Food & Feeding
All of us are ignorant of some things in life.
What constitutes healthy food for dogs should not be one of them.
THINKING POINT
Fact 1: Dogs have been around at least 20,000 years.
Fact 2: Kibble (dry dog food) was invented about 1900.
Quiz: What did dogs eat for those 20,000 years that allowed them to successfully evolve until kibble was invented?
Further...If real raw food is bad for dogs - and that is all they had to eat for those 20,000 years - why didn't they go extinct?
Variety is how dogs obtained meals nutritionally balanced over time - not every meal (just like you & me).
Dogs can no longer find/choose their own food; they depend on you and me to make informed, healthy choices. Therefore, we must provide a variety of healthy nutritious foods consistent with what their bodies need.
I've learned that you get the most 'Bang-for-the-Buck' in dog care by feeding nourishing food. Why? Well, you already know the answer but probably have not thought it through as applied to your dog:
Dogs are what they eat.
Immune System
Basically, your body's ability to fight pathogens and prevent disease is largely accomplished by your immune system. So it is with your dog. The immune system is strengthened by eating a variety of easily digestible and nourishing real food, getting appropriate exercise, and getting plenty of rest. Pretty much common sense, right?
If you are like me, you probably don't eat a completely balanced meal every meal - or even every day - but rather eat a variety of food over the course of a week or so to achieve the nourishment your body needs. You eat food appropriate for humans (Homo sapiens) such as fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, (occasional ice cream) etc.
Your dog, however, is a Canis lupus familiaris in the order carnivora (meat eating). Appropriate food for carnivores includes a variety of meats and small soft digestible bones of naturally grazing small prey animals. Very, very different food needs!
THINKING POINT
People occasionally use the term people food when referring to plants or animals we eat. This makes the assumption that everything on Earth evolved for human use or consumption. Instead, consider that there is food and there is not food - depending on the species.
Consider that everything humans eat is also food for other organisms.
Are humans also food for other organisms?