Or all the premium dog food makers just shoveling BS ?
The reason I ask is I feed mine a can of soft food for dinner and just put “ol roy” in his dry bowl which he mostly ignores (he hes old and just decided he likes soft food better )
And I was told years ago that all meat wasn’t healthy for things like cancer and the like for dogs or cats and they put some sort of meal in the dog (and cat) food for digestion
anyone know for sure
No, dogs are omnivores like humans and need a blend of meat and veggies to stay healthy. Only cats are obligate carnivores.
The canned food you are giving him is most like a complete or near-complete nutrition for him. It’s not all meat. It likely has vegetables and other stuff in it as well, even if they’re not noticeable.
thanks because I was gonna spend a fortune in new food for him
Grocery store dog food is mostly corn. Dogs may be omnivores, but they need more protein in their diets than that to thrive. Find a dog food that has a label that tells you how much protein the food contains, and don’t buy one that is less than 25%.
I’ve found that the local Rural King has decent dog food. I usually get Taste of the Wild, which has a high protein content and isn’t too expensive. My wife works at a pet retail store though so she often gets great deals on raw food, freeze dried food and other high quality dog food. That stuff is great for our dogs, but it will set you back quite a bit of money to buy it at retail prices regularly. And believe me, you can tell. Our dogs barely survived on Purina. They actually thrive on high quality food,. The difference is noticeable. Their coats are cleaner and less smelly, they have more energy, etc.
The upshot is that you shouldn’t feed your dog Ol’ Roy, or Beneful, or any other dog food that has a commercial, because it’s basically corn. But you also don’t need all meat dog food (that wouldn’t even be healthy, I assume you mean “any meat at all besides bone meal and suet mixed with corn”) or the super expensive designer brands.
Just look for something a cut above the popular Walmart brands and make sure there is a significant amount of protein and that corn isn’t the first ingredient in the list.
Interestingly, it has been found that dogs became better adapted to digest starch compared to wolves during domestication. Dogs that were better at digesting the leftovers of their masters probably did better.
well I do give him a whole can on alpo or pedigree once a day for dinner so would that help ?
I agree , I was feeding my dog all meat canned food and I read on the can the food should be mixed with another dog food so it will be a balance diet . I seen coyote and fox scats and it has fur and berries in it .
I feed my hounds Acana dried food, and give them treats of dried sweet potatoes, frozen banana slices, grilled (and then frozen) beef liver pieces and frozen chicken stock cubes with chicken gizzards and liver in them. In the evenings they get some dog biscuits. Here and there they get some other foodstuffs. So far, so good. They’re 9+ years old and healthy. Once has the occasional seizure, which I think I’ve finally narrowed that issue down to (a) her eating old moldy bird food in the yard and (b) a gluten problem.
while true, cats being obligate carnivores doesn’t mean they don’t need vegetable in their diet. They just need their prey to partially digest it for them first 
Dogs are physiologically carnivores. They have no dietary need for carbohydrates (although they have developed the ability to marginally digest them). Their bodies are adapted to run on fat and protein. A lot of people who use dogs for sports and work have done studies on their optimal nutritional needs, and these optimal needs deviate sharply from the studies done by low-quality pet food manufacturers who have done studies on “what dogs need to keep from dying” which is a very different concept than “what dogs need to achieve optimal health.” The studies on dog’s actual nutritional needs very consistently indicate an optimal diet, when expressed in terms seen on a bag of dry kibble, has at least 30% protein and 20% fat.
The consequences of inadequate protein and fat in the diet are really not what you’d expect. You get poor performance. An increased rate of obesity. A shorter stride. A higher rate of soft-tissue injuries such as CCL tears. A much higher rate of diabetes, renal failure, and cancer.
No one has done a long-term study on the effects of protein deprivation on dog lifespan, but really? You feed Ol roy? I don’t think it has any actual food in it. There are literally hundreds of high-quality, affordable brands of dog foods out there. You may not recognize any of the brand names because they tend to not advertise. I suggest you look at the 4 and 5 star foods on http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/
Various points:
When people think of “all meat” as “only the type of meat I would eat”, they are incorrect. Feeding just muscle to dogs and cats is a recipe for nutritional imbalances, and the most beautiful raw diets I’ve seen incorporate some vegetable into their mix.
The brands that are considered “better” include AAFCO seal and have a statement saying they have actually conducted a feed trial. The lesser brands will have the seal but only for guaranteed feed analysis, no actual trial. The bad brands will not even have an AAFCO seal. Learn more about AAFCO here.
“Ol Roy” actually is a poor quality dog food, and even some years ago was deficient in minerals needed to keep the dog healthy. IIRC, it was zinc, causing a condition called zinc-deficiency dermatitis. Changing the diet to a better one cured the condition. The company may have eventually altered the recipe, but it still has a reputation for not being a good brand.
Dog wet food is not just meat (ie a piece of steak), like was mentioned before. Again, both dry and wet food are considered better if they have AAFCO seal than if they don’t. It gives at the very least something stating that they stand behind the guaranteed feed analysis of the diet (and that the feed contains the minimum requirements).
Thank you. It bothers me when the ads mention “inside the dog is a wolf”, ignoring (co-)evolution.
Note that this is the only obligation cats will admit to.
Dogs need some non-meat foods, but manufacturers will use lots of filler to save money. From what I’ve heard, you want less carbs to fight cancer because the tumors use carbs for energy. If you lower the amount of carbs, the thinking is that the tumors will not be able to grow as fast.
Cheap dog food will use lots of cheap carbs as filler (corn/wheat). More expensive foods will be made up of vegetables and higher quality proteins and fats. Canned dog food can also have fillers and cheap ingredients. If your dog doesn’t have cancer, I’m not sure how bad it is to feed him cheap food. But once he is sick, the premium food will help. Even if it doesn’t slow down the cancer, the higher quality food will give him more calories and nutrition if he’s having trouble eating.
Wolves in the wild will get their vegetables from eating the stomachs of whatever animals they kill.
I have been fostering rescue dogs for many years. Some come to me from abusive or neglectful conditions and their nutrition has not always been the best. I put my fosters on a high quality grain free diet (including treats), and invariably you can see the difference in their energy, their alertness, the condition of their coat, and the condition of their stool within 10-14 days.
It is abundantly clear to me, at least, that a better quality diet is very beneficial to a dog - any dog. I’ve seen the evidence over and over.
You cannot balance the nutritional deficiencies of crap in a bag with crap in a can.
Dog food is what *people *find appetizing to eat.
Note that wild wolves eat: Mice, rabbits, squirrels, beavers, fish*, moose carcasses, and wild berries / other fruit as a minor part of their diet.
*My vet warned me to NOT let my dog eat wild fish out of the river - could get sick and die.
so the Alaska guys that feed their sled dogs all those dried ugly “trash” fish cook them first ?
There are certain species of fish from certain locations that should not be fed raw because of parasites. You should also not feed raw wild boar because of parasites.
In general, though, dogs thrive on meat-based diets with minimal carbohydrates. You see a dramatic difference in coat, body odor (none), teeth (sparkingly clean), energy levels, body composition (less fat/more muscle), and dramatically reduced flatulence and very different stools- tiny, hard, and flaky with little odor. No anal gland impaction problems. They don’t start acting elderly when they are only 7, and they have a greatly reduced risk of diabetes, kidney disease, and other conditions that pop up on mid-life due to poor nutrition.
Note these diets are not 100% muscle meat because meat alone is lacking in many important nutrients. The prey-model raw diet is probably the best, and they feed, or try to feed, the entire animal, including the organs, bones, skin, and stomach contents, plus a small amount of vegetables.
If you can’t manage to feed an entire animal, you can add vitamins and minerals, or various vegetables to replace the missing nutrients. Many commercial raw diets and meat-based canned foods use this tactic. You can’t just feed your dog steak and expect him to live; he needs calcium from bones and vitamins from liver. What he doesn’t need is to have 80% of his calories come from corn.