Pet food

[Dog-amoto]

For all those with furry friends, was just wondering what do you feed your dog/cat? Have you ever actually looked at what is in the food, or do you/your parents just buy with the weekly shop?

 

Just looking at the ingredient list in most market leading foods like Pedigree, Whiskas etc turns my stomach. Pedigree and Whiskas (and a lot more) contain only 4% meat, with the rest being animal derivatives (hooves, beaks, feet etc) and loads of sugar and other additives which can cause hyperactivity in your pet. They fill them out with cereals and wheat which a dog doesn't need in its diet and can cause allergies.

 

By far the worst offender is Bakers Complete, which is apparently the UK's number 1 selling dog food.

 

 

4% meat, and a shitload of colours and additives. They put colouring in the food to make it look more appealing to the human buyer so it looks like the brown bits are meat and the green are vegetables etc but the colouring they use actually contains the same stuff they put in paint.

 

So why make this thread? No reason other than to hopefully get one or two people to think about what they feed their pet.

 

There's a load of better food out there like Wainwrights or Burns, it's more expensive, but you don't need to feed as much as there isn't any unnecessary crap in there.

 

So what does your pet eat?

[Dan_Dare]

Iams all the way for my cats (cat, now). It's actually designed for proper nutrition etc and is miles ahead of wet meat foods.

[Dog-amoto]

Iams is ok - certainly better than Whiskas, but some of the stuff is still only 4% meat like this one

 

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/iams-adult-complete-cat-food-with-wild-ocean-fish-1kg-3kg-10kg-and-15kg-14901

 

Though some I've seen are 26% which is obviously better.

 

Bet you're checking the packet now!

[Ashley]

As I have the hamster food in front of me now (the little bugger won't wake up to be cleaned) it has:

 

Cereal extrusions, flaked maize, striped sunflower seeds, locust beans, mixed nuts, whole maize, peas, banana, pineapple, soya oil, EC permitted colorants.

 

Also containts 13.90% protein, 6% fat, 2.10% Ash (heh) and 12.8% fibre.

 

And I give her a bit of fruit during the week.

 

Not sure if the above is good but it doesn't sound like its full of crap.

[Dan_Dare]

Thing is though, Dogs are omnivorous anyway so meat content probably means funk all in dog food.

[Diageo]

I don't have a dog, but all my friend's dog eats is chicken. Pure cooked chicken.

[heroicjanitor]

I don't have a dog, but all my friend's dog eats is chicken. Pure cooked chicken.

 

Haha he has an educated palette. Sometimes has liver. He is spoiled.

[Pestneb]

Thing is though, Dogs are omnivorous anyway so meat content probably means funk all in dog food.

 

Since the small intestine of the dog moves food more quickly than that of omnivores and herbivores, dogs are not designed to deal with foods that need fermenting or further breaking down. Foods that work well in this type of environment include animal protein and fat. They are broken down in the stomach and then passed through the small intestine to retrieve and utilize the amino acids from the protein and lipids from the fat. Additions of plant materials (grains, vegetables, fruit, and fiber) simply cause gas and large odoriferous stools.

 

Anatomically canivores aren't designed to be omnivores. that doesn't mean vegetation will kill them anymore than cows rolled over and died when farmers decided to add meat to food pellets (ok.. so mad cow disease killed them, but that was more a secondary effect)