I own a dog treat company and have written a bunch of "Can dogs eat x" articles for SEO purposes, and I can tell you based on the research I've done that some of this info is iffy.
You've got cinnamon as being okay, but some cinnamon contains coumarin, which is toxic to dogs (it's only really dangerous in large amounts, but smaller amounts can cause stomach issues). There are two types of cinnamon, Cassia and Ceylon - Cassia has relatively high amounts of coumarin, while Ceylon has virtually none.
For beef you say not to give it raw, but in many cases that's fine. You also say not to give human food as regular part of their diet, but feeding meat, vegetable and grains is often better than kibble.
You also say not to feed beef bones, but raw bones are fine - it's cooked bones that should be avoided (because cooking weakens them and can lead them to splinter).
If you're going to give this kind of health-related information, you need to do a better job and make sure what you're saying is accurate.
My take on this is that the big three dog food companies have the budget for food scientists and a reputation to protect. After all the scares with boutique brands, I would only ever feed my dog food from Purina, Mars, or Hills.
For training, I use either their normal kibble if the dog is sufficiently food motivated, or string cheese.
The only treats my dogs get are to lick the plate if it’s suitable.
> My take on this is that the big three dog food companies have the budget for food scientists and a reputation to protect.
When we first got our pup and had her in for her initial vet check-up, the vet went over all the fancy-ass boutique brands of dog food that were all natural and holistic and organic, blah, blah blah. I said that all seemed a bit silly to me and I'd rather feed my dog kibble unless it was definitely unhealthy for her. The vet then said, "yeah, honestly, that's what I feed my dogs. But people like to get sold all this stuff, so..."
Again, caveats a mile long. No RCT, no systematic reporting, overall small number of cases…but there is at least some association with super fancy boutique diets and dilated cardiomyopathy.
But beyond that: not exactly swimming in good evidence that feeding dogs something beyond, I dunno, Purina Pro Plan, ends up in significantly better health outcomes for dogs. I mean, I love my dog, I'd do a lot for my dog, but there better be a stack of evidence a mile high that I should be paying 3x or 4x for boutique dog food. From everything I can see, keeping him lean and active is going to do a lot more than getting some “paleo” dog food that’s hyped by a TikTok influencer.
Unfortunately my dog is somewhere between "brat" and "so fraught with digestion issues" that she gets the fancy stuff with a mix of dry and wet.
In the hopes of this not being entirely low-quality reply: sometimes the fancy stuff is needed / better, but also I think younger people especially want to give their dog something good and not feel like slop that the dog doesn't enjoy. I personally wouldn't give a normal healthy dog any of the mega-brand stuff because of how much filler and crap there apparently is.
I'd much rather feed my dog a custom raw diet than subject them to bunch of filler and grinded up bones tbh. Pet food brands have a steep hill to climb to shake off the impression it is just like garbage-tier materials grinded up.
Yeah, my dogs both ate Purina One at the rescues where I got them, so I just kept them on that. Once my older dog got to about 6 years old, he started having loose stool, so I switched him to Taste of the Wild, and that's been better. In general as long as your dog is healthy and pooping fine, there's no need to buy ultra-fancy foods.
The real question is can humans eat your dog treats? I worked at a kisok in a mall when i was a teenager and this woman's job in the kiosk next to mine was showing that the dog treats were good enough for humans to eat by literally fuckin eating them but then one day she came to work with a chipped front tooth from smoking crack, and she had to try to convince people that the dog treats were human food grade like that
I tried this website and instantly loved it and found it very useful. I’m disappointed that the advice isn’t accurate, is there any alternative app or website you would recommend?
You've got cinnamon as being okay, but some cinnamon contains coumarin, which is toxic to dogs (it's only really dangerous in large amounts, but smaller amounts can cause stomach issues). There are two types of cinnamon, Cassia and Ceylon - Cassia has relatively high amounts of coumarin, while Ceylon has virtually none.
For beef you say not to give it raw, but in many cases that's fine. You also say not to give human food as regular part of their diet, but feeding meat, vegetable and grains is often better than kibble.
You also say not to feed beef bones, but raw bones are fine - it's cooked bones that should be avoided (because cooking weakens them and can lead them to splinter).
If you're going to give this kind of health-related information, you need to do a better job and make sure what you're saying is accurate.