analogy. Although I do realize it wasn't meant in a mean way.
My dog could be compared to a YUGO, since he is a mutt...but there's no way in hell I would feed him a cheap grade kibble just because he has no pedigree. He means as much to me as your dog means to you, even though his ancestry isn't the greatest.

Wendy, I didn't agree w/Red either but I took his comments to mean if you don't care about doing Schutzhund or your dog isn't a SAR, etc. I definitely don't think he meant pedigree as in my dog is better than your dog because he comes from a long line of (fill in the blank), therefore your dog can eat crap.

But SAR, guide dogs, police dogs, pets, muts, purebreds, whatever....no matter what his/her role in this life, I think it's sad any dog is forced to eat this crap .

Edited by Judy Troiano (03/20/2007 01:26 PM)
Edit reason: typo

Judy:
I sensed no ill will in your disagreement, infer none in mine.

McDonalds was never intended to be a significant part of anyone's diet. McDonalds never advertised themselves as wholesome good for you eats. They said they were tasty, inexpensive, and fast. Since fat = flavor anyone with two brain cells to rub together wouldn't make fast food restaurants anything but occasional fare. People who eat almost exclusively at fast food places are lazy to begin with because they don't want to bother with shopping, cooking, planning a menu, or anything involving effort. They wound up looking like Jabba cause they lived like Jabba, and that's not McDonalds' fault. It's like blaming Chevy for making the corvette go fast when you get a speeding ticket, or Smith & Wesson because a bullet came out the muzzle of a gun you loaded when you pulled the trigger.

I agree wholeheartedly that pet food companies are out to make the greatest profit. They have a legal obligation to their stockholders to do so. Anyone who thinks their pet food provider is anything other than a for profit corporation isn't being realistic. Not even the most ardent folks at PETA would invest millions of their dollars in facilities and equipment with no expectation of profit or work at a petfoodery (I made that word up) for minimum wage to bring tasty, colorful, and nutritious food to animals everywhere.

But you gotta admit that veterinarians and millions of pets who live full normal lives are a fair testimonial to the industry's meeting the needs of our animal companions.

OTOH, Jäger eats a pound of red meat from the grocery store (the butcher sells us stuff at a discount because it expires the next day, we cut, weigh, bag & freeze it), a giant gob of yogurt, and 500 grams of Royal Canin for GSD daily because I don't want to deal with trace elements and supplements.

I believe advocates of the BARF diet are doing the best they can for their dog, and people who feed canned/dry commercial pet food are doing the best they can/know how/are able to afford for their animals.

And I'm still not angry at you, not even miffed!

Wendy:
I had no intent to disparage dogs of any heredity.
A mutt can be just as lovable as a show dog, can be just as courageous as a SAR dog, and make you cry just as much as a service dog when they die.

McDonalds (and their ilk) and pet food makers will improve their product when consumers stop buying it for health reasons.

The reason the cheap stuff is on the market is because it keeps the dog alive, and that's sadly all some people want.

 Quote: Red Thomas

Judy: And I'm still not angry at you, not even miffed!

Aw come on...doesn't anybody want to fight with me today ?

I completely agree it isn't McDonalds fault (or is it MacDonalds?). I also agree that most people are doing the best they can with the information they possess - which is really what got me going in the first place.

Reading articles like the one I posted is misinformation and it's aggravating because most people don't know any better and will continue to feed even if they have a choice (financially or otherwise). They don't choose any other food because they don't know about it.

I know only enough to keep me from being a danger to my dog . And it's because I take the time to read everyone's posts on this board. If I were not a member here, I'd be one of those people walking around thinking dog food is good for them and all there is .

Its all good Red. I didn't think you meant to dis-credit mutts in any way, shape or form, but figured I'ld stick up for my guy anyway.
Although i don't feed raw, i do the best that I can...just like you said.
I heard on the news that Menu Foods is compensating all owners of pets that died due to their food.
I am thinking this mistake is going to cost them ALOT of money. I am sure people are going to be suing for much more than vet bills.

oooppps...sorry, I put that recall info in the wrong thread. Sorry Judy.

 Quote: Wendy Lefebvre

oooppps...sorry, I put that recall info in the wrong thread. Sorry Judy.

No worries, I think comm'l dog food and the recall is all one big mess anyway!