Here's a link to some excerpts from the new report on dog...

[Mary Plummer]

http://dels.nas.edu/banr/dogs.html

...nutrition. It was interesting; I'm almost tempted to order the full report! Here's a quote I found very interesting:

"Dietary protein contains ten essential amino acids that dogs cannot make on their own; studies show that dogs can tell when their food lacks a single amino acid and will avoid such a meal."

This came from the "Did You Know" part. I didn't know this!

[davet]

nor did i know this, i have seen dogs eat stuff that you know darn well did not contain the ten essential aminao acids..some of the garbage could have contained maybe one of the ten and even that is generous

[Mary Plummer]

Yeah, they obviously didn't include Mr. Blue in the study! I think the weirdest thing he ever ate was a box of charcoal-filled fish aquarium filters. he didn't eat the box, and very carefully discarded the aluminum foil wrappings on the 3 filters, but didn't leave a trace of the filters themselves. Of course, he was a young pup doing this right after we brought him home. He followed it with one of my leather loafers. I'm not sure what the amino acid content of these things were, but I can't imagine it's what's meant on dog food labels!

[Terri J]

Hey, my boyfriends dog at the cotton ball he was going to use to wash his dog's eyes! LOL

[k9Karen]

Oh come-on! What mutated species of dog was used in this "study"? Allie will eat anything she finds on the floor. Let me think - she has eaten onion skin, plastic, dental floss, hair, a tube of triple antibiotic ointment, Tylenol (that one necessitated a trip to the Emergency Vet), dust bunnies, leaves, fire ants (did this at least 4 times - you'd think she'd learn), a cockroach (almost - I grabbed her just in time - OK that one might have had the 10 amino acids), uncooked spaghetti and macaroni, raw potatoes, green beans, brocolli, etc., and only God knows what else. The other two would eat them too, but she's younger and faster and gets there first! Sorry, I don't believe that for a minute. Dogs will eat almost anything, and I think Allie will eat anything!