doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com O/T. Dog Nutrition

Darwin was hardly confused.

Your setters are a product of unnatural selection.

Purebred dogs are selected by humans for human reasons, and their health suffers as a result.

17 year life span for a Setter is pretty impressive. I primarily use Nutrasource and am happy with any thing over 14 years. My dogs die of natural causes or need to be put down just a few months over 14 years.

True, not all dogs are subject to the same conditions, it's subject to individual genetics. Same as humans. The issue is what is optimum for dogs in general.

What your dog was susceptible to is called "Evolutionary Discordance", in his case it was probably related to gluten, hence the improvement when switched to rice. Rice, although still a grain, is relaitvely low on gluten. This is "micronutrient discordance", rather than macronutrient discordance, which is the percentage of protein-carbs-fat. The reason the fat is low in your food is that rice is the main energy source, (and cheap) so more fat (expensive) would lead to hyperinsulinemia. It still results in an insulin based hormonal secretion pattern, which is neither natural nor provides optimum nutrition for dogs. It costs me about a buck a day for each of my dogs, I'd guess you're paying more for your dog food. It's all about the hormonal secretion pattern.

Another benefit is that when my dogs poop in the yard, the poop turns white and dissolves, so no more scooping.

Two things the dog food industry was able to do was use preservatives illegal for human consumption, and not be required to list the chemicals used in the rendering process for meat and bone meals.

The estimate for actual canine longevity when following a natural nutritional pattern is around 20-22 years.

Regards
Ken

Last night my two dogs had tuna fish, tonight they get chicken breast. When I cook shrimp on the grill I put extra on the grill for them. They love quail and tilapia.

When I cook steaks, I cook extra for them too. My friend gave me a give of some extremely expensive steaks. He said you need to promise me that you will not give your dogs some. I kept my promise.

John Boyd
Quality Arms

My father had a golden retriever which at le exactly what he ate. It could eat corn off the cob better than I could. Soft crabs, crab cakes, fried chicken, cooked vegatables, what ever my father ate she ate. She lived to be 17 which for a Golden, a Cancer retriever as my vet calls them was pretty good. My dad is 94 and still eating the same diet.

I've read a lot of dog food labels and what is on some of them is scay or repulsive. Terms like byproducts make me move to the next label quickly. It is interesting how much nutrition plays in long term health. Perhaps if we learn how to keep our dog healthy longer we might change our diet as well.

One thing that is never mentioned in nutrition in general is the true role of protein. Protein cannot be burned for energy. It's mainly used for growth and repair processes. It can be used as a substrate for the process of hepatic gluconeogenesis, where the liver produces glucose, which can be used. The other substrate for GNG is the glycerol that results when the fat molecule is broken, the other substance from the molecule being fatty acids, which can be used by most cells in the body, with the brain being the notable exception. Fortunately, glycerol is also used to make ketones, which the brain can use.

This all is why high protein diets are unhealthy. Energy sources are primarily carbs and fat. Gluconeogenesis is the reason that there is no nutritional requirement to eat carbs, (recommended daily allowance) as long as enough fat is eaten.

I am feeding my male Vizsla "Earthborn Holistic, Great Plains Feast." I would say he loves it but he would eat anything and I do mean anything. Complete chow hound if there ever was one.

I am curious what others are feeding?

Look on the bag. Note the percentages of protein, carbs, and fat. Virtually all dog foods are carb based, with much smaller fat amounts. This is exactly the opposite of what is natural for canines. Throw in the fact that they include the veggie protein (incomplete protein, as far as amino acids) in the protein totals and you've got a very unnatural food. Anthropomorphism is rife in dog food marketing. You're better off feeding you dog what you eat. Just make extra for him, limit the carbs but give him all the fat you throw away.