Article in the Daily Mail colour supplement 09.01.16

[Dottie]

How to have a healthy dog in just eight weeks is an article by Kate Bendix in the Daily Mail colour supplement today. There are four pages and the author looks at diet and obesity.  There is also information on home cooking and raw food.   I need to read it carefully but from the sections that I have read it looks to be useful and informative.   So good to see a daily newspaper giving space to this important subject.   

[PoloLambsbottom]

We read this article and whilst there are interesting points, the author seems to think that dry kibble is not a good option. That seems at odds with advice on this site which shows the majority of five star foods are dry kibble. So who is right?

[Tinyplanets]

Hello and welcome to the forum, I am not sure that it is a matter of right or wrong just about information and choice. The majority of people, myself included, probably lack the knowledge to feel confident about trying to ensure that all their pets nutritional needs are met. All we can do is to try and inform ourselves of the options and make a choice.

At the moment the food ratings, are based on the ingredients but some people have other concerns such as how food is processed.  What to feed is very much a personal decision but , I like to find out as much as possible about every option before making a choice.

[Dottie]

Hello and welcome to AADF forum. I hope that you found the article interesting.  The second one in the series is Superfoods for Super Doggies. 

With regards to what is the best way of feeding dogs and cats, it is entirely up to the owner and their circumstances.  As an example, for the busy person who does not have the time and energy to ensure that their pet has a balanced diet (raw or home cooked),   using a good quality commercial product would be preferable to the risk of giving an unsuitable and unbalanced diet.  This thread has more information on home cooked feeding.

There are some high quality products on the market these days but many of them are extruded which means that they are subject to high temperatures and are highly processed.  It is often this fact that raw and home cooked feeders cite as being the number one concern.  The other concern that is often cited is that dry food is unnatural.

The alternative to feeding dry, extruded  commercial food is cold pressed products and they are slowly growing in number.  Unfortunately none of them are made in the UK as yet but I hope that this will be remedied in the near future.  Another alternative is to feed a good quality wet food and fortunately we are seeing more of these coming on to the market.   

Articles like this one are helpful for those pet owners who are interested in giving their dog a more natural, unprocessed diet.  It does take some effort though and if anyone is thinking of going down this route it is necessary to undertake some study in order to ensure their pet does not suffer nutrient deficiency, particularly in calcium levels.

[Anita...]

Morning.
I read and kept the article. I have since made my dogs the Dog Oat Treats with Cheese which were featured, they were enjoyed by all.

[Pegasus]

Good article with some really glaring errors. Firstly, she seems to dismiss all kibble foods as being the same (low quality) - this site alone shows that clearly this is not the case. 'Also avoid vegetable protein' - taken as a stand alone quote, does this mean avoid vegetables? The confusing bit is the way in one article she advocates a 80:20 diet (80% meat and bones 20% veg & fruit) then moves to a 3:3:3 diet (33% meat 33% carbs 33% fruit & veg). I don't have access to the recipes but the article does say to avoid dairy (twice) and yet the previous poster states they have made oat biscuits with cheese.
Other things that annoy me, just because I'm a pedant - the dog food in the bowl is a cheap supermarket type food, the puppy isn't chewing a rawbone - it's rawhide, brown rice is listed on good ingredients but it doesn't state whether it is cooked or raw, oh and (say this quietly) a Union Flag on the label doesn't necessarily mean it's made in the UK