There has been a bit of talk about raw V commercial and the higher incidence of cancer etc. since the advent of commercial foods,i have just read an article which backs up what i have always thought that  the higher incidence of cancer has come about since the introduction of commercial/cooked foods.
I must reinerate that i feed a small amount of commercial,a bit of cooked foods,but i feed predominately raw,when i feed cooked or commercial i also supplement with enzymes.
Please take the time to read this as it is very interesting.

"Enzymes are catalysts,which means they cause an internal action without themselves being destroyed or changed in the process.Each enzyme acts on a specific food and one cannot be substituted for another.Enzyme deficiencies often mean the difference between health and sickness.
Degenerative disease and cancer inparticular,have been linked to enzyme deficiencies by researchers at the universities of London,Wales and Yale medical school.Cooked food is almost completely deficient in enzymes which are destroyed by the cooking process.Cooked food makes the pancreas work harder because it passes thru the digestive tract more slowly than raw food,tends to ferment,throws poisons back into the body causing gas,heartburn,headaches,eye troubles and more serious illnesses.Toxins begin to build on the walls of the large intestine which causes putrefacation and autointoxication.Cooked foods also rob the stomach,salivary glands and intestines of enzymes.There seems to be a finite reservoir of enzymes in the body.If various organs and glands are continually robbed of their own enzymes,which must be utilized to digest food,then eventually the body breaks down.Studies have shown that pancreatic enzymes selectively destroy cancer cells.If the pancreas is provided with the correct diet,then those enzymes can protect the body against cancer.
One third of the body's energy is required in the process of digestion.By supplementing with enzymes,the amount needed for digestion is reduced.Ageing is directly related to enzyme robbing.
When dry food sits in the stomach of a dog,it does so because there are not enough enzymes in the stomach to break it down.Remember a dogs stomach is designed to deal with raw foods(raw,4 hours to digest,cooked 12-14 hours to digest).The body then gathers enzymes from the heart,the liver,the kidney's and other parts of the body to be transported to the stomach.In the meantime,the food sits there until enough enzymes are collected for digestion.This process is called enzyme robbing.
Robbing various organs of the body of the enzymes that they themselves need to function correctly can have a detrimental effect on those organs.This situation can give a dog a predisposition for problems in those organs,can hasten disease and reduce the lifespan of the dog."

So i guess the bottom line is if you are feeding a predominately dry food,with no fresh food additions,then it would be in the dogs best interest to supplement with digestive enzymes. So the vital organs can keep their enzymes and not have to give them away to help digest food.

I am sorry to refute your post Rose but the higher incidence of cancer is mainly due to the fact dogs are living longer. As with humans, this is due to a better understanding of nutrition, health treatments, medical aid and may I add the home comforts (living conditions) many owners provide. Secondly, freezing raw meat alters and breaks down many of the enzymes and can alter the amino acid structure of certain proteins if frozen slowly. Adding enzyme supplements is a waste of time as they will be broken down by the acids in the stomach before they can take effect like the bacteria in most "live" yoghurt products. Thirdly the main benefit in raw food lies in the naturally high fibre and high mineral content( such as iron,calcium ...etc).

To reiterate what many posters have said it depends on the breed and how far away from the "natural selection" process of the species. many breeds are totally "artificially selected" they may not be able to cope with raw foods.

So thats what your'e sticking to Danlo? Yes dogs are living longer these days,but this is not the only reason they are dropping like flies from cancer and other diseases such as kidney failure etc..Dry or processed food is "dead" food,it does not  contain enough enzymes! Sure genetics play alot in if a dog is going to live to a ripe old age,i'm, aware that some poor dogs live to an ald age on eating nothing but poor quality dry food all of their lives

I would really like to see your "references" on the statements you have made.

Since adding enzymes and probiotics to my dogs diets their coats are much softer and shinier,my skinny dog has put on weight and there is no more undigested food in her poops,so from personal experience it is NOT a waste of time adding these things to a dogs diet!

Just for the record,my neighbours chihuahua has the same digestive tract as the wild wolf,as have all of our dogs.Yes most of our dogs are artificially selected to look how we want,but no matter how hard we try we will never change their insides!

I am really surprised at the lack of responses this post has got,i knew the nutrition board is the least used here,but i thought people might show a little more interest in this very important subject :(

Dropping like flies!!!! Where's your references for that statement? :D
The reason not many have responded to your original post may be because it is another piece copied from the net without any supporting evidence or references to where the writer has obtained their evidence.
To me the fact that dogs live much longer lives indicates that the most popular feeding method i.e. complete is suiting them rather well.   When my dogs are getting to the mid teens in age I not too concerned what the actual cause of death is :)

My reference came from Wendy Volards book(a very well respected holistic vet of 30 plus years) "Holistic guide for a healthy dog"
The cancer statement was because the majority of dogs i have heard of are dying from some type of organ shutdown/failure or tumours etc. You rarely hear of dogs dying of just "old age"

I never copy stuff off the net as the majority of these sites have something to sell!

I have read stuff like Wendy has stated on numerous occasions,but she puts it in  much simpler terms.

From what I've read, been told first hand from vets and other owners, and indeed learned from my own experience, animals die from exactly the same range of diseases as humans, and in the same age-range.

Personally I have no problem with animals living long, healthy lives, whatever they're fed!
:)

I would have said organ shutdown/failure was very typical of death by old age, this is seperate to cancer which in the elderly is going to be common too due to the way cell regeneration changes in old age, even if it was due to something in their diet if they are aged 15 does it matter?
How do you define an "holistic" vet? I would have thought all vets would appreciate the significance of diet, exercise, stess etc on health.

If most dog owners were completly honest I'm sure 90+% would say they feed dried food because its convenient and not because they think its best for their dogs. To say that some breeds of dog would not cope with raw food I find astonishing, its like saying some breeds of cattle would not cope with certain type of meadow grass! a dogs digestive system is the same if its a Spaniel or a Mongrel designed to digest meat + bones.

I am a very honest person :), Bilko, and I can honestly say I feed complete because I believe it is the best way to feed my dogs, I have plenty of time and enjoy cooking but I honestly think that is best for them and I know many others who hold the same view, it may not be your view but please allow us to hold it sincerely :)
On the point as to whether different breeds have different dietry requirements I believe that over the many years they have been bred some will have adapted in different ways, some by design, I believe the Alsakan breeds can thrive on nothing but frozen fish for instance, and some by accident as seen in the more sensitive like the Westie, Tibetans etc.  I don't know much about cattle but I believe some breeds of British pony will suffer from too rich a grass diet having been developed in areas where winter pickings are sparse where as breeds from more plentifull areas will not.

Ditto Bilko :) There is a reason why dry food is called a "convinience" food,because it IS convinient and easy to feed.
I still cant believe that you can get a complete and balanced diet from 1 bag of food.We have always been told to provide a wide variety of foods for ourselves and our kids,i think this is even more important for our dogs who's digestive systems just aren't made to cope with these dry foods on a forever basis!
By all means feed a dry food as "part" of the diet,but supplement as much as you can with whole fresh foods that do contain an array of enzymes unlike "dead" dry food.

I posted the original thread because it truly tugs at my heart strings to hear of dogs fed nothing but the same brand of dry food for all of their lives.EVERY dog will benefit from fresh foods there is no doubt about it,and as i've said before no amount of selective breeding will change our dogs digestive systems,they are still wolves in sheeps clothing so to speak ;)

I'm not expecting to swing people over to to the raw diet etc. just trying to enlighten them on the pro's and cons.

Thanks for the info Rose, very interesting. :) 

I'm a great believer in using food as close as possible to how nature provided it both for humans and animals (whether cooked or raw) so I avoid convenience foods as much as possible.  My Bess is raw fed and I certainly feel better myself when I'm eating some raw foods daily. :)

Kath.

Lets face it dogs are the same as people in a way.  Not many years ago the elderly when they died were classed as dying of old age, nowadays they've always got to find something that caused that death, they don't attribute anything to old age anymore, the same thing with our dogs !

Dogs were dying early on in life 3o/40 years ago but I don't think that there was as much medical knowledge then.  I'm sure that many had H/D etc. but it wasn't looked into the way it is now.  I don't think many problems that dogs have today are any different than they were a number of years ago it's just that we are more into looking into the health side of things.  That's my opinion, may be well out, but this is how I feel.