Food

Dogs cannot contract "mad cow disease" from eating food that was made from the rendered remains of an infected cow.

Dogs can exist as vegetarians, but making the diet complete and balanced" requires owner commitment and diligence. Tamara McFarland

Nowhere in all of the gigantic field of pet supply marketing are the packages so cute and the names of the products so amusing as in the dog treat category. Many of the biggest companies use every color in the rainbow to illustrate happy dogs on the packaging – in addition to their use of artificial food colors to make the treats resemble people food such as crispy bacon, tiny hamburgers, and adorable marrow-filled cross sections of bone.

You should be pleased; commercial food makers are producing more good quality products. But you still have to choose the one that’s best for your dog.

People who are interested in feeding a home-prepared diet to their dogs often delay the transition as they grapple with various concerns. Frequently, they have come to believe the claims that a home-prepared diet offers dogs superior nutrition and can result in increased health and vigor . . . but they are still beset by fears that their dogs will suffer a broken tooth or perforated intestines caused by eating raw bone fragments.

Frequently, we hear things about dog food companies that would curl your hair. And rarely, if ever, can we print anything we hear, because much of it is unverifiable and perhaps even untrue – lies made up or part-truths distorted by unhappy consumers or unscrupulous competitors. We take this stuff with a grain of salt.

and accordingly

An examination of veterinarian-prescribed dog foods that purport to prevent or treat disease, and over-the-counter foods that promise to "promote" improved health. Medical diets are the ones formulated for dogs with health problems, from vexing but garden-variety conditions such as itchy skin or digestive issues, to more serious health problems such as cancer or kidney disease. Some of these foods are what we'll call veterinary diets" (available only from veterinarians); the rest are over-the-counter (OTC) products

Canines have eaten raw for a whole lot longer than they've eaten cooked foods! It's difficult for us to understand, in the face of this one fact, how any dog guardians (much less thousands of veterinarians) could deny that raw food diets are healthful for dogs. But is it really best for ALL dogs? Actually, there are exceptions.

Dogs generally like sugar, which occurs naturally in certain foods, including fruit, milk, and vegetables. When dealing with anything that dogs eat, our bias is toward natural, whole foods, rather than artificial or highly processed ingredients. We'd rather see a dog eat a strawberry, for example, than a treat with an artificial strawberry-flavored, artificially sweetened treat. This may be an unscientific, instinctive response, but dogs (and people) have been eating real foods a lot longer than they have been eating artificial foods; we trust real foods more.

We found only four commercial products intended as hot-weather treats – though, truthfully, this was a bit of a reach. Only one product is an actual frozen treat, purchased in grocery stores or pet supply stores equipped with freezers (many stores that sell top-quality frozen raw dog foods also sell this treat). Two other products are sold in a form similar to pre-made Jello or pudding cups: edible in that form, but intended to be frozen or refrigerated and eaten cold. The fourth product actually is ice cream – freeze dried and meant to be fed in small, not cold pieces. This product niche could use a few more contestants!

Everyone who cares about their dogs wants to feed them good food." By and large