I have recently become a dog owner but I’m not a dog person. There are certain dogs that I like; my own of course (though I like him best when he’s sleeping) and a few other canine friends that I have made along the way.
Why did I very reluctantly take on this huge responsibility? I did it for my kids; the only 2 people in the world who have the power to persuade me. Now that this furry little being has been brought into our family, I will treat him as the family member he is. While my hopes and dreams for my new “baby” certainly differ from those I had when I brought my sweet smelling, swaddled bundles home, my common theme is that only the best will do.
When my children (now 13 and almost 11) were babies, I went on an organic frenzy and started paying attention to food labels and ingredients. It felt great to know that my kids would grow to make smart choices about what they put in their bodies. For the most part, it’s worked out well, and my children are educated about healthy choices. But the thing with choices is, that well, it’s a choice…and not mine.
My dog on the other hand? There’s someone whose food intake I can control forever. He won’t be going off to birthday parties, bringing home loot bags and he likely won’t be coming home from friend’s houses with a purple smile from the 12 Kool-Aid Jammers he had.
And so, on my mission to feed my kids well and improve the quality of our lives, here’s why I think I should start feeding them dog food:
1. Ingredients
In my quest for the best—and to possibly compensate for my children’s choices—I studied the ingredients list on his food. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but what I saw was surprising. The top five ingredients in one of the flavors I feed him are as follows: beef, peas, dried whole egg, pea, and protein. Other ingredients include alfalfa sprouts, celery, lettuce, spinach, and parsley. Another flavor lists salmon, salmon meal, peas, and potatoes as the top ingredients. Other ingredients include tuna, salmon oil, flaxseed, and carrots.
Seriously? My kids don’t eat this much good stuff in one day, let alone one meal. I’m quite certain that if I prepared my kids a meal with these ingredients, they would subsequently order pizza.
2. Cost
I can buy a bag of food for my puppy for $22.00 (plus tax) and it lasts for three weeks. Think of all the extra spending money I would have if it only cost me $44 every three weeks to feed my two kids!
3. Convenience
No more stressing about what to make for dinner, no more last minute frantic trips to the grocery store before hockey practice to pick up a missing ingredient. No prep time and no cleanup time. With all this extra time on my hands, I would be able to better help my kids with their homework and go shopping to spend some of my newly available cash!
Ah yes, what a simpler (and probably healthier) world we would live in if we could feed our children dog food. Of course, I wouldn’t allow them to eat it out of a doggie dish on the floor. That would just be poor manners!
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