View Full Version : Dog food?!?
untitleddocument
04-30-2012, 15:56
I was recently talking with an old hiker and he said that one trail food he swore by was dry dog food.
It sounded crazy at first, but he gave me a solid argument regarding its benefits (already being dehydrated, cheap, nutritious enough). He did say that he would never eat it exclusively, since it doesn't have all the nutrients people need (e.g. vitamin C). He did say that it was definitely a good filler food though. I did a bit of research, and the ingredient list of most dog foods seems no worse than human food. I was not able to find any information on nutritional facts, however (calories, fat content).
So what do you say? Was he being sincere, or pulling my leg?
WingedMonkey
04-30-2012, 16:04
I prefer Primate Chow.
;)
untitleddocument
04-30-2012, 16:09
I prefer Primate Chow.
;)
And Giraffe Grub has never done me wrong :p
But in all seriousness... I am very curious as to whether anyone has tried this method?
well...... if you want to give it a shot, HYOH and all that jazz. if you do try it, go with some gravy train......
Rocket Jones
04-30-2012, 18:50
I probably shouldn't admit this, but yeah, I've tried it. Worked well, but I found myself taking more breaks to lick myself. Did save some weight on toilet paper though, because I'd just drag my butt along through the grass. ;)
Tipi Walter
04-30-2012, 21:32
On the AT this month I ate two cans of Blue Buffalo dog food and ended up sniffing the anuses of several fellow hikers. Tried to lick self but herniated my coccyx.
I admit to having thought about it, but never tried it. I've read the ingredients on the dog food my dog gets and its better than most people food. Of course I let the pet store clerk talk me into the most expensive brand when I got my dog 13+ years ago.
peakbagger
05-01-2012, 07:28
Most dry dog food is loaded with non nutritive fillers. Dog owners tend to overfeed their dogs, so the companies bulk up the food with things like cellulose or ground straw. It goes right through the dog and I would expect the human.
Farr Away
05-01-2012, 11:17
I read a suggestion somewhere that hikers take dog food as their emergency food supply. The idea being that it would have to be a true emergency for you to actually eat it.
-FA
untitleddocument
05-03-2012, 16:52
I read a suggestion somewhere that hikers take dog food as their emergency food supply. The idea being that it would have to be a true emergency for you to actually eat it.
-FA
That is essentially much of what I have heard as well. And as far as your point perrymk, I agree! I looked at the ingredients of some high-end foods on a whim, and it turned out that they are essentially filler, preservative, and dye free meaning they are much more natural than 90% of the garbage that people eat.
quilteresq
05-03-2012, 20:43
I recently read a very disturbing book entitled Food Pets Die For (http://www.amazon.com/Food-Pets-Die-For-Shocking/dp/0939165562/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1336092013&sr=1-1-catcorr). Trust me, if you read that book, you won't be tasting any dog food soon. I started cooking for the dog - which makes me wonder what she'll eat while I'm on the trail.
actionpocket
05-09-2012, 00:05
IF you can buy dog food, you can also buy a bag or can of nuts, oats, beans in the same place. Seems like your friend was making excuses for an old habit. :) *wags tail
Fiddleback
05-10-2012, 16:15
Human food is more wholesome and very often cheaper. Further, human food is produced under more strict health/sanitation standards. Further still, dog food recipes/content change according to the futures market, i.e., ingredients and their ratios change according to what is cheaper/more available. Not all brands do this but some of the cheaper brands in the box stores certainly do (according to my vet).
Finally, there have been many, many stories of poisonings of dogs due to the content of imported dog food. In at least one instance I read, the dog food was made in the USA but some of the ingredients that sickened/killed dogs were imported. Within the past two or three weeks, there have been stories about salmonella caused by dried chicken treats for dogs (I looked for a very old post which I thought was on WB about a camper eating these himself but I couldn't find it...).
All this tells me; 1) don't eat dog food yourself and 2) be very careful what you serve your dog.
FB
rocketsocks
05-10-2012, 16:38
Most dry dog food is loaded with non nutritive fillers. Dog owners tend to overfeed their dogs, so the companies bulk up the food with things like cellulose or ground straw. It goes right through the dog and I would expect the human.
Somewhere I've read or heard,that humans can't digest cellulose,thus we don't eat grasses,very interesting,this is surely a Ruff thread.
doritotex
05-10-2012, 16:43
I read a suggestion somewhere that hikers take dog food as their emergency food supply. The idea being that it would have to be a true emergency for you to actually eat it. -FA
I carry dehydated human food as an emergency backup. It weighs exactly the same and tastes much better. And I don't like Chinese meat byproduct meal. If dog food is better than "most people food", as you say perrymk, you are eating the wrong people food!
If dog food is better than "most people food", as you say perrymk, you are eating the wrong people food!
I reference this part of my post: "... the ingredients on the dog food my dog gets and its better..." All dog food is not created equal. :)
rocketsocks
05-10-2012, 17:52
I carry dehydated human food as an emergency backup. It weighs exactly the same and tastes much better. And I don't like Chinese meat byproduct meal. If dog food is better than "most people food", as you say perrymk, you are eating the wrong people food!
I too have ear marked a dehydrated meal as a back.And I think both,the dog food the and the dehydrated thing are both good examples,cause it wouldn't be the first choice.
In an emergency, why eat dog food when there's perfectly good humans meandering all over the place?
To actually pack dog food for consumption seems rather ridiculous to me.
rocketsocks
05-10-2012, 18:10
In an emergency, why eat dog food when there's perfectly good humans meandering all over the place?
To actually pack dog food for consumption seems rather ridiculous to me.
Yep,but if it was you and me on a desert Island.......i'm eartin the dog food first.
mateozzz
05-10-2012, 18:12
http://www.angryman.ca/monkey.html
Looks doable to me! Would make it easier to hike, you could just have a feed bag hanging in front and just nibble as you go.
Yep,but if it was you and me on a desert Island.......i'm eartin the dog food first.
Yes you are.
Fiddleback
05-11-2012, 11:19
I reference this part of my post: "... the ingredients on the dog food my dog gets and its better..." All dog food is not created equal. :)
More accurately, it is better for canines...it is not better for humans. Nutrition and content labels of human food will bear that out.
Fiddleback
05-12-2012, 10:39
Human food is more wholesome and very often cheaper. Further, human food is produced under more strict health/sanitation standards. Further still, dog food recipes/content change according to the futures market, i.e., ingredients and their ratios change according to what is cheaper/more available. Not all brands do this but some of the cheaper brands in the box stores certainly do (according to my vet).
Finally, there have been many, many stories of poisonings of dogs due to the content of imported dog food. In at least one instance I read, the dog food was made in the USA but some of the ingredients that sickened/killed dogs were imported. Within the past two or three weeks, there have been stories about salmonella caused by dried chicken treats for dogs (I looked for a very old post which I thought was on WB about a camper eating these himself but I couldn't find it...).
All this tells me; 1) don't eat dog food yourself and 2) be very careful what you serve your dog.
FB
Quoting my own post above...;)
See this; "16 now sick from salmonella in dry dog food; recall expands" http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/11/11664422-16-now-sick-from-salmonella-in-dry-dog-food-recall-expands?lite The article provides another link detailing about a dozen recalls and alerts for this year alone.
FB
I thought we could let the conversation die .:)
This is what my dog eats.
Super5Mix® Whitefish & Sweet Potato Recipe
http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/product-details.aspx?pet=dog&pid=54
Whitefish, Ground Barley (de-hulled), Rye Flour, Menhaden Fish Meal, Ground Pearled Barley, Sweet Potatoes, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a natural source of Vitamin E), Tomato Pomace, Natural Fish Flavor, Ground Flaxseed, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Minerals [Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite], Vitamins [Beta-Carotene, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement], Mixed Tocopherols (a natural preservative), Choline Chloride, Taurine. This is a naturally preserved product.
It is dog food. It is designed for dogs. Just like cow's milk is designed for calves. And processed cheese food is for feeding cheese. It's still better than most human food I see. I eat good quality food though, and so does my dog.
samgriffin4
05-17-2012, 12:19
Good call.
While I am sure dog food and even (shudder) cat food can be eaten by people, and I have eaten dog biscuits in the past, the big question for me is " Why the $&@k would some one carry pet food instead of the same weight in people food". I mean really, if you need emergency rations, throw in a dehydrated meal or MRE or something.
rocketsocks
05-27-2012, 08:38
While I am sure dog food and even (shudder) cat food can be eaten by people, and I have eaten dog biscuits in the past, the big question for me is " Why the $&@k would some one carry pet food instead of the same weight in people food". I mean really, if you need emergency rations, throw in a dehydrated meal or MRE or something.Five words,willpower,or peer presure,money,grew up on the stuff,good fiber content,ok so maybe thats 6 or 8 words.
Fiddleback
05-27-2012, 11:18
Meanwhile, back to the newspapers...
A couple weeks ago it was reported that in the past few months an estimated 1000 U.S. dogs have been sickened or died from jerky treats from China. Of course, a specific cause pointing to the treats has not been established and I don't remember hearing of any humans harmed by their eating of the same.
Still, if one truly believes that dog food is a cheaper and good nutrition/fiber source (:D) one should check the "Made in..." label. I do that for my dog even though he doesn't share his treats and food. On the other hand, the recent outbreak of salmonella in dog food (which did cross over from dogs to some owners, I think) came from American plants.
In the dark dim long-ago, I use to share dog biscuits with my then "best friend". But then I was told that the health standards for those allowed for far more rodent hairs and insects parts than my own cookies. While I never verified that, my pup never had to share his biscuits with me again. A few years later I returned to backpacking and I must admit that dirt in my food didn't seem to matter as much. But then, trail dirt seems healthier than factory dirt, don'tcha' think?;)
When do the first dog food FBC'ing books come out..?
FB
I recently read a very disturbing book entitled Food Pets Die For (http://www.amazon.com/Food-Pets-Die-For-Shocking/dp/0939165562/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1336092013&sr=1-1-catcorr). Trust me, if you read that book, you won't be tasting any dog food soon. I started cooking for the dog - which makes me wonder what she'll eat while I'm on the trail.
The city of Los Angeles euthanizes approximately 750,000 dogs and cats a year. They are sold to a rendering plant that puts them in a giant vat and boils them. All the fat rises to the surface where they skim it off and sell it to companies that make soap and shampoo. The rest is ground up and put into pet food.
I tried the Purina Diet for awhile, and I'd be reluctant to try it again. I ended up in the hospital last time, but I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.
It's essentially a perfect diet. The way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well.
Now, you might be wondering what was in the dog food that caused so many health problems. To this day I don't know. The doctors couldn't explain it. All I know is that I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's ass and a car hit us both.
Velvet Gooch
05-28-2012, 01:20
The city of Los Angeles euthanizes approximately 750,000 dogs and cats a year. They are sold to a rendering plant that puts them in a giant vat and boils them. All the fat rises to the surface where they skim it off and sell it to companies that make soap and shampoo. The rest is ground up and put into pet food.
I tried the Purina Diet for awhile, and I'd be reluctant to try it again. I ended up in the hospital last time, but I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.
It's essentially a perfect diet. The way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well.
Now, you might be wondering what was in the dog food that caused so many health problems. To this day I don't know. The doctors couldn't explain it. All I know is that I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's ass and a car hit us both.
Hmm. Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Hmm. Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
One of those posts was a joke, the other was not:
"Briefly, in the late 1990’s the FDA, under pressure from practicing veterinarians, tested dog foods (no cat foods were tested) to determine if they contained pentobarbital (the drug used to euthanize animals). Their findings were that many popular dog foods do indeed contain pentobarbital, thus these popular pet foods contain some type of euthanized animal. The FDA determined that the common pet food ingredients ‘Meat and Bone Meal’, ‘Beef and Bone Meal’, ‘Animal Fat’, and ‘Animal Digest’ appeared to be the link to the presence of pentobarbital."
"On the label of one variety of dog food, the ingredient list states “animal digest (source of chicken flavor)”."
Guess the manufacturers of dog food think that euthanized dogs and cats taste like chicken :-)
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/mystery-meat-pet-foods.html
"The film then cut to a rendering plant that boils down the city's euthanized dogs, along with dead pigs and cows from local farms and leftover bones, hooves and innards from slaughterhouses. The end products are used to make cosmetics and fertilizer, gelatin and poultry feed, pharmaceuticals and pet food."
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jan/06/news/mn-20784
Though I have been known years ago to have tasted dog biscuits, I would be hard pressed to carry any kind of pet food on the trail unless my pet were along to consume it. Especially after the last few posts. I think I will stick with freeze dries people food.
I don't care what anyone says, dogs DO make good food for a starving hiker on the trail. Oh, whats that? I read the original post wrong. Disregard my last statement.
"The film then cut to a rendering plant that boils down the city's euthanized dogs, along with dead pigs and cows from local farms and leftover bones, hooves and innards from slaughterhouses. The end products are used to make cosmetics and fertilizer, gelatin and poultry feed, pharmaceuticals and pet food."
MMMMMMMMM..... Innards...
Fiddleback
07-28-2012, 09:28
"Rise! Rise from the dead you deceased thread! You too, backpackers with dog food stuck between your teeth!!" :D
"Arthur Dogswell LLC issued a recall late Friday for its Catswell Brand VitaKitty Chicken Breast with Flaxseed and Vitamins treats because of potential contamination with high levels of propylene gylcol... Arthur Dogswell LLC also produces chicken jerky pet treats made in China for dogs, which have been linked to more than 1,800 illnesses and deaths in the United States. Friday's recall is the first associated with chicken jerky pet treats since the FDA issued a third warning about the products last November...The FDA has repeatedly said it has tested pet treats in the U.S. for the presence of many toxins, including propylene gylcol, but agency representatives said they found no levels high enough to urge a product recall... FDA officials did not immediately return NBCNews.com calls for more information about how the recall may relate to the ongoing issue of contaminated chicken jerky treats made in China." http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/27/12998197-arthur-dogswell-recalls-cat-chicken-jerky-treats-fda-says?lite
I think the above is properly related to this thread even though, as indicated by previous posts, discriminating backpackers prefer dog food and treats to the lower quality cat food. ;)
FB
Wise Old Owl
07-28-2012, 10:18
I recently read a very disturbing book entitled Food Pets Die For (http://www.amazon.com/Food-Pets-Die-For-Shocking/dp/0939165562/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1336092013&sr=1-1-catcorr). Trust me, if you read that book, you won't be tasting any dog food soon. I started cooking for the dog - which makes me wonder what she'll eat while I'm on the trail.
Well all the good jokes have been made, but I just took a peak at the this book on line at Amazon and its very disturbing. Going back to the original post.
Here is my take.... Eating dry dog food is full of problems. in a emergency and because yogi'ing is preferred method you can get really sick from doing this... the dry dog food will dehydrate you faster! Digestion needs a soup of material to get the nutrients into the blood stream, dry foods will suck the moisture from the blood - making things worse. In a short run - no worries. 5-8 days look out....You would have to drink 2x the amount of water, and keep in mind the ingredients are the ones that didn't end up in a hot dog.... stuff from China.... ewe.
DaveSail
07-28-2012, 11:13
If you read Augusten Burroughs' Autobiography , " Running With Scissors " , or see the movie , this is shown .
When he visits his shrink , the doctor's wife is always sitting on the sofa eating dry dog food from a large bag .
Augusten does try it , after the wife's repeated expression on how good it is . Augusten did , and said the
dog food was very good ! David V. Webber
Wise Old Owl
07-28-2012, 11:25
Ya all got me screwed up this morning...reading Rugby's Cans and dry food packages like a crazy-ass owl and googling articles online.... thx for nothing..... is googling a word?
Jonnycat
08-12-2012, 09:54
I prefer Primate Chow. ;)
Hey, me too! I used to buy the Purina brand, but I find the ZuPreem brand has a better flavor.
http://i.imgur.com/nKv6J.jpg?1
Ya all got me screwed up this morning...reading Rugby's Cans and dry food packages like a crazy-ass owl and googling articles online.... thx for nothing..... is googling a word?
I did one google and found this:
A quote from: http://thebark.com/content/natural-human-grade-organic-dog-food-really
"But AAFCO’s unease does not stop pet food makers from using the term, particularly because larger legal concepts appear to be on their side. In 2007, a case against The Honest Kitchen led the Ohio courts to rule that the company had a constitutional right to truthful commercial free speech, and could use “human-grade” on its labels. The Honest Kitchen advertises on its website that it is “the only pet food manufacturer in the United States to have proven to the Federal FDA that every ingredient it uses in its products are suitable for human consumption.”
Only a few other companies make human-grade claims on their food labels, but many use the term freely in their in-store materials and website advertising. For example, Newman’s Own Organics presents this information in a question-and-answer format: “Q: Does Newman’s Own Organics use human grade materials? Why isn't that written on the bag? A: Newman’s Own Organics organic pet food uses human grade and fit for human consumption ingredients such as natural chicken and organic grains. The AAFCO Board … actually prohibits the printing of ‘Human Grade’ on pet food packaging.”
I say get the organic brands(Newman's Own) and HYOH. Eat well, laugh a lot, enjoy life. ruff!
middle to middle
08-20-2012, 16:12
i probably shouldn't admit this, but yeah, i've tried it. Worked well, but i found myself taking more breaks to lick myself. Did save some weight on toilet paper though, because i'd just drag my butt along through the grass. ;)
funny, very goodd.
T
Whack-a-mole
08-21-2012, 13:16
On I85 south, about 8 miles into Ga, you will pass the weigh station for trucks. As you go by there roll down your car windows and take a big smell. You will probably gag as the stench is pretty bad. There is an animal processing plant near there, and if the wind is right you can't miss it. Well, that is the stuff going into your dog food. Smell it before you try some,...bet you will change your mind.
Ladytrekker
08-21-2012, 13:27
I probably shouldn't admit this, but yeah, I've tried it. Worked well, but I found myself taking more breaks to lick myself. Did save some weight on toilet paper though, because I'd just drag my butt along through the grass. ;)
Ok you just got me in trouble because I am at work and when I read this I lost it. Now my co-workers all know I was not working. Thanks.......