My fiance and I have been considering adopting a dog for a while now. I’m well aware that dog’s are not just cute, little play toys that you feed whatever they’ll eat and play with them when you feel like it. I realize that dog’s are a HUGE responsibilty. It would mean no more spontaneous sleepovers and lots more cleaning up and babysitting. Somehow my fiance is not so convinced and has given me some ‘required reading’ before we even consider browsing the shelters.

I’ve been reading the book “The Dog Whisperer: A Compassionate, Nonviolent Approach to Dog Training” by Paul Owens. Stupid title; great book. Somewhere in chapter two it touched on the nutritional importance of your pooches diet. Being super into nutrition and health myself, I was intrigued.

It talks about the “4 D’s”. DISEASED, DISABLED, DOWNER and already DEAD animals when they arrive at the slaughterhouse.

What does this have to do with your dog’s nutrition, you ask? Uh…your dog is probably eating it.

After reading further on what actually goes into the majority of most dog foods (and cat food), I was HORRIFIED! Dead, sick animals and even peoples pets that had been euthanised and pumped full of chemicals?! Barf.

I did a Google search and found some excellent info on The California Dog website in an article by Deb Dempsey that basically reiterates what the book says. Please read it here.

All I can say is don’t be a dumbass and feed your pets anything you wouldn’t eat. If you have decided to take an animal in and treat them as one of your family members, at least have the decency to do a little research on what you are going to be putting into their systems every day.

Read the label on your pet’s food. Choose diets that do not contain harmful by products and chemicals like BHA, BHT, and ethoxyqin.

Some brands worth looking into are Nature’s Variety, Eagle Pack, California Naturals, Innova, Wysong, Old Mother Hubbard, Halo, Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance or any of the diets in The Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats.

Image by Chrissie_Un