The vet recommended Science Diet, so that’s the main staple my woofer gets. Once in a while, as a treat, she gets a can of either Science Diet or Pedigree stuff.
As far as table scraps, she really doesn’t get any. If I’m making something w/ meat and vegetables that might be okay for her I’ll make extra and we’ll share, but that’s about it. She does adore vegetables though, especially carrots and summer squash, so she gets quite a bit.
She’s thriving; bright eyes, energetic and a very glossy coat, so that’s all that matters.
Veb
(With a warm, happy dog curled up asleep around her feet)
My Lab-mix gets Pedigree Mealtime Small Crunchy Bits. Even though she’s a large dog, she has trouble crunching up big pieces of food (she has little teeth). She will also eat anything else she can get hold of. Socks, potato chips, egg shells, tea bags, apples…but she has a special fondness for dill pickles!
Except for one poster with reptiles, looks like everyone here just has dogs and/or cats. I don’t have either. My parrot gets Zupreem pellets, plus various fruits and nuts. She’ll also eat just about anything, and especially loves pasta. The rabbits get dry rabbit food. Don’t remember the brand, but it’s the only one the pet store I shop at carries in 25 lb. bags (they’d go through those little boxes the grocery store carries in about a day). They also get the leftover trimmings (stalks, leaves, cores, etc.) from whatever vegetables I’m cooking.
My little Zumba eats only Purina Cat chow and a once weekly small can of tuna fish. I have never given her any “people food” mostly because I don’t want her to beg. And she doesn’t. She has no interest in anything on my plate unless it is a tuna fish sandwich.
She just had a vet check up and her weight is perfect and she is in good health. I am not going to change a thing in her diet unless her health changes.
I noticed a very real difference within days of switching my cats’ food. They started out on Friskies kitten food, then my vet gave me a 2 lb bag of Iams when we went for their first checkup. Almost immediately we discovered that their poop smelled way better! Not as stinky at all, which made it much nicer when we scooped the litter. Now, two and a half years later, they eat Iams Less Active formula.
As far as is it better nutritionally I don’t really know. When I was growing up we had 14 year old cats that had lived on nothing but Purina Cat Chow their whole lives, and they were super healthy. They died in a house fire, rather than from old age or disease, so I don’t know how long they might have lived.
One of our cats just eats plain old cat food. He gets Fancy Feast on occaision as a treat.
Our other cat however, the one who weighs over 20 lbs., will eat just about anything. The more normal stuff he likes is yogurt, pudding, apple sauce, just about anything smooth.
But, the oddest things, what he absolutely goes crazy for are Wheat Thins and Skittles. He’ll get behind you on the couch and try to knock them from your hand as you are bringing them to your mouth. With the Skittles, he doesn’t stop once they’re in your mouth. He’ll lean over and see if any should fall from your mouth (it never does). He just love fruity, flowery smells.
My Vet recommended Purina. I serve it to both the cats
and the dogs. I also give the cats Friskies, so they don’t get picky about one or the other.
My Vet told me that most Vets recommend Science Diet and Iams because thats what they know. He says that pet food companies give vet students free pet food, and since they know the brand and are comfortable with it, that’s what they recommend.
My cat gets dry food that the vet recommended (Hill’s Prescription Diet, FTR) and all the tuna he can eat. He’s actually pretty picky, and won’t touch anything else.
My dog on the other hand, is a walking vacuum cleaner. She eats anything and everything.
Officially she gets Kirkland (Costco housebrand) Dry Dog Food.
Unofficially she’s as well fed as I am. We always buy big beef hip joints which we stick under the broiler. They are perfect for her because they’re big and round and don’t splinter. The bone we gave her for Christmas was the size of my head! (She’s a German Shepherd/Doberman cross. She has extremely powerful jaws, and loves to chew. I’ve seen her reduce a 1 1/2 foot long, inch and a half diameter stick to about 5 inches in the course of one night).
If we’re BBQing, she usually winds up with either a cheap steak, a beef heart or a beef shank. Occasionally, we will get a couple of ox tails and make beef barley soup for her too. She is definitely not malnourished
Dry food as the staple, and the occasional tinned food as a treat.
We’ve fed our cats Science Diet for years, although they went out and hunted for sport, and the occasional snack.
My sister-in-law (how is now living with us…long story) has a cat who has had a varied diet…he’s a year and a half now. She started Smokey and Bandit on Purina Kitten Chow, which seemed to be okay, although they were rather rambunctious.
She lost Smokey with a urinary tract infection at just less than a year. Bandit has progressed to Purina Cat Chow, and Purina One. They both make the cat gassy and crap like crazy…luckily in the box. He is a house cat and putting on a real gut (she thinks he is big-boned, but I maintain that there are no bones in the stomach).
Do they put caffiene in cat food? Damn thing keeps spazzing out and racing around the house like he’d just had a big bottle of Jolt cola! We’re trying to convince her to spring for some decent food.
We had him on Science Diet for about a month when he dropped down to a very healthy-looking weight, much calmer demeanor, shiny coat, no gas and very little stool. She feels that the food is too expensive to keep him on, so she’s trying the cheap stuff now. Apparently she didn’t feel that the benefits outweighed the cost.
I feed Eagle Natural to my Great Dane puppy. He likes it well enough. He also gets Pet Botanicals sausage mixed in sometimes, and also used for treats/rewards, and he loves carrots.
We feed our Sheltie Purina Gravy, with canned Alpo mixed in. He also gets scraps like potato peels and carrots. Anything that falls on the floor when I’m cooking, or when we’re eating. He loves popcorn, too. Occasionally, he gets bites of (cooked) steak or chicken. No raw meat!
The two cats get Iams in the orange bag and a teaspoon of Fancy Feast Chicken ('cause this is the only type of wet food Annie will eat) in the morning.
No table scraps, ever.
Mr. Kitty gets a piece of unbuttered, unsalted popcorn when I make it, but only one.
We don’t have any problems with them begging for food although Annie will stick her head in our water glass when we’re not looking and sneak a drink. Rat!
My apologies, I forgot to contribute to the thread.
We have Labs and they generally get what ever dog food that is on sale that I deem acceptable by reading the labels.
Mostly this is Iams or ZamZows (a local feed store product).
Plus, of course - because how could we deny those pitiful looks?, table scraps, grain they steal from the horses and lettuce they steal from the geese. I’m certain they don’t actually like the lettuce, you should see their faces when they’re eating it, but if the geese get to eat it, by god, they should get some too.
Yes, the CR report was heavily criticized by many members of the veterinary community. I believe, but am not certain, that CR actually admitted to doing a shoddy study. Don’t know if a new one was ever done after that.