Non-Commercial Dog Foods
As a dog owner you have two options on the type of food that you can provide for your dog: Commercial foods and non-commercial foods.
Non-commercial foods, as explained here, are not necessarily foods which are not associated in some manner with a commercial enterprise, nor are they foods that do not cost money. The term ”non-commercial”, as used here, refers to those foods which are not a part of the commercial pet food industry or are not sold exclusively as dog food.
Actually, the first food fed to a dog was a non-commercial food, which are leftovers of some caveman’s meal. Some of the earliest records provide both descriptions and pictures of dogs being thrown food from the table. It is likely that most of these scraps that were thrown to modern dog’s early ancestors were an assortment of unbalanced morsels that were unfit or unwanted by human owners. Some of the more obvious skeletal and growth defects from improper nutrition are depicted in some of the earliest drawings and figures of dogs.
Click Here to Discover How Commercial Dog Food Is Killing YOUR Dog!
For over 3000 years dogs survived an existence from the food left to them by the owners who had domesticated them. Gradually, as dog-raising became more common, elaborate formulations of natural ingredients were compounded for feeding dogs. These formulations were meticulously designed to duplicate exactly the dog’s wild diet. They were carefully kept from generation to generation. A few that were inherently balanced have survived. But, for the most part, the preparation of a dog’s diet from complex formulas and elaborate ingredients have disappeared in exchange for a cheaper, more practical, and far better balanced commercial foods.
Dog owners who provide non-commercial foods for their dogs claim to do so because of economy or better nutrition. Although it is possible to provide economy and a good source of nutrition from a diet of non-commercial foods, an examination of most such feeding programs quickly reveals that neither economy nor better nutrition prevail. In fact, in many occasions, the dog owner is unknowingly providing his pet with a poorer quality nourishment at a price higher than he would have to pay for commercial foods.
Click Here to Discover How Commercial Dog Food Is Killing YOUR Dog!
Elizabeth Style said,
Wrote on March 5, 2008 @ 22:53
I have 4 small dogs and cook for them almost all the time. They really have commercial food only 1-2 times in 10 days. I cook pet mince and vegetables and add either cooked rice or pasta to that, they like grated uncooked carrot too. I am still a little concerned about the quality of the pet mince. How can I check its quality? I do have commercial dry food available to them. I am wondering now if I should?
sharon empson said,
Wrote on March 7, 2008 @ 23:41
I feed a raw diet to my dogs. I have had no problems, in fact some of their skin problems when I got them have disappeared. I do not cook the food for my dogs, because dogs have the same intestinal tract as a wolf and are carnavores- they eat meat, (not wheat etc,) and they do not cook their food. My dogs look and feel great, they have tons of energy, and have build muscle tissue. I have two terriors, a jack russel mix and a terrior mix (not sure what mixed with) both rescues. I do however give them cooked dog treats that are totally natural. If anyone is interested in researching feeding raw, check with the zoo’s and see what they feed their canine species, like wild dogs, etc. and there are many articles on the web to read.
I do not regret taking them off commerical dog food. I thank you for putting this article on. We have been killing our pets just so we can have a convenient food source to feed them. Cancer rate is climbing in our pets, I wonder if its from all the perservatives in commercial dog food?
May God bless you
sharon Empson
Cody-jack russel mix, 7 months
Bindi- terrior mix, just 2 years old.
June said,
Wrote on March 24, 2008 @ 13:47
I have a half-breed husky/wolf and a Pekingese (what a combo eh?) The husky/wolf gets mainly raw food, but I do mix it with homemade and one brand of commercial that doesn’t come from rendering plants. It is made and packaged on the companies farm of all natural ingredients, so it does have a short shelf life. The Pekingese was a rescued animal that was a product of a puppy mill and has been sick since birth. He is very old now and won’t live much longer, but has had to be kept on a chicken and rice diet, supplemented with some raw foods, because of intestinal problems since birth.
With all of the research that I have done over the years, there is no way that I would ever feed any dog 85% of the processed foods that are out there.
Dog owners really need to take an active roll in learning to read and understand the labels on processed foods so that they can select the appropriate diets for their dogs. Too many owners take the advertising hype for granted and are feeding their animals horrible food that is causing disease and allergies.
This gets compounded by giving their dogs medication from the vets that are adding even more side effects and not stopping the original problem. Often the original symptoms could easily be alleviated by just changing the diet and feeding nutritious food.
Thanks for the terrific blog and the recipes that you send in your newsletters! They have been well received and enjoyed by my dogs and my in-laws dogs as well!
June
Dakota – husky/wolf
Bandit – Pekingese