[GSDsForever]

Would appreciate some thoughts from our regulars here who are toy dog knowledgeable & experienced —

This is for a friend, feeding 8 yr old Yorkies, Nature’s Recipe for Toy/Small Breed (Del Monte? not sure of manufacturer/copacker), pink bag. No problems, states the dogs have been doing great on it (in all ways he can see/tell) for all 8 yrs, sees no reason to change.

What commercial kibble, canned would you all suggest as superior? Or would you suggest an upgrade/change from that category at all? And what reasons would you give for making the change from NR?

I’ve asked him why he doesn’t just feed homemade. He gave the answer above. He’s pretty engaged and informed re holistic human diet & health care — so I guess I was surprised he doesn’t feed a better brand food even if it’s a commercial kibble/can.

8 isn’t very old for a tiny dog, afaik; so I would expect that fact & decent genetics, rather than the brand, are why the dogs are doing well. And many serious disease processes don’t “show up,” until much later after a cumulative effective of care/diet over many years. I’m not really up on what health risks Yorkies have (other than trauma/fragility like all toys), and that appear as they age. What do you all think?

Thanks!

[theBCnut]

My biggest issue would be with feeding any food that long of a term. The probiotics in the gut adjust to what is being fed, they get out of balance, so when the dog does finally get into something that they aren’t used to they have a major stomach upset. Feeding variety has the same health benefits for dogs as in does for us There is no perfect food. Even a well rounded meal should not be eaten day in and day out for years. Suppose your friend eats a free range egg, 2 pieces of organic, non GMO toast, half an orange, and a glass of milk for breakfast, I’ll even throw in a glass of low sodium organic vegetable juice. Sounds like a pretty healthy meal, right? But what if that was all he ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Pretty soon, he would have an over abundance of some vitamins and a lack of some others. It would take a long time for him to show any ill affects from it, and even longer for someone else to notice them. It might take years for the diseases that come from missing those vitamins to show up, but sooner or later they would.

[pugmomsandy]

Del Monte uses GMO ingredients (has it’s own GMO pineapple I think) and ingredients from overseas and continues to lobby against the labeling of GMO foods. That’s reason enough for me not to use it. I’m sure your holistic friend knows about GMO’s. If you don’t, here’s a movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUd9rRSLY4A

and book: http://www.amazon.com/World-According-Monsanto-Marie-Monique-Robin/dp/1595587098/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383824395&sr=1-2&keywords=monsanto

8 years is still young (IMO) for a toy breed. Mine is 9.5 and going strong. There are just so many other choices out there. Even if he still wants to use NR kibble, there are so many canned foods or dehydrated foods he could offer to add variety and a less-processed food to his diet. I’m sure he knows that kibble is a very processed food. It’s like eating a cereal bar for every meal. Dehydrated/freeze dried foods are steamed and low temperature cooked and then the moisture is taken out. There are even canned/tubbed products that are BPA-free!

[Author]

Posts