Much has changed nowadays when it comes to feeding your pets. Take it from me. Living in a house full of dogs as I was growing up, I clearly remember that we used to give our pups whatever food we have left on the table - scraps. Nope. No commercial food back then. But I do not hear our dogs complaining.

And though our pets never had a taste of commercial dog food, they lived a long and fruitful life ranging from 18 to 20 plus years of age. We all know that commercially prepared food has been manufactured through intensive research and development to provide the proper nutrition needed by our canines, but tell me, how come our dogs lived a long life feeding on whatever we humans eat? Is it so completely different from what we eat?

Advertising Overload

With advertising bombarding us left and right, dog owners have been tricked into believing that this is actually the way to go. Some dog food are tagged as high quality and though I do not doubt they are, many pet owners believe that feeding their pups this will get the right nutrition for their pups -- better than what we humans ingest and sometimes, a trifle pricier too.

Believe me, whenever dog owners come into a conversation, they can't help but compare what dog food or should I say, "brand" of food they buy. Commercials have effectively inculcated in the minds of the dog owners that commercial dog treats is for dogs and human food is for humans. Never mind that dog or human food, both come from the same sources. I have not heard of artificial food just yet. Some owners feel that giving dogs human food deprive them from the nutrition they should have for growth and development.

Just the Same, It is Processed Food

It would be difficult to convince a dog owner from realizing that human and dogs alike need nutrition and that giving a dog human food does not deprive the dog from anything. Not because our food is not pellet-sized does not mean it lacks the necessary nutrients for a dog to grow healthy and strong. I guess it goes without saying that propriety had something to do with this line of thinking. If dogs can eat our food, I mean would you, a human, eat dog food?

But one thing is for sure, these commercial foods are all processed food. Therefore, it goes through a procedure that requires mixing it with additives and preservatives like any processed human food. Such procedure degrades whatever nutritional value that it may have. Therefore, dogs are not better off with commercial dog food either. Dog owners just think it.

Fellow dog owner, if you'd cry if your dog died, then you need to see this. http://dld.bz/foodcomplain

Dear op

I find your write up very very uninformed and very misleading. It would have been great if you did a bit of research before putting this up.

Firstly let me start here, dogs nowadays suffer the same fate as humans. Ask yourself, why has human life expectancy greatly reduced in recent times compared to the olden days? The answer is simple, Processed food and the greed of companies involved in the food industry. Not to say there are no healthy options out there, but they cost money and the human taste buds are better adapted to sweet unhealthy foods. Hence, if you opine that giving your dog human food is the all in all irrespective of the food is a better option, think again. The same fate that many people around the world are facing with illnesses and less than optimum quality of life is exactly what their pets would also suffer. Our forefathers went to the farms till old age, the food they fed were atimes daily harvested,they didn't use pesticides and preservatives, and yes they lived long and so did their pets.

Secondly you talk of adequacy of human food for pets. Nature did things perfectly, dogs went out to fend for themselves,nature has put the instinct in them on what to consume and what not and in the right amounts. Our dogs live behind our gates and some on the couches of our apartments and the moment we alter the lifestyle of these animals from the way nature intended it, we as humans must fill the vacum we are creating.

Note, the amino acid requirements for dogs is different for humans as well as cats. Eg, the amino acid Taurine is important for cats hence it makes up what is called essential amino acid for cats but dogs do not require it as they are capable of synthezising it PROVIDED the other ten amino acids are present in their diet.




As for humans, only 9 amino acids are considered essential out of the 20 or so needed by all (cats,dogs and humans). Arginine is not needed by humans as our body can produce it provided the other 9 are present. Summary, we need 9 amino acids which we cannot produce nor function without hence they have to be supplied in our diet, dogs need all nine like humans plus an additional one called arginine making it 10, cats needs all 10 plus an additional one called Taurine. Remember amino acids are what makes up your protein which is the building block of life. They call it life for a reason.

Lastly you mentioned preservatives. Again you generalised everything and bundled them together. Either for humans or animals, whenever a food is not freshly harvested and consumed and need to be kept for a period of time, it has to be preserved or else a process called oxidation would take place and the food would begin to go rancid. There are different ways to preserve food from going rancid. A natural way and an artificial way. The artifical way is by use of chemical preservatives which by the way is not illegal and was the major and only way of preservation decades ago. Unfortunately because this means of preserving food is not illegal, you also find it stated as "approved preservatives" , "antioxidants", EEC permitted preservatives " etc. These notorious chemical preservatives include BHA,BHT, Ethoxyquine, Propylene glycol, propylene gallant etc and has been linked to cancers in dogs hence called carcinogens. Mind you, a lot of human foods also use these preservatives while they are legally permissible in some countries, others like Japan and some of the scandanavian countries have long banned them from both human and pet foods. One would ask why do companies still use them in pet food then? Because they are a cheap way of preserving pet food and they give the food a longer shelf life.
Again there is a safer better alternative though much more expensive to companies but there are tons of pet food preserved in this way. This is the use of natural preservatives which would be your vitamin E and Vitamin C, the same you find in your fresh fruits and vegetables. These are referred to as " mixed Tocopherols ".
They are natural and perfectly perfectly safe. The issue is that most pet patents especially in Nigeria don't have sufficient knowledge to make good decisions on something as important as nutrition, something that determines 80% of the success or failure of their pets living a long fruitful life. The secret is to also always look for a food with the word "preserved with mixed Tocopherols ".

Conclusively, there are loads of human food synthetically preserved just like pet food, yes they are bad for both human and animals, just as there are human foods without these very dangerous preservatives and so are pet foods without them. It's matter of how savy and informed a consumer is or wants to be. It's all about knowing your chosen brand, doing your due diligence and sticking with it.