I once had a vet read me the riot act for feeding my dog people food. Who's laughing now?

Barnum gets dry Pedigree, plus people food scraps. None of that canned ****e for my baby.

We try to only give our cats dry food (usually the Purina One specialty foods) and when they get treats it's real food, like tuna or chicken. It keeps their teeth clean and so far we have had no health problems whatsoever. (Knock on wood). I am surprised at some of the high end prods like Eukanuba on the list- does this mean they are made of the same ingredients as the WF, Winn-Dixie and other budget brands? I've had several vets tell me that they didn't like the Iams and Nutra brands, so I'm glad I've stayed away.

What, does he think that wild dogs all tuck in to little chrome bowls of Alpo out in the wilderness? They're dogs. They'll eat crap. Literally.

Except that most domestic dogs are removed from their wild heritage by centuries and centuries of breeding. Therefore the processes of natural selection that allow wild dogs to be more tolerant of a wide variety of less-than-ideal food does not necessary apply to domesticated dogs. Plus, the plethora of preservatives and the like in food produced for people may pose a greater risk to dogs (in all likelihood, no one's spent much time testing either way). I don't think wild dogs eat much MSG or dimethyl polysiloxane. The bottom line is, it's a big unknown and if you have the choice of giving them food with as few non-"natural" (yes, I am aware of what a poor term "natural" is in this context, but I think there's a good enough common-sense feel for what that is) ingredients as possible then the dog's probably better off for it.

Yeah, those are all good points, and I'm sure that there's plenty of evidence pointing to their veracity, but I personally don't think that there's as much separating feral dogs in the wild and domesticated pet dogs as we pet owners would like to believe. It takes little for a dog to go from domestic house dog to feral wild animal. If a dog is sadly abandoned it will revert back to its instincts and behave somewhat as it would if it were natively wild. I’ve seen this in dogs back where my family is from in Montana. Vice versa, many wild dogs are frequently bred into domesticated lines (wolves, dingos, etc) with some ease and tamed and such. I may of course be wrong but I'd bet that it would go the same way as far as the dog's ability to eat "people food" or "natural food." Of course, I'm just conjecturing and may be full of crap. Any dog breeders or vets around?

I don't disagree, however I would be willing to wager that feral dogs' life expectancy and general well being are on average well bellow that of a well taken care of domesticated dog. Tossing your dog a piece of microwave popcorn every once in a while isn't going to kill it, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention to their overall diet.

I can eat hamburgers, bacon, fried chicken and drink nothing but soda all day every day and I wouldn't die instantly. But there'd be better than good odds that I'd be cutting my life short.

If I'm understanding correctly it doesn't mean that they are identical. Just that Menu Foods is a third party manufacturer. They make the dog foods to the specifications of others. But, yeah, if five companies ask for dog food with wheat gluten filler, all five are going to get the same wheat gluten filler. Though maybe in different amounts.

I would consider bits of my steak or veggies or whatever to be far closer to "natural" than canned dog food. Years ago my mom found an article praising "real" food for dogs and delving into the evils of the pet food aisle, or "death aisle" as some vets (obviously not mine, apparently) call it.

Anyway, I saw a visible improvement in our most senior dog's health within a month of switching to feeding them real food instead of canned. We figure it added 6 months of quality living to his life, so count me a believer.

We've relaxed it a bit now (because cooking for your dog every night gets a bit involved), so we do mixed kibble and real food. Barnum has kibble all the time and then gets bits of whatever we're having (unless it's something bad like chocolate, or spicy or something). I think my mom browns meat, cooks it wth frozen carrots and broccoli, and then stirs in kibble and refrigerates it all to nuke for them at dinnertime. They love it.

Wow, now i feel really lazy, poor Barnum!

Our dogs only eat dry food, but Heather and I have been considering switching them to BARF. Anyone have any experiences with it?

(In case anyone is planning a silly response, let me get you started:
- All dogs love barf!
- I haven't experienced barf since the last time I had Jäger!
...)

Would that dry food be Royal Canin Chihuahua?