[gdemzool]

Well, I will say that my humble article on basic dog nutrition certainly generated a lot of passion. That just shows how much we love our pooches and that is a good thing.

Let me try to clarify a few of the comments of some of the readers. I believe a few of them are simple misunderstandings based on hurried reading. I have certainly been guilty of that in the past as well.

One person made reference to dogs being carnivores as though perhaps that had slipped my attention and seemed to misunderstand when I mentioned that we all know dogs are Carnivores. I thought I made that pretty clear. I then went on to mention that dietary speaking that they actually are slight Omnivores. Actually, the order Carnivora includes a wide variety of animals from raccoons to polar bears. The diet of each species is actually a sliding scale of meat and vegetables with some of them more meat eating than others and in the wild, can even vary with the season. The science of the evolution of carnivores and their anatomy and dietary preferences is way too long and dreary to go into right now. Just hit the textbooks for more info. The domestic dog of our discussion actually consumes some vegetable matter and most likely that originated from eating some of the stomach contents of their prey who themselves were vegetarians.

I think the same person mentioned never to feed cooked meat to dogs. Now, this I think is personal preference. I personally choose cooked meat here because it completely takes out of the picture any problems involving any possible parasitic cysts or larvae, or other potential contamination in the meat that could involve health problems. Again, that is my reasoning and personal preference. I think today that issue is still controversial. The reasoning of the person who objected to cooked meat was something to the effect that ancestral dogs didn’t cook their meat. I am sure the wolf like ancestors did not cook their meat. However just as Homo sapiens no longer gather around the old cave munching on raw thigh bones like Homo erectus did previously, Fido has moved away from the ancestral diet of his wild ancestors.

Another oversight was that the person mentioned chicken bones in the diet. I hope I made it clear to be sure any meat did not include any bones in it. I would never recommend a dog be given chicken bones for the very reason mentioned: the shards can be lethal if they puncture vital organs. I have vet friends who have shared radiographs of such tragedies.

I mentioned the canned veggies because they are a safe (can’t overdose) source of vitamins and minerals and probably in just the right amount. Also, especially for the older dog that doesn’t eliminate as well as they did when they were young, the veggies provide a little extra fiber to help ease that problem. And veggies can’t hurt them.

Lastly, I also mentioned that the diet I recommend and use (and modify as I learn new information) is just one of perhaps dozens of equally good and nutritious diets. I certainly wasn’t advocating that my diet is the one and only – far from it. If you have your dog on a diet and see he/she is blooming with health, disease free and full of energy, you are obviously on the right track. Keep doing what you are doing and smile with satisfaction. I simply wrote this article in answer to requests from people and to be helpful to those who don’t care to do the research.

Let me say for future purposes, I write articles I hope will provide quick information for busy people who would like something short, concise and useful and don’t care to make an in depth study on the subject. . I find the need for simple and basic animal information in great need here in the tropics and the subject matter is wide and diverse. I feel sympathy for those struggling to keep their pets helpful and so I try to provide very practical, (free) useful information that people can read quickly and help them out without going to the net and facing volumes of information. Anyone who would like more in depth information or would like to compare various philosophies on any subject obviously has the time to search the net.

I hope you all have happy and healthy dogs. And thanks for your comments.

Gloria

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