On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:29:02 -0500, Ashley Moran <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
> I've heard of people feeding pets a vegetarian diet.  In fact I once 
> shared a house with a couple that looked after a dog - neither of them 
> were vegetarian but the girl insisted that dry cereal food was all a 
> dog needed.  The look of excitement it gave me every time I offered a 
> bit of sausage suggests otherwise... Ashley

You're right that a dog's natural diet is meat.  I just wanted to point out
that their excitement over a food doesn't necessarily mean it's good for
them.  My dog will excitedly eat just about *anything* that I hand to her
(she is particularly fond of ice cubes).  I think they're somewhat like
children in that regard (and most adults, for that matter) -- if it's
interesting or fun to eat, they'll eat it, with no regard for whether or not
it's good for them.

-- Robert Kesterson
   [log in to unmask]


> So while I agree there are bad foods (processed ones) that taste nicer
> than some good foods, if a bad food hasn't been sweetened and/or
> flavoured then decent whole foods usually taste better.  I enjoy every
> meal I have now, where before quite often meals were disappointing,
> boring or downright unpleasant.  And that's taking into account the
> fact I don't get "treats" like cake after.
> 
> Ashley

True, but Robert has a point. I have witnessed a dog delightedly suck down a
whole pancake in a single gulp. A neighbor considered this evidence that
wheat is a natural food for dogs. What he didn't consider is that wheat
pancakes don't grow in the wild, so they are not an option for a wild dog,
and foods that are enjoyed by dogs, like pancakes, are not necessarily
healthy for them, any more than candy is healthy for humans. We like candy,
but it is not a healthy food. Even vegans recognize this. 

Tastes good does not equal healthy. Often, the opposite is the case. Most
modern foods are sweetened (even bread contains sweetener--usually corn
syrup or some other corn sweetener, if I remember correctly). Most Americans
believe (as I used to) that the alleged goodness of processed wheat offsets
the bad of the sweeteners, salt and hydrogenated fats that are the other
main ingredients of most wheat food products. The truth is that it
doesn't--not even whole wheat (which is less processed than refined wheat,
but still processed--grain is inedible if it is not processed at all)
offsets the bad of sugar, salt and hydrogenated fats because wheat itself is
an unhealthy food.