New Book

I started a book last night, the newest addition to my collection of dog feeding books.  The author Lew Olson, breeds, shows and judges Rottweilers and has fed a raw diet to her own dogs, as well as an assortment of foster/rescue dogs, for many years.  One of the best things about this book is her attitude on home-prepared diets; she's not a fanatic in any way.  She presents the facts so that you can make the decision on whether to stay with kibble, buy a better brand of kibble, add extras to make your commercial food better, use a combination of kibble and home-prepared foods, or make the switch completely to a home-prepared cooked diet, raw diet or combination of the two.  It's a refreshing approach.

Her chapter on the history of commercial dog food is one of the best I have read.  She starts with James Spratt's creation of "Spratt's Patent Meat Fibrine Dog Cakes" patterned after the "hardtack" eaten by sailors on long ocean voyages.  Commercial dog foods were originally advertised as being an economical way to feed dogs because they utilized waste products such as grain hulls, sweepings, and meat that was unfit for human consumption, and that meat "made dogs' finicky.  And so it goes.  The history of dog food reads like the history of marketing, and commercial foods went from being a cheap alternative to better foods to convincing the pet owning public that commercial diets were the best and safest way to satisfy the dog's complex nutritional requirements.  At the public bought it, hook, line & sinker.  Or perhaps bags & cans.  It's an interesting read indeed.

This morning I spoke with a woman whose dog is having a problem digesting kibble.  They've tried a variety of products and additives with no improvement.  I was MOST impressed that her vet actually suggested considering a raw diet.  We've come a long ways in the past ten years!  Although raw feeding was originally labelled a "fad" it is obviously here to stay, and the recent situation with melamine sickening and killing so many dogs convinced a lot more people that they needed to take control over what they were feeding their dogs.

Twelve-year old Coral keeps her teeth clean by eating
turkey necks and other raw meaty bones.

A friend of mine at work has a dog with gingivitis.  He has already lost a lot of teeth and she was getting ready to schedule him for another dental cleaning - which of course requires that he be anesthetized, yet again.  The dog is obese, has chronic ear infections and chews his feet frantically.  You don't have to be a rocket scientist (love that expression) to know that he needs to have his diet changed.  But no, she won't listen, the dog continues to suffer, and only their Vet benefits from the situation.  Oh well.  You can provide people with information, but you can't make the decisions for them.

When I sell a pup, I provide the buyer with information about feeding a raw diet, but do not require it.  It IS amazing how many understand the logic and have no qualms at all.  There's so much information available now, and plenty of people willing to mentor.  Try it, you'll like it - and so will your dog!