Avocados and Dogs
I am not a strict follower of the official dog diet rules such as no feeding table scraps. I have read many holistic and conventional dog care books and agonize over nutrition content and ingredients in the pet food that I buy. Meeting nutritional needs, balance and variety are my priorities, in that order.
I believe that commercial dog food is the product of an industry primarily concerned with profit and growth, and sometimes secondly with animal nutrition. I personally lump all nationally distributed dog foods into this box, including "natural" or "premium" brands like Wellness, Innova, etc. I think these brands are mostly about marketing to a more educated consumer base and therefore use slightly better ingredients.
I think its important to keep in mind that commercial dog food didn't even widely exist before before the 1930s and only became popular during the Depression years and into the 1940s. Obviously, people and dogs were surviving together without the industry. Since the dog food industry achieved national distribution, it has always been the brands with the most advertising dollars that have been the most popular and successful. Also, the industry is poorly regulated and the AAFCO and veterinary associations don't do a lot to instill my trust in the industry either. So basically, my inner capitalist-skeptic and inner chemical-product-skeptic has pushed me to be more experimental with Lupa's diet.
Ideally, I'd make her food myself, but seeing as I hate cooking with meat and believe that making a vegetarian diet for her would be even more difficult, I do buy dog food for her. Always a "premium, natural" brand with seemingly trustworthy ingredients. However, I do tend to rotate between 3-4 different brands as I'm more concerned with offering variety than being a loyal consumer. Don't freak out, I always blend and mix and introduce changes gradually.
I also feed her both raw and cooked fresh vegetables and fruit. I share small pieces of toast or healthy cereal with her in the mornings (It can't possibly be worse than over-baked dog treats from the store.) I never allow her to eat chocolate, greasy or spicy foods, or anything high in sugar. She loves bananas, apples, cooked carrots, broccoli, and sunflower seeds.
This is how she has always been fed and she's six years old now and super healthy. I do try to buy dog foods or treats with joint supplements because she was born with grade 3 and 4 patellar luxations which have never actually seemed to bother her.
Anyway, I was interested in knowing more about how AvoDerm dog food can be safe considering that it is widely reported by the ASPCA and other groups that avocados are toxic to dogs and most animals. (On my recent road trip to CA, we stayed at a farm next to an avocado grove and the dogs definitely helped themselves to a few avocados every day and appeared fine.)
So I found out that pepsin is the toxin found in avocado leaves and seeds and it is controversial whether or not the actual avocado fruit meal and avocado oil contain the toxin or not. (What, someone can't just do a definitive test on this?
Also, AvoDerm cites sources that claim that pepsin is only found in the Guatemalan variety of avocados. http://www.breeders-choice.com/dog_products/avoderm-natural-and-avocado-safety.htm
California veterinarians seem more concerned about the avocados seeds becoming a choking hazard for dogs or obesity resulting from the rich fatty oils found in avocados. http://www.thevillagenews.com/story.php?story_ID=22205
Normally I'd be ready to rail against the pet food companies, but in this case I have decided not to allow Lupa to have any fresh avocado but it is probably okay to feed AvoDerm occasionally in moderation. Anyone know anything else about it?
I believe that commercial dog food is the product of an industry primarily concerned with profit and growth, and sometimes secondly with animal nutrition. I personally lump all nationally distributed dog foods into this box, including "natural" or "premium" brands like Wellness, Innova, etc. I think these brands are mostly about marketing to a more educated consumer base and therefore use slightly better ingredients.
I think its important to keep in mind that commercial dog food didn't even widely exist before before the 1930s and only became popular during the Depression years and into the 1940s. Obviously, people and dogs were surviving together without the industry. Since the dog food industry achieved national distribution, it has always been the brands with the most advertising dollars that have been the most popular and successful. Also, the industry is poorly regulated and the AAFCO and veterinary associations don't do a lot to instill my trust in the industry either. So basically, my inner capitalist-skeptic and inner chemical-product-skeptic has pushed me to be more experimental with Lupa's diet.
Ideally, I'd make her food myself, but seeing as I hate cooking with meat and believe that making a vegetarian diet for her would be even more difficult, I do buy dog food for her. Always a "premium, natural" brand with seemingly trustworthy ingredients. However, I do tend to rotate between 3-4 different brands as I'm more concerned with offering variety than being a loyal consumer. Don't freak out, I always blend and mix and introduce changes gradually.
I also feed her both raw and cooked fresh vegetables and fruit. I share small pieces of toast or healthy cereal with her in the mornings (It can't possibly be worse than over-baked dog treats from the store.) I never allow her to eat chocolate, greasy or spicy foods, or anything high in sugar. She loves bananas, apples, cooked carrots, broccoli, and sunflower seeds.
This is how she has always been fed and she's six years old now and super healthy. I do try to buy dog foods or treats with joint supplements because she was born with grade 3 and 4 patellar luxations which have never actually seemed to bother her.
Anyway, I was interested in knowing more about how AvoDerm dog food can be safe considering that it is widely reported by the ASPCA and other groups that avocados are toxic to dogs and most animals. (On my recent road trip to CA, we stayed at a farm next to an avocado grove and the dogs definitely helped themselves to a few avocados every day and appeared fine.)
So I found out that pepsin is the toxin found in avocado leaves and seeds and it is controversial whether or not the actual avocado fruit meal and avocado oil contain the toxin or not. (What, someone can't just do a definitive test on this?
Also, AvoDerm cites sources that claim that pepsin is only found in the Guatemalan variety of avocados. http://www.breeders-choice.com/dog_products/avoderm-natural-and-avocado-safety.htm
California veterinarians seem more concerned about the avocados seeds becoming a choking hazard for dogs or obesity resulting from the rich fatty oils found in avocados. http://www.thevillagenews.com/story.php?story_ID=22205
Normally I'd be ready to rail against the pet food companies, but in this case I have decided not to allow Lupa to have any fresh avocado but it is probably okay to feed AvoDerm occasionally in moderation. Anyone know anything else about it?