Quote:
Originally Posted by technodoll
many people have the opposite experience you have: dogs were on cheap foods with innumerable ailments and afflictions, but after being switched to a better diet, these same pets are in much better health and have less (or no!) allergies, recurring infections of ear and bladder, ibd, diabeties, obesity, bad teeth, etc.
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Yep. That's Jemma and Boo. When we got Boo, I didn't know better and I fed Iams chicken. He threw up EVERY night for 4 months. After countless vet trips, antibiotic shots and pills, we finally figured out it was the chicken doing it, so we put him on Euk lamb and rice. Then we got Jemma. Both did ok on lamb and rice but seemed to be always itchy. Not itchy enough to need a vet visit, but itchy enough for us to realize we had to do something. So I looked for a food without any of the common ingredients to any food they had had before and I found Solid Gold. I put them on Wolf king and they flourished. They had shiny soft coats they had never had before. They had energy they never had before. And they didn't go to the vet for little things anymore. They were just healthier overall. I didn't expect it. I really didn't.
The problem is, people think just switching to a better food will work for their dog and make them shinier and healthier, but that's not always the case. If I switch Boo to Evo chicken, he'll be up all night puking again.
So let's say I had him on Euk Lamb and Rice, and he was doing fine-ish. And then I decide to go one up and give him Evo chicken, not knowing he had a food allergy/intolerance to chicken. Right away, I'd assume that he just can't handle the holistic food. That's not true, right? Just because the ingredients are better, it doesn't mean a particular food is "the one" for your dog. Nearly ALL crap foods are "the one" and work because they're full of additives that make it so that your dog barely digests it on its own. Even if your dog has a food intolerance, it will STILL digest the food. When Boo puked on Iams, he didn't puke the food up. He threw up bile only. Only when he had better foods with chicken later on (by accident) did he throw up the food. The Iams just digested itself faster than his body reacted to it.
I do feel strongly about this because there isn't a person I meet who doesn't comment on my dogs' coats. They are softer than any dog I've ever met and shinier too. I MUST be doing something right. I also feel strongly because I have made food a priority. My man and I don't go anywhere, we don't travel, we don't eat out very often, we don't go to movies, we cut, budget, and save wherever we can. Our dogs ARE our luxury and our hobby. We put everything into them.
I hate when people bring up budget yet they still have cable, still smoke, still have sporty cars with high insurance costs, still have a mortgage instead of a rent, etc etc etc. The money is THERE, you just choose to spend it elsewhere. That's FINE. It really is. But don't tell me you don't have the money. I had next to no money and I still had the money for good food for my dogs. I just don't buy it.
