It seems that dog health is on the decline. Depending on the breed, dogs
can live to 20 years or more. Today, you're lucky if they reach eight.
Why is this?Years ago, dogs were fed table scraps, kitchen scraps and
homemade food, as commercial pet food hadn't been invented. The table
scraps were more healthy then, as junk food didn't abound. Years ago, it
was rare to take a dog to a veterinarian. Vets, as doctors, were only
visited when deemed absolutely necessary. And yet, still dogs lived
longer. Could there be a connection between dog health today and their
diet?In my opinion, the answer to that is a resounding YES!As with most
people, I'm sure you're blissfully unaware of what goes into making your
own food, let alone that of your dogs. When people are asked if they
know, the frequent answer is "I don't want to know". Obviously you
suspect the worst. But why don't you want to know?Is it because you're
caught out not knowing, so fear looking stupid?I can understand that. Or
perhaps the knowledge of what goes into dog food is too revolting to
consider. If this is the case, don't you think your dog might agree with
you? Maybe he thinks it's revolting too, but if he doesn't eat it, he
fears he may not be offered an alternative. Even revolting food will
keep you alive. Well, now you have the chance of finding out what really
goes into pet food, so next time someone accosts you in the street, you
can answer with confidence. Not only that, you can change the diet of
your dog to something he will love and that will keep him in peak
condition, to boot. There's a saying `garbage in, garbage out'. Dog
health IS dog food, by the very nature of its frequent consumption. The
pet food industry remains more or less unregulated in all countries. The
little regulation there is, is poorly policed. It would require too much
funding, which tends to be spent on human needs. So the industry gets
away with whatever it wants. Low quality meat (called meat by-products)
is the start of the slippery slope. While dogs can eat some low quality
food (hair, beaks, feathers, intestines and contents, fat), they can't
survive on it. They need some good quality to maintain health.
Euthanased animals may be rejected by a more ethical company, but may be
eagerly snapped up by those who are less so. The lethal injection forms
part of the resulting food. Can this be contributing to poor dog
health?To bulk out the food, to make it more profitable, a filler is
added. This can be whatever is available cheaply. It might be melamine.
It might be sugar. It may be sawdust. All pet food is cooked under high
temperatures and pressures. This kills off enzymes, vitamins and other
nutrients that are essential for good dog health. To redress this
shortfall, nutrients are added. But these are normally the synthetic
ones as they're the cheapest. Synthetic nutrients are not easily
absorbed by the body. As most of them are also isolated, they are of
little value. Dog health is all about getting complex nutrients in a
complete and natural form, which are easily absorbed. To give the
resulting dog `food' a long shelf life (which is good for business, but
not for dog health), toxic preservatives are used, preservatives that
would never be allowed in human food because of their highly poisonous
nature. Poisons such as ethoxyquin and formalin. Don't be fooled by
packets which maintain they use `natural' preservatives, or are even
preservative free. Ask yourself this - can meat be kept indefinitely at
room temperature, without the use of preservatives?It's down to you to
be vigilant in the quality of your dog's food. To maintain good health,
you need to be in control, which means you need to know the worst.
Putting your head in the sand isn't going to keep your dog healthy.

http://narrotin.com/dog-health-what-...do-to-keep-it/

Char wrote:
It seems that dog health is on the decline. Depending on the breed, dogs
can live to 20 years or more. Today, you're lucky if they reach eight.

Do you have any evidence to support any of those statements?

Do you have any evidence to support any of those statements?

She is a cut and paste conspiracy theorist. She'll claim those who don't
agree with her kill animals. She'll also take posts, change them, then
repost them as replies to change your words. So she lies too.

Sharon Too wrote:
Do you have any evidence to support any of those statements?

She is a cut and paste conspiracy theorist. She'll claim those who don't
agree with her kill animals.

Can't post the truth so you make it up huh?

What I said was that *you* sell products that kill animals and then I
went on to prove it. You know I can post the actual thread on it but
you'd still pretend otherwise. Please do pets a favor and get out of the
pet business. How can you continue to sell pesticides when documented
proof of harm was put right in front of your face? That's sick!

Please do pets a favor and get out of the
pet business. How can you continue to sell pesticides when documented
proof of harm was put right in front of your face? That's sick!

And she's paranoid. I rest my case.

Hey Char - you're not the only one who can back things up. Better get back
to work. There's a whole world of conspiracies out there waiting for your
ignorance.

Gus Gassmann wrote:
Char wrote:
It seems that dog health is on the decline. Depending on the breed,
dogs can live to 20 years or more. Today, you're lucky if they reach
eight.

Do you have any evidence to support any of those statements?

There is lots of evidence that shows cancer for instance is way higher
in pets than it ever was. How healthy can a pet be when it lives on meat
products from rendering plants, cheap fillers like feathers and beet
pulp and the extreme over processing till there is little left of
nutritional value? On any bag of kibble is an ingredient list that
includes tons of vitamins and minerals that have to be added just to
make it of any nutritional value.

Why not just feed foods that naturally have those vitamins and minerals?

Google "processed foods and health" and "processed foods and health for
dogs" for your evidence. There are literally millions of links.

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/jesse.htm
"A growing number of veterinarians state that processed pet food
(kibbles and canned food) is the main cause of illness and premature
death in the modern dog and cat. In December 1995, the British Journal
of Small Animal Practice published a paper contending that processed pet
food supresses the immune system and leads to liver, kidney, heart and
other diseases. Dr. Kollath, of the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm,
headed a study done on animals. When young animals were fed cooked and
processed foods they initially appeared to be healthy. However, as the
animals reached adulthood, they began to age more quickly than normal
and also developed chronic degenerative disease symptoms. A control
group of animals raised on raw foods aged less quickly and were free of
degenerative disease."

http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:...ient=firefox-a
http://tinyurl.com/namz2k
Myth: MILLIONS OF DOGS ARE SAFELY EATING 'COMPLETE AND BALANCED'
COMMERCIAL FOODS EACH DAY.
"Millions of dogs eat kibble. And millions of dogs—at least 85% of all
dogs—suffer from periodontal disease by age 3 as a result of eating
these processed foods (Penman, S. and P. Emily. 1991. Scaling, Polishing
and Dental Home Care. Waltham International Focus. 1(3): 2-8. In
Lonsdale, T. 2001. Raw Meaty Bones. pg 110). This translates to teeth
covered with plaque and teeming with bacteria. These bacteria get into
the gums and provoke the body's inflammatory response continually for
the rest of the animal's life. Dogs (and cats!) are doomed to have nasty
teeth and rancid breath. "It's normal," people said. "Dogs are supposed
to have bad dog breath."
Millions of dogs eat kibble, and millions of dogs fill the waiting rooms
of veterinarians, bad breath and all. These pets suffer from
dermatitises of all sorts, or from cancers, joint problems, heart
problems, kidney problems, digestive problems ("lack of enzymes"), liver
problems, pancreas problems, coat problems, tooth problems, anal gland
problems, glandular disorders, allergies, and soft doughy bodies brought
on by eating a grain-based, artificial, highly-processed,
additive-filled food touted as "healthy" for your dog. Thousands of dogs
die from diet-induced diseases like bloat each year (and that is not to
say all diseases are caused by diet, but many of them link strongly with
processed diets and diet-induced periodontal disease. Refer to Raw Meaty
Bones for a more in-depth discussion.), and yet the industry keeps on
churning out artificial pet foods and vets keep recommending them to
their clients.

Sharon Too wrote:
Please do pets a favor and get out of the
pet business. How can you continue to sell pesticides when documented
proof of harm was put right in front of your face? That's sick!

And she's paranoid. I rest my case.

Hey Char - you're not the only one who can back things up.

Apparently I am.

"Char" wrote in message
m...
There is lots of evidence that shows cancer for instance is way higher
in pets than it ever was.

*sigh* Did it ever occur to you that people CARE for their pets more than
ever? That pet owners are totally invested in their pet's care, and if they
think they're sick, they take them to the vet's, rather than like they did
years ago, let 'em die.

My parents were of the school that dogs belong outside, cats are tolerated
only if they do their job, and all were disposable. If one died, so what?
Someone was always having a litter of some sort or another. Try and find an
accidental litter these days. It's virtually impossible. At least, not
around here. I don't know about the rest of you...

My point is, if you don't see a vet, you would never know your dog had
cancer. You only know he got sick and died. So, sure there is "way higher"
incidents of cancer in pets. Because we care enough to look.
--
Phyrie
Kiba the Cav's Pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phyrie/...758930/detail/

Phyrie wrote:
"Char" wrote in message
m...
There is lots of evidence that shows cancer for instance is way higher
in pets than it ever was.

*sigh* Did it ever occur to you that people CARE for their pets more than
ever? That pet owners are totally invested in their pet's care, and if they
think they're sick, they take them to the vet's, rather than like they did
years ago, let 'em die.

My parents were of the school that dogs belong outside, cats are tolerated
only if they do their job, and all were disposable. If one died, so what?
Someone was always having a litter of some sort or another. Try and find an
accidental litter these days. It's virtually impossible. At least, not
around here. I don't know about the rest of you...

My point is, if you don't see a vet, you would never know your dog had
cancer. You only know he got sick and died. So, sure there is "way higher"
incidents of cancer in pets. Because we care enough to look.

Exactly.

Given the leaps that have been made in
veterinary care in the last 15 years, its no
surprise at all that more things like cancer
are being discovered in pets.

Correlation DOES NOT EQUAL causality.

A phrase Char should tape to her mirror.

*sigh* Did it ever occur to you that people CARE for their pets more than
ever? That pet owners are totally invested in their pet's care, and if
they think they're sick, they take them to the vet's, rather than like
they did years ago, let 'em die.

And pets are living YEARS longer than they ever did as well. Many years, in
fact. AND by the majority of them eating gasp commercial pet food. Older
age = more chance of cancer. But that's science, which Char has no
understanding of. (Hats off, BTW, to those who feed raw and do it right.
But the vast majority of folks either don't want to do it or don't have the
ability to do it right.)

Oh, and let me save her some time and tell people that I sell poison that
kills animals. That would be flea control. Of course we have never had a pet
die from using Advantage or Frontline, but she will disagree anyway, like
she'd know. Oh, but we have had cats and dogs suffer and die from flea bite
anemia.

And the beat goes on.......