Yes I've seen it. It's a tear jerker. It also brings a tear to my eye when I see someone buy that deer corn they try to pass over as dog food.

Texas~ I agree. That commercial is very heartbreaking. That is why I can't go to shelters. I went once & wanted very much to bring every animal home w/ me... I've never went back since.

Quirky~ Are you talking about Pedigree dog food? What's wrong w/ it? This is what I feed my 2 dogs, partly b/c it's the only brand that I never heard mentioned when the recall was going on. Just curious.

I've seen the commercial. And I was wondering if the dogs in shelters all looked like that dog, there wouldn't be very many in a shelter.

Most dogs in our shelters are BBD. The ones that look like the cutie in the commercial are usually adopted fairly quickly...

so don't be sad, he'll get adopted soon.

Yeah, I know the dog in the commercial is probably an "actor" but knowing that that very thing happens daily is heartbreaking.

My Mom actually adopted her dog from the local shelter several years ago and she looks very similiar to the dog in the commercial.

The local shelters here will not let me adopt. I do not fit their strict requirements. It hurts me to see animals die----but it seems I cannot prevent any by adopting.

Quirky- Get out of my head! I think the same thing every time I see that commercial. I'm sure the dogs they use are actors which makes the commercial even worse.
Why couldn't they shoot from a real shelter?

McHudd- Pedigree is not a good dog food. It is basically a corn product. Not exactly a good thing to feed pets unless they are deer or cattle.

McHudd,
There are MANY other brands of dog food that were not on the recall list. Included in these (I'm pretty sure) are human grade dog food such as Solid Gold, Wellness, Innova, Evo, Fromm's, and many many more. I'd almost rather give my dog a food that was on the recall list than give her Pedigree. Just do a search on here or a google search and you'll come up with tons of great foods that aren't the "supermarket" foods we all hear of, like Pedigree.

McHudd, check out this recent thread:

Here is a link that might be useful: Good Dog and Cat Food

McHudd, forgive me for not replying to your question sooner but it looks like several folks beat me to it. Just to reiterate, comparing the ingredients reveals the prime ingredient in pedigree is corn followed by chicken byproduct meal (byproduct = mystery-meat). Grains like corn is difficult for dogs to digest and it doesn't do much for meeting the nutritional needs of the dog. And while they may not have been recalled, their risk of having problems with their products is high as it is mass produced in a fashion similar to the brands that were recalled. Outsourcing to the lowest bidder, not staying on top of where the ingredients originate, so on and so forth.

Hi Texaswoman:

Oh, I know exactly what you mean. He had the sweetest expression on his face when he heard the folks walking up then my heart just broke when they walked on by. I just teared up too! My husband just rolled his eyes and me and smiled. He knows I'm a sucker for those Pedigree commercials although I don't use their products. I liked the older one where they had a terrier-mix named Oliver that they showed in a later commercial with his new adopted mom.

Cathy

Hmmm, thanks for all the answers, interesting. However, Gabro~ I have never heard nor seen any of the brands you just mentioned, probably b/c I live in a rural area & do all of my shopping @ Walmart, once or twice a month.

Another thing is that when I got my St. Bernard he was about 9 wks. old & I did all kinds of research about what to feed him... Everything I tried except actual dog food made him sick. I read to add eggs to their food. About an hour after eating he would throw everything up. I tried raw meat, this gave him horrible gas & also made him sick. To this day if he gets hold of a bone, he eventually throws it back up also.

My vet has checked him numerous times & says he just has a weak stomach but there's nothing medically wrong w/ him, his body just doesn't tolerate that kind of stuff. On the other hand, I'm sure that if he was alone in the woods or something, his body would eventually learn to tolerate it b/c it wouldn't have any other choice, but I just can't stand to feed my dog & make him throw up.

I'm sure there are other dog foods that would be better than Pedigree & I'm going to look into that, but I have a feeling that they aren't readily available here, however, I could be wrong.

Anyway, thanks again for the input & like I said I am going to research this, I just didn't know. I just wanted to explain why I don't do a raw diet b/c I'm sure that will be suggested.

Also, what about canned dog foods? Good or bad?

Pedigree may not be a good dog food but you have to give them credit for donating to the shelters.

Ah yes, I know that commercial well. Definitely a tear jerker. Last time I went to the shelter to drop off food I made the mistake of going in to see the dogs. I walked out crying. DH asked what was wrong, and all I could say was "greyhound". He just rolls his eyes at me. And I'm a cat person!

McHudd,
One thing that helps is phasing the food in. Take a large container and fill it 2/3 full with your current food and 1/3 with the new food. When it is almost empty do 1/2 and 1/2, then 1/3 old and 2/3 new. Then 100% new. This often helps dogs and cats that are more sensitive.

McHudd, with respect to availability... if you live in a rural area, you probably have access to a "feed store". Many rural feed stores, (the places where farmers buy food for their horses and seeds for fields), will carry a premium dog food.

I get Canidae at our local feed store.

McHudd- I feed the Solid Gold brand and it is available at PetCo. We live in a large city so it is easily accessible to us. We are looking at moving to a rural area and will not have access to it, we will either buy large quantities when we make the trip to the city or we will order it and pay for the delivery.
Check your feed store like joepyeweed mentioned- maybe they can order it for you if they don't carry it.

I live within walking distance of a pet boutique that sells the popular natural dog foods and the price locally is the same as it would be to order online from an e-tailer with not as much overhead with shipping. So what I'm saying is check on nextag or bizrate and if you go with the lowest price from a reputable store they can ship it to your door and it will come out to be about the same as if you bought locally. There will be some sticker shock, just remember you can feed a lot less of it. You will also be picking up a lot less.

I really hate that commercial. There is another sad one that plays here, and I hate it too. I have to be careful with what I watch on television and what I read, or I can become too involved and too sad.

I wonder if there is a downside to these programs that try to get people to adopt a pet. Just because we have a big heart, does not mean that we or they are in a position to care for a dog.

Sammy

Yes, the worst pet food companies have the cutest commercials.

My girls are on raw, but my old boy is on kibble. I order EVO and VeRus on the web at PetFoodDirect.com. Verus' Menhaden Fish & Potato is very easy on the stomach. Do a google search first and you'll find 18% or 20% coupons that will more than cover the freight. Remember that you feed much LESS of quality foods. So if you're feeding him 4 cups a day of the Pedigree-nothing but corn and byproducts- you'll feed half as much or less of a high quality food.

Remember that you feed much LESS of quality foods. So if you're feeding him 4 cups a day of the Pedigree-nothing but corn and byproducts- you'll feed half as much or less of a high quality food.
I can personally attest to this. When I switched our first dog from Science Diet (which I used to think was so great) to Canidae, the amount literally went down by half. Chaos (approx. 40 lbs) got 3 cups of Science Diet and after the switch 1.5 cups of Canidae. The condition of her coat also improved, and of course the amount of waste was less (because she was eating so much less!).

I second the recommendation of checking feed stores if you're in a rural area. Also, if you look at the manufacturers websites, many have a "store locator" where you can put in your zip/postal code and find the closets place that sells their food.

Someone earlier said, "...It is basically a corn product. Not exactly a good thing to feed pets unless they are deer or cattle." Actually, corn is not good for deer nor cattle, either. Cattle are forced to eat corn on feed lots - it is not, and never has been part of their natural diet.

I looked for the commercial y'all are talking about on You Tube. I think I've seen it when a co-worker played it the other day, but when I looked for it just now, I found several variations of the theme. All very sad. There was one with a cute little terrior. You know that dog will be adopted right away. As Joepyweed pointed out, the shelters are filled with big black dogs, and big dogs in general, cause the little dogs get snatched up. The black cats get left behind, too. I don't know about these specific commercials, but it's my understanding that a lot of "acting" dogs and cats are rescued from shelters. Wasn't that the case with Benji?

Sally

Sally- we used to have cattle and no they did not solely eat corn- they did have some feeds with corn in it. We used to feed the deer as well and their feed was mostly a corn basis as well.
It may not be a part of their natural diet- but if you have a corn field it is amazing how many deer you can watch eating out of it.

i guess i'm a real wuss cuz' every time i see that commercial or anything to do with cruelty to animals,i stick my fingers in my ears,close my eyes and/or leave the room.it just breaks my heart.for this same reason i haven't been to a shelter in about 14 years.

Joepyeweed (& others)~ Thanks for suggesting the feed stores. I've never had any reason to go to these stores & hadn't thought to look there. I will look next time I get into town. Thanks!

I have to admit I've seen and love the commercial -- plus I'm a David Duchovny fan anyway (his voice is great on the commercial).

From experience I can tell you there are tons of dogs just like and even cuter than the one in the commercial who don't find a home. One thing I noticed in the commercial is that he states "for every one that does find a home, one doesn't". Unfortunately, that number is greatly off; the national average adoption rate for dogs is only 25%. For every one that finds a home, 3 don't. I have to admit, they really tug on the heart strings. That pup is adorable.

I have to be honest though, I wouldn't feed that food to my dogs. I completely avoid corn in their diets.

However, I do have to give them credit for supplying food to shelters. There were several times when they'd call us up and tell us, "hey, we have a ton of food over here in the warehouse if you can find someone to come get it." Let me tell you we always scrambled to get someone to go pick it up for us, and it was worth it. They were verrry generous, sometimes filling up a trailer truck.

Local animal shelter was on TV this morning promoting microchiping. They had a dog that looked like Benji!!
I'll bet their phone was ringing off the hook after that. He was soooo cute.

McHudd, I feel obligated to prepare you for sticker shock. If you're accustomed to buying dog food at Walmart, you should be aware that the premium foods full of meat, cost quite a bit more money that the corn based by-product stuff.

You probably guessed that, but I wanted you to be forewarned...

Yes, they do cost a whole lot more, but you don't have to feed nearly as much, nor spend as much at the vet, which helps a little bit with the sticker shock.

Corn may be a part of what they put into cattle feed, just like they put it into dog and cat food. That's exactly my point. Just cause they put it into their feed doesn't mean they should be eating it.

Sally

I especially like the premium foods when it comes time to pick up the doo doo in the yard. Stools are smaller, firmer and less odoriferous when the dogs are eating premium food.

I too used to feed my dogs food from wal mart (maximum nutrition) they recommended feeding my GR 10 cups a day. I posted on here about dog food along time ago and got some great responses. I ended up deciding on the Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lovers Soul, with this food the recommended amount is 5 cups. The Chicken soup was about $15.00 more per bag but ended up being a lot cheaper to feed. I also tried the Canidae but she did not seem to like it very much. Here is a website that has reviews of dog foods that really helped me, I just wrote down several of the dog foods that had good reviews (5 & 6 stars) and took that list to the feed store(I live in a small town too). I could not find everything on my list but there were several I did find.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

I just looked @ that list (above). I saw today in an ad that our local Orscheln Farm & Home store sells Diamond dog food & Dura Life. I always assumed that these were cheap dog foods w/ higher prices, but see in that list that some of the Diamond varieties rank 3 stars which is better, apparently, than Pedigree. Does anyone know anything about Dura Life? I'm going to look there for other brands too, these just happened to be in the ad I saw.

TIA

MC, just read the label and decide for yourself. In general, look for three protein sources in the fist 5-6 ingredients and make sure they aren't "by-products" ("meal" is okay). Most people agree that you should stay away from corn and beet pulp.

Looking at the DuraLife website, it looks like the first ingredient in all of their formulas is corn. I'd pass on it.

http://www.myduralife.com/products/

Thanks Jean, I'll try to remember that.

Diamond seems to have two main lines: regular Diamond and Diamond Naturals. You definitely want the Naturals line, in fact the ingredients are quite good!

I've put the link to their website below, have a look and maybe see what the bags look like so you can recognize the stuff at the store better when you go there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Diamond Pet Foods website

I agree the Pedigree commercial is a tearjerker. We adopted a bouvier mix puppy from the SPCA many years ago. She was very healthy after a sinus infection was treated. She lived to be 15 yrs. old. My DH gave me a kitten from the SPCA for Christmas one year. We just lost Kelly at the age of 18 yrs. last March. Both animals were very devoted companions and it feels so good to save a life. You can't save all of them but every adoption helps!
Pedigree: we use to feed it to our golden retriever but decided to try a better quality food. She eats Nutro lamb/rice. Any difference? Absolutely: less shedding, shinier coat, less food needed to be fed and less bowel movements. There is a difference in foods!

I think its pure EVIL the way they manipulate our emotions AND con us into buying foods that most likely could in a matter of years sicken or even kill your dog or cat- but slowly not long enough at all for most to know of until its too late useally in cats its from from kidney stones, or dogs its hip issues, HELLO its diet! (end of rant)

The best diet IMO is a raw meat one , next to that Innova EVO, Ziwi peak, and Orijen. As for Purina,Iams science diet, don't listion to them, don't buy from them, even IF they support shelters. Some of what you'd think were the nicest human things (organ donation in china is a great example) have some of the worse realities behind them