Ivory & Beau Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 So I'm wondering your thoughts on potato in the top five ingredients of some dry food? Though it seems to be in most USA brands. Is it more as a "filler" or do dogs actually benefit from it? **note** This isn't a brand bashing thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 instead of a grain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivory & Beau Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 Most that state grain free have potato. So yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salukifan Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Its a filler. It's there to take the place of grain as a filler because "grain free" is the new catch cry for marketing dog food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinabean Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Not an answer to your question, but it might be of interest. When my dog was at the dermatologist vet recently we were discussing what we could add to Bruno's diet. She has noted an increasing number of dogs have allergy issues with the potato family (I was asking about adding sweet potato). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivory & Beau Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 (edited) Its a filler. It's there to take the place of grain as a filler because "grain free" is the new catch cry for marketing dog food. Thought that was the case. Is it ... a) no different to grains b) better than grains c) worse than grains Edited January 1, 2014 by english.ivy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivory & Beau Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 Not an answer to your question, but it might be of interest. When my dog was at the dermatologist vet recently we were discussing what we could add to Bruno's diet. She has noted an increasing number of dogs have allergy issues with the potato family (I was asking about adding sweet potato). Oh wow, great information. Thank you Did they say sweet potato also caused the same issues as normal potato? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salukifan Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Its a filler. It's there to take the place of grain as a filler because "grain free" is the new catch cry for marketing dog food. Thought that was the case. Is it ... a) no different to grains b) better than grains c) worse than grains It's better than grains for dogs that are allergic to grains. Given that domestic dogs have been eating grains since man started growing them, I don't have an issue with feeding grains to most dogs. Otherwise, I don't see it as any different. "Grain free" is marketing well for the same reason that "gluten free" markets well to a lot of health conscious people, most of whom aren't gluten intolerant. I see is as mostly a fad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Not an answer to your question, but it might be of interest. When my dog was at the dermatologist vet recently we were discussing what we could add to Bruno's diet. She has noted an increasing number of dogs have allergy issues with the potato family (I was asking about adding sweet potato). I'm pretty sure sweet potato isn't really in the potato family. Did you know potatos are from the nightshade family, that include tomatoes, capsicums and chillies, and eggplants? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Sweet potato is a vine of some sort , unrelated to the solanum family ,AFAIK, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinabean Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Not an answer to your question, but it might be of interest. When my dog was at the dermatologist vet recently we were discussing what we could add to Bruno's diet. She has noted an increasing number of dogs have allergy issues with the potato family (I was asking about adding sweet potato). Oh wow, great information. Thank you Did they say sweet potato also caused the same issues as normal potato? I didn't ask about that sorry, so no idea (we decided in that consult to substitute with pumpkin). Mind you, she was talking about dogs the clinic specializes in, with multiple allergy issues. A healthy dog can tolerate a wider range of foods no doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaCC Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 I don't know about healthy dogs, but my last boy with IBD could not digest rice, so on exclusion diets needed potato. Perhaps it's generally easier to digest? My current pup gets itchy on grains and his grain free food I think has sweet potato. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinabean Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Oh thanks Persephone and Kirislin, I will mention that next time. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivory & Beau Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 I'm pretty sure sweet potato isn't really in the potato family. Did you know potatoes are from the nightshade family, that include tomatoes, capsicums and chillies, and eggplants? Ahhh I should have known that Just googled it and yeah, they are not related. I have no issues with feeding my dogs grains, to a degree, but I do have issues with food containing potato. Even though now I have my pack on limited dry food but I still won't buy a misleading brand again. I ask as I did just buy a small 2kg bag of a leading USA made food and hadn't paid attention to what was in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danois Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 There is an issue with using potato in dry food. Green potatoes produce a toxin that the manufacturing process of dry food cannot deal with and which is not good for dogs. If you want to use potato then you need to have a supplier that can guarantee a maximum percentage of green potatoes in a batch. But of course, they cannot do this because the sorting etc is done by machine. I don't think any Australian manufacturers use potato these days. Black Hawk did but have recently switched to sweet potato - I would be curious as to how they managed the toxin level issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandgrubber Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 (edited) Not an answer to your question, but it might be of interest. When my dog was at the dermatologist vet recently we were discussing what we could add to Bruno's diet. She has noted an increasing number of dogs have allergy issues with the potato family (I was asking about adding sweet potato). Oh wow, great information. Thank you Did they say sweet potato also caused the same issues as normal potato? I didn't ask about that sorry, so no idea (we decided in that consult to substitute with pumpkin). Mind you, she was talking about dogs the clinic specializes in, with multiple allergy issues. A healthy dog can tolerate a wider range of foods no doubt. Hardly surprising. Lots of "grain free" dogfoods have been released in the last few years. Prior to that, most dogs had little contact with sweet or normal potatoes. Potato eaten with skins on is a reasonably good source of potassium; sweet potatoe is rich in several nutrients. So they do have some mild advantages over grains, in theory. But I doubt dogs are often deficient in the nutrients (vitamins, minerals, amino acids) that they supply. Mostly they're a source of starch, like grains. You manage the toxin issue by not using green potatoes . . . same as making mashed potatoes. Green potatoes are toxic to humans too. The big food processors have procedures in line to avoid green spuds. Edited January 1, 2014 by sandgrubber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danois Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 How do they manage? The suppliers in AU cannot manage to provide guarantees re no green potatoes. The big food processors can't manage it hence why they don't use them. Only way to manage the process would be to physically inspect every single potato. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivory & Beau Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 I'm thinking of emailing the brand I currently have and asking them re: green potatoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danois Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Asking them what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Its a filler. It's there to take the place of grain as a filler because "grain free" is the new catch cry for marketing dog food. Thought that was the case. Is it ... a) no different to grains b) better than grains c) worse than grains That's not correct. A lot of the corn in kibble these days is GMO and confirmed with a number of kibble co's when I did the last lot of research for our Dane feed guide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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