If you have a Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever, Whippet, Shih Tzu, Bulldog or/and Miniature Schnauzers then you should probably know about the investigations going on about Grain Free dog food. if you Google this web site you can read up about it.
Hmm, when we were blessed with a couple of large dogs the main problem was maize in the shop-bought dog food, it gave them eczema.
The Vet suggested cooking up our own meat scraps and veg concoction, and to use rice as the bulking agent. Both dogs prospered well on it - glossy coats etc, and it turned out to be cheaper than buying the dog food, just needed that bit of extra time cooking the butcher’s left-overs.
Back in the day I had a pair of working English Springer Spaniels. They both lived for over 14 years. They were weaned on goats milk and fed a dog food from a Framlingham company called Skinners. The product was Rough and Ready. The dogs thrived on the food, they had an occasional egg broken into the feed during the winter months and the odd raw bone from the butcher. No fancy supplements and no problems.
The food contained
- Protein pellets containing beef meat meal
- Extruded wholewheat biscuits
- Cooked flaked maize
- Wheat glucose syrup
- Baked wholewheat biscuits
- Cooked flaked peas
- Cooked wheatflakes
- Oils
- Vitamins
- Minerals and trace elements.
Sounds fancy.
We had a pair of strays, proper pariah dogs picked up in the Middle East. Fed on pig melts because it was cheap. they would happily scavenge whatever rotten fish, sea snake, bird found on the beach. Of course later on, they would yack it up, and go for seconds. I think in their early years they lived on rats and scorpions, maybe other dogs. After a few years, shipped to the UK, the world’s most expensive mongrels. No more exotica in their diet.
The pair of them live 17 years
Later on, a rescue dog, obligingly described as a Lurcher. He was happy with whatever, which was usually Chappie. He went for 18 years, then just dropped dead one day.
Friends of mine in the US had English Springer Spaniels, but allowed them to go feral. They were the daftest, most muscle bound pair of dogs I have seem. Slept all day inside a dead cow. Fought with Coyotes. Liked their biscuits. Seemed happy enough, though one had a limp from being hit by a truck while racing it.