What do you feed your dog and/or cat?

Much like humans, dogs are omnivorous and I’d be very sceptical of any claims that they ‘must’ or ‘should’ be fed in a certain way.
I think one of the things that came out of the doco was that as all dogs are descended from wolves that means they are carnivores hence they should be fed a primarily based meat/protein diet.
I’d have to watch it again to be sure though.
 


No I think I've seen this documentary or similar, certain dogs are meant to eat differently and there was a dog in it that should have a carcass of an animal once a week as opposed to wer food every day etc

My dogs had dry food, Science Plan, and scraps then boiled chicken and rice when they were very old.
My cats have dry food but the little one has got well into wet food from a neighbour so it has gone from an occasional treat to an everyday demand. I'm not doing it this week though as the stuff stinks in this heat.

So having looked up the documentary there’s a rather glaring contradictory pair of claims in most people’s summaries of it.

1. All dog breeds are different and have different nutritional requirements.
2. Dogs are 99.9% identical to Wolves so must require the same diet.

Point one is, of course, true. True in the sense that every organism has different nutritional requirements dependent on a whole host of factors, including their genotype. Shock. It doesn’t mean they’re going to die or fail to lead a happy, healthy life if their diet isn’t 100% optimised.

The conclusion in point two is dubious and somewhat disingenuously made. 99.9% sounds like a lot. But dogs have roughly 3bn base pairs in their genomes. 0.1% of 3bn is a hell of a lot of potential for adaptation to their new environment (I.e living with humans and being selected for their ability to thrive on what humans are able to feed them).

This does nothing to dissuade me from this being a typical Netflix shock-doc which makes overblown claims which people simply ‘must see’ and so pay their subscription.
 
Had to cut chicken out of the dog’s diet as turned out he’s intolerant. Now to save the fanny of checking stuff for what the “meat” is, we just stick to fish based stuff.

He has James Wellbeloved Senior Fish dry biscuits for breakfast, then some cooked white fish, more biscuits, a weetabix and joint supplements for his tea.

Any treats either fish or vegetable based.
 
For most of his life we fed ours James Wellbeloved or Wainwrights dry food due to cheaper stuff setting off allergies He ate quite a lot of leftovers as well like. He was a week short of his 15th birthday when we had to let him go.
 
I think one of the things that came out of the doco was that as all dogs are descended from wolves that means they are carnivores hence they should be fed a primarily based meat/protein diet.
I’d have to watch it again to be sure though.

Please tell me that wasn’t news to you? :lol:

It’s also a bad argument.

a) Whilst they’re primarily carnivores, Wolves can and do supplement their diet with plants with seemingly no issues.

b) It ignores the adaptation that occurs when species are domesticated. Whilst dogs are still facultative carnivores to all intents and purposes, they do carry genetic adaptations making them better able to handle consuming plants in their diet. If every organism had to exist in the same way as their ancestors, speciation would never occur.
For most of his life we fed ours James Wellbeloved or Wainwrights dry food due to cheaper stuff setting off allergies He ate quite a lot of leftovers as well like. He was a week short of his 15th birthday when we had to let him go.

Usually Harrington’s kibble and wet food trays mixed.

Things like green tripe a few times a week.

Can’t imagine she’s doing worse diet wise than when she was a stray in Bulgaria and living out of whatever she could find in bins :lol:
 
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Please tell me that wasn’t news to you? :lol:

It’s also a bad argument.

a) Whilst they’re primarily carnivores, Wolves can and do supplement their diet with plants with seemingly no issues.

b) It ignores the adaptation that occurs when species are domesticated. Whilst dogs are still facultative carnivores to all intents and purposes, they do carry genetic adaptations making them better able to handle consuming plants in their diet. If every organism had to exist in the same way as their ancestors, speciation would never occur.


Usually Harrington’s kibble and wet food trays mixed.

Things like green tripe a few times a week.

Can’t imagine she’s doing worse diet wise than when she was a stray in Bulgaria and living out of whatever she could find in bins :lol:
We used Harringtons occasionally as well. Wet food was a rare treat as the farts were lifting. :lol:
 
They get a bit of wet and dry. I give them some veg as well and they both get a smoked sausage on a Friday night as a treat.
 
Please tell me that wasn’t news to you? :lol:

It’s also a bad argument.

a) Whilst they’re primarily carnivores, Wolves can and do supplement their diet with plants with seemingly no issues.

b) It ignores the adaptation that occurs when species are domesticated. Whilst dogs are still facultative carnivores to all intents and purposes, they do carry genetic adaptations making them better able to handle consuming plants in their diet. If every organism had to exist in the same way as their ancestors, speciation would never occur.


Usually Harrington’s kibble and wet food trays mixed.

Things like green tripe a few times a week.

Can’t imagine she’s doing worse diet wise than when she was a stray in Bulgaria and living out of whatever she could find in bins :lol:
But I’m not a vet or an evolutionary biologist and I suspect you probably aren’t either so neither of us really know what we’re talking about when it comes to animal diets do we?
 
The way I look at it is more about what an animal would eat in the wild. For example, would a cat naturally eat a cow? The answer is obviously no so I don’t feed mine beef. Poultry and rodents are a cats natural diet.

I would apply that theory to any animal.

We have had cats the last 10 years. Cat food off the shelf usually doesn’t have enough meat in so you have to be careful. Likewise a pure meat diet can be missing certain vitamins and minerals. When our new kitten had stomach issues eating cat food I did a lot of research and fed him plain chicken or turkey with a scoop of vitamin powder. That fixed the problem.

We then fed our other cat the same way as it made it easier to avoid separating them at meal times. Anyone who owns cats knows how bad a litter box smells. Their shit didn’t smell at all, it was less claggy and much easier to clean. It’s more expensive to feed them, but I personally believe that is the way to go if you can afford it.
 
But I’m not a vet or an evolutionary biologist and I suspect you probably aren’t either so neither of us really know what we’re talking about when it comes to animal diets do we?

That just gets you into accepting arguments from authority without critically evaluating what the claims are or who has made them. Plenty of infectious disease experts have made absolutely rubbish claims about Covid and vaccinations.

You don’t need to be an expert to notice the contradictions and inconsistencies there.

Yes domestic dogs are descended from wolves. It doesn’t then follow that they must eat the same diet as wolves, though. They’ve adapted to living with humans over around 15k years. One of the key adaptations happens to be in their ability to process starch.

(For full disclosure as well since we’ve gone there, I have a Biology degree and PhD in Molecular Biology, so relatively well equipped to understand evolutionary concepts. Although I’m not a Wolf dietician :lol:)

This whole argument is basically equivalent to saying humans are essentially chimps (or descended from our LCA) so we should eat the same diet as chimps; fruit, termites and other chimps.
 
Royal Canin Senior for the grumpy old girl and Royal Canin Puppy for the wild boy.

Supplemented with chicken breast on their evening meal.
 
The cats get wet food, usually Felix 7+ and IAMs biscuits.
Monty will eat anything he can if you're not looking. Greedy shithouse.

Bob is also partial to cheese, fab lollies and croissants. Odd beast.

Mina can't really be arsed eating much in this heat. She drinks plenty and seems to be favouring the biscuits so that's ok

Your gaff must be f***ing honking mate.
 

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