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Comment by slacka | Hacker News Reader

From my grandparent to me, there has always been German Shepherds in our family. Starting the 80's all of our dogs started dying much earlier, ~6-7 of cancer. In the early 2000's, we switched to raw diet from premium store bought kibble to raw. Sure enough, not only did their coat improve not a single cancer death under age of 13. I know it's anecdotal, but in my dog world circle and family, we've all observed similar results.

It's a cruel that our best friends and most loyal companions live such short lives as it is. Giving them top nutrition is a small price for the added years.

As to how this applies to humans? If you want to live a long and healthy life: avoid processed foods.

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The handful of dogs I knew that broke 18+ years were mutts on garbage kibble like Ol' Roy. And these were medium-sized dogs (30-50lbs), not Chihuahuas.

Anyone I know who can afford to feed their dogs raw also generally get purebred or "designer breed" dogs, and they've all lead shorter lives with more diseases (cancers, autoimmune disorders, bone problems, etc).

My anecdotal experience leads me to believe that breeding practices are a bigger part of the problem, but these are quite small sample sizes.

> purebred or "designer breed" dogs, and they've all lead shorter lives with more diseases

Absolutely, this is also true. But in my case, I’ve never owned and now avoid AKC purebreds like the plague. Currently I have a long-coat non-AKC GS with 25% Malamute mix. AKC and their sire syndrome has destroyed the breed with Hip dysplasia and other issues. Their obsession with artificial looks and willful ignorance of genetics has completely turned me off.

Also can't compare a 50lbs dog to 80-100 lbs GSD. Smaller breeds on average live longer. We had a 10 lbs coton de teuer live to 20 which is not that uncommon for the breed.

Dogs evolved to eat human scraps. Raw diets may be better nutritionally than kibbles, but cooking the same food is more nutritious and much safer[1] than raw food.

After talking to board-certified vets who actually research this stuff, I feed my dog home-cooked human-grade food.

1. https://skeptvet.com/Blog/2018/02/yet-another-study-shows-th...

Growing up my mother let us feed our dog whatever leftovers we had after our dinner, which would sometimes be half a steak that one of my siblings didn't finish or a bowl of liver-paté growing stale in the fridge. She'd make up the difference with generic dog food.

Our dog had a clear preference for our food, and it felt deeply wrong when we would feed it only dog food. It was a part of our family why should it not eat like we did?

If I ever adopt a dog for my family, it will be fed the same way.

Counterpoint: My dog survived distemper as a puppy and had life-long digestive issues. I tried all sorts of elimination diets, raw foods, probiotics, etc. Nothing worked. I finally put him on a Rx dog food from purina with high fiber and a bunch of the 'garbage' ingredients I spent years trying to avoid. His digestive issues disappeared and he had some of the best years of his life. He died close to 17 years old, which isn't bad for a 42 pound dog.

I wish I would have known about this a while ago, lost my GSD over 2 years ago with spleen cancer at 11. Still Sprinting up stairs and playing with toys, up to the week before. Still am pissed how it ended.

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