Two years ago, when my regular vet was sick, another gentleman filled in for her. He turned out to be a homeopathic vet who encouraged me to switch over to a natural diet. At the time, I was annoyed at him for trying to "sell" me advice different from that of all other veterinary experts I'd dealt with (or even literature I'd read). Frankly, the notion of giving my dog home-prepared food seemed ludicrous, considering my busy life made it difficult for me to even prepare healthy meals for myself. Although I'm ashamed to say it, I never returned to that veterinarian's office ... I guess, because I didn't have time to be sold on something I felt was a little too unconventional at the time.
The more I thought about it, somehow, it dawned on me that Mother Nature never meant for any living thing to eat the same dry, processed, packaged, and seemingly unnatural food day in and day out. Although nutritionists tell us pizza contains the four food groups, we don't consume it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That we are doing our dogs a great favour by feeding them dog food is a myth. The reason it is perpetuated is two-fold: (1) It is partly because commercial dog food is a business that veterinarians promote for profit and (2) It is also related to the convenience factor, whereby, we gladly take vets' advice to feed this way because it fits in with our busy lifestyles.
It is a good idea to learn the basics of animal nutrition and read dog food labels to see how your brand measures up. I found that no brand really meets to requirements for a number of reasons (which I will get into a little later). If you understand the label on your dog food label, you are already way ahead of the game. Just because a vet suggests a certain brand of food doesn't guarantee its good quality.
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