i had a friend that didn't feed her dogs anything but fresh foods...they were frisky & adorable...

the teeth problem is more a vet intervention...it may be your dogs arn't getting enough hard food that remove some, BUT not all the junk...you might want to have the vet clean them, and bye bye doggie breath...

your do with ear infections...does it have floopy ears like a coc!er spaniel? my d-fur-g is and she has to have ears cleaned almost daily to prevent...dd1 gets a bottle from the vet...sadly sil is the one whose supposed to do it and is...less than prompt, shall we say?

I know he (dirty teeth dog) will need to have them cleaned. Wish there had been a camera on when I tried to do it myself. They only get dry food and raw veggies sometimes when I'm making dinner. They love carrots and broccoli. I try tarter control bones and chewy's too. The other dog has great teeth and breath, but she constantly has a toy in her mouth and I have wondered if that is why. She has the ear thing and yes she somewhat floppy ears. We regularly clean and swap out her ears with a pre medicated swab. That controls the smell but not the icth. We have had the vet treat her with an antimicrobial but the infection always returns.
Missy & Jesse (waiting nicely outside the kitchen for dinner)

Although I do think there is really badly manufactured pet food out there, I also believe that there are some ready to eat products that are good for your dog.

I went to the following website, suggested to me by a friend who is a dog breeder and selected a dry food based on the ratings and the reviewer's comments. There are alot of people who swear by the BARF diet (bones and raw foods), but I have never tried it.

I also make my dog's training snacks myself. Once a month, my kitchen smells like ...tuna brownies...

Here is the recipe, if you are interested.

2 cans of tuna total of 6oz, drained. (I use water-packed)
2 eggs
1 tsp garlic powder
1.5C flour

Mix together well. Add 1-2T more flower if needed to make a stiff dough. Press on a jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with sides) to about 1/4" thick.250 degrees for 30 minutes. Cut into 1/4" cubes and refrigerate or freeze.

Hope this helps!

Here is a link that might be useful: Link

That is a GREAT site, thank you. I have a lot of reading to do. I found right away that the food we thought was higher quality (and have been using for at least four years) wasn't even recomended and has an ingrediant known to cause ear infections.

Use caution with the raw food. Since many people have been switching their food to raw meat and since the portions are so small...many people have ended up with very serious health issues like e coli. People arent' washing their hands as well as they should after handling the raw food.

A good quality (yes even grocery brand)dry kibble formulated for your dogs' age ,weight, size and activity level is the best thing you can do for your dog. In order to meet the nutritional requirements for a healthy dog you would have to buy bottles and bottles of vitamins, minerals and supplements to add to the home cooked food.

It is true that there seem to be more animals developing tumors and other stuff that we didn't see so much of before. That could be because we are just "seeing" it more because more animals get vet care today instead of dying of unknown causes but research is leaning towards over-vaccinating our pets. Dogs should get all their puppy shots and also be fully vaccinated the first year after. Then you should talk to your vet on what vaccines are really necessary for your individual dog and on what schedule. My dogs are on the 3-4 year plan. The only vaccine they get exactly on schedule is for Rabies. We are fortunate that our county requires the rabies vaccine every three years. Little known dirty secret is that there is no one year vaccine or three year vaccine. The only time one year comes into play is for puppies who get it and then need another dose after the first year.

Another culprit may be heart worm meds.If you live in an area where exposure is likely you MUST continue your heart worm meds but if the problem is seasonal or non-existent in your area you don't need it year round or at all unless you travel with your pet.

People worry about the food but don't have a qualm about using weed killers and pesticides in the ares their dogs run around in.

Your dog doesn't need to be dosed with heavy-duty flea killers on a monthly basis either unless environmental issues come into play.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

I meant to delete the part about the 1 - 3 year Rabies vaccine and hit submit too early. The statement is inaccurate because what I meant to say is that often the three year and the one year vaccine is from the same batch so the one year is really good for three years.