Question by Annie: I’m always amazed by people who don’t think breeders know what they’re doing….?
Maybe I had one too many (ok, ONE, margaretia at dinner tonight). But reading over answers to questions I began wondering…why don’t people think experienced, responsible breeders know what they’re doing?
For example, on a dog food question, may long time, experienced breeders (myself included) feed ProPlan. It has some fillers, sure, but it’s overall a pretty good food on a lot of fronts. I get great coats, great energy and I’m not wasting money. The proof is in the pudding — I’ve had multiple champions and performance titliest on proplan for years. And feeding giant breeds high powered kibble leads to rapid growth and orthpedic issues….just don’t do it! And yet, time and again, I see people who have never bred, much less owned a giant breed saying proplan is crap…simplisitic thinking with no research basis.
There was a very contentious question on breeding “back to back”. Now considered the best way to breed if you’re having more than one litter — much healthier to breed 2 litters back to back, wait a season and breed two more back to back and then spay. Significantly more healthy for the mother dogs, as they ovulate less (and even in people, the less ovulation, the less the cancer risk…ask your ob/gyn why you should stay on the pill and they’ll give you essentiallly the same explaination). The supporters of two back to back litters were simply crucified. Disregarding that the world renown canine reproductive specialist “Dr. Hutch” recommends this for healthy breeding females. People just disregard the experts and fact and say this is a terrible practice. WRONG. (hey my own kids were “back to back” by choice!!).
There’s just example after example of people giving fly-by-night answers and disregarding research, vast experience and practical practice — my question is …why do people disregard research, experience, and long time knowledge in favor of those who clip answers from who knows what web site or believe what they see on TV is true?
Edited to add:
Proplan is NOT new…it has been around for years. The new formulation (the shredded chicken, beef, etc. bits) is new, and ProPlan “Selects” are fairly new (within two years) but ProPlan kibble has been around for years.
Edited to add:
Yes, I agree, special needs (allergies) dogs need special diets…no arguement there. I’m talking healthy, allergy free dogs, which luckily I have.
Also — I’m a BIG fan of Dr. Dodds, she helped me (on a Friday night no less!! If you know her you know what this means) with dog thyroid interpretations. i am a big fan.
The point of the question is people with little knowledge putting forth opinions where there is a good research base to the opposite.
And I am a big Dr. Hutch fan…he has done miracles as far as I am concerned. Although when you do as high a volume of difficult cases, you are not going to be successful with each one. That is why so many vets don’t do difficult cases.
Animal artwork — if your dog is eating 8-9 cups of proplan a day and producing huge poops, you have a different problem. I have newfies on two cups twice a day of proplan who maintain good body weight and produce normal poops, no gas. I think you have a food allergy going on, and the dog is not processing the food.
Best answer:
Answer by vixen
Pro Plan is a fairly new product of the Purina brand. I don’t know how anyone could have been feeding it for years. Check dogfooganalysis.com. This site compares the different dog food brands and rates them from 1-6 stars. Purina Pro Plan got only one star. It shows the ingredients and tells why they are bad. I used to feed my dogs Purina One and then changed to Pro Plan. They actually prefer the taste of Purina One to Natural Balance, Nutro, Blue Buffalo. I think it is the sugar and sweet corn taste that they like. But by researching on the site I listed I put them on Wellness 5 Mix. They like it pretty much and I am happy knowing I am feeding them a quality food.
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