Commercial Dog Foods

[HuntinHound]

My apologises for the length of this post ... having read many threads & comments on this forum on what people should and shouldn't be feeding their dogs I just wanted to say that whilst we personally feed a certain brand of Super Premium Food (and have a back up 2nd choice) I am shocked by the number of people who think just because they pay through the nose for the food that it is good ....

Regardless of your chosen feeding method (Dry Food Vs BARF) it is YOUR decision to you make and can at times be very confusing :D I have not touched on BARF diets here because that would be a whole other mile long post but I do have articles and the like if you are intersted.

Now I randomly picked 2 Commercial Foods mentioned a few times on this forum which I have never used and have copied the ingredients (from their labels) below..... I think they speak for themselves.

NATURES GIFT

Ingredients: Fresh Beef, Australian Beef & Poultry Meat Meals, Whole Grain Wheat, Sugar, Rice, Food Acid (338), Raw Hide Fibre, Glycerine, Sea Salt, Canola Oil, Potassium Sorbate, Natural Colours, Natural Antioxidants (307). Added Vitamins & Minerals incl. Copper 10mg/kg, Vitamin A 10300iu/kg, Vitamin D 441iu/kg, Vitamin E 114iu/kg.

Guaranteed Analysis Energy 1400kJ per 100g

Protein 21.0%

Fat 7.5%

Fibre 3.5%

Salt 3.2%

Calcium 1.9%

Phosphorus 1.3%

Ash 12.0%

Moisture 20.0%

EUKANUBA

Ingredients: Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Fish Meal (source of fish oil), Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a source of vitamin E, and Citric Acid), Ground Whole Grain Barley, Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Brewers Dried Yeast, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Flax Meal, Marigold Extract (source of Lutein), Choline Chloride, Ferrous Sulfate, DL-Methionine, Dicalcium Phosphate, Beta-Carotene, Zinc Oxide, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Rosemary Extract, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of vitamin B2, Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Folic Acid, Cobalt Carbonate

Caloric Distribution

Protein 27%...Fat 42%...Carbohydrate 31%

Guaranteed Analysis

Nutrient (percent)

Crude Protein not less than 29.0%

Crude Fat not less than 18.0%

Crude Fiber not more than 4.0%

Moisture not more than 10.0%

Vitamin E not less than 140 IU/kg

Omega-6 Fatty Acids not less than 3.35%*

Omega-3 Fatty Acids not less than 0.45%*

When researching to find the 'Right' food for OUR dogs (and I am certainly not saying what we feed is the ONLY thing to feed your dogs) we found many, many articles & documented facts with relation to the ingredients in not only our dogs food but in our food as well .... I have a 3 page document which explains the "ingredients" as listed on labels which I can send you (way too long for here) if you are interested ...

I would like you to take just a minute to read these 2 labels above - which do you think is the better food??? In the interests of your dogs health, please - research these things & READ THE LABELS !!!!!! If your choice is to feed BARF then again, RESEARCH the ingredients - you will be surprised.

Listed below are just a couple of the ingredients mentioned on these labels ... Have a read & Compare .....

Meat Meal - Rendered meal made from animal tissue. It cannot contain hair, hoof, blood, horn, hide trimmings, stomach or rumen (the first stomach) contents, or manure except for amounts that may not be avoided during processing. It cannot contain any added foreign matterials that may not be avoided during processing. It cannot contain any added foreign matter and may not contain more than 14% indigestible materials.

Indigestible crude protein in the meal cannot be more than 11%. Meals are also use

after processing and give a more ture actual weight on the list of ingredients for

placement over whole meats or "wet - state" meats.

Poultry By-Product Meal - Made up of ground, rendered, and clean parts of

slaughtered poultry, such as undeveloped eggs, necks, feet, and intestines. It does not contain feathers except those which are unavoidable during processing.

Food For Thought ???????????????????????

[kaywoman68]

Here's a interesting website. It lists the ingredients in lots of dog foods.

http://www.doberdogs.com/menu.html

[KitKat]

Also...with the whole 'meat should be first in list' thing....it's not always going to be the case because some companies weigh the mushed up meat 'meal' while it's still wet...so due to weight it's top of the list....other companies weigh the meat 'meal' once it's been dehydrated...hence it being say..second on the list...So that's something to consider as well...

[Guest LittlePixie]

Tinned Nature's Gift has different ingredients to that though I think?

[HuntinHound]

Tinned Nature's Gift has different ingredients to that though I think?

I believe you would be right .. Sorry, I should have clarified that both labels came from Dry Food for Medium sized dogs and I've only used them as an example.

KitKat - Thanks for adding to this thread in a positive Manner and yes you are quite correct

Kaywoman68 - Excellent reference site, will add that to the miles of paperwork we have on this subject ... Cheers !!

[Imoenboxers]

Apart from my dog breaking out in hives, the one thing that made me switch to BARF was what I read on the internet. I read on a site that there are many unknowns in dog food. The site I read from included things like horse, other cats and dogs who had been put down at the vet, rabbit, goat........ This list was endless. Now I don't know if it is true or not, by "By-Product" does not really mean too much to me. WHo knows what we are really feeding our dogs.

This was (I think from Memory) and American site, so maybe their laws are different to ours. Would Australian dog food manufactures be allowed to put the above ingredients into dog food????? Disappointing if it did. VERY disappointing if what I also read was true.

[kelpiecuddles]

Well these last couple of threads on food ingredients have made me feel fairly good about the dry food I feed. No preservatives, colours, etc. no by-products and the only thing that was slightly vague was that it didn't specify a type of poultry (says poultry meal). The top ingredient isn't meat but is atleast rice and there isn't any corn at all. I had never really investigated the ingredients to this extent before.

Thanks everyone for all the great info.

[TiffanyAmber]

Whats really in dog food? Try this site.

http://www.api4animals.org/79.htm

[HuntinHound]

http://www.dvmnewsmagazine.com/dvm/article...il.jsp?id=85782

Another good site which explains antioxidants/vitamins etc. ....

Here's a interesting website. It lists the ingredients in lots of dog foods.

http://www.doberdogs.com/menu.html

VERY informative site - was quite impressed last night when I had a look, definately worth looking at !!!!!!

the only thing that was slightly vague was that it didn't specify a type of poultry (says poultry meal).

If it says Poutry Meal than that is good ... Poultry Meal has the same restrictions as the Meat Meal mentioned on my original post but it's Poutry not Meat that is used. "By-Products" of any description are not good !!

Buy Fresh Mince for your Family or Pet???? then check out this site which we originally came across when having problems with one of our children and "additive" problems in human grade food.....

http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/fea...s/sulphites.htm once opened click on YELLOW button for some alarming results

[Staranais]

I'm going to have to be the lone voice of dissent here...

When I first adopted my dog, he used to have terrible flatulence. Really killer farts, at least several times an evening. We tried feeding lots of different foods (supermarket kibble like Tux, vet clinic kibble like Eukanuba, wet food, dog roll, 95% BARF, etc etc). Nothing helped.

What stopped the flatulence? One particular supermarket brand. According to the label, it's pretty much full of non-meat crap and byproduct. So now he's on 50% BARF (for his health), 50% cheap kibble (for his bowels).

Go figure...

If anyone thinks they can explain this, they're welcome to go ahead!

[Beanzy]

With the internet being what it is (50 arguements for and an equal amount against) it's hard for a novice poochie parent such as myself to know what to feed.

I relied on advice from the vet (who recommended Hills Science which Beansy wouldn't eat) and advice from other far more experienced owners such as you guys.

I really enjoy threads like these for the above reasons but it's hard to figure out exactly what is best for my baby. Yesterdays visit to Pet Barn saw us return with Royal Canin in place of Hills so we'll see how that goes.

For the record, the BARF diet seems to give Beansy black sludge poos for some reason

[HuntinHound]

Alot of Vets recommend Hills Science Diet because Hills throw an awful lot of money at the Uni's etc etc... I've had several Vets & Vet Nurses confirm that they are encouraged to recommend/support Hills ....

Please don't think I am tying to tell you WHAT to feed your dog - that is certainly not my intention, I am just tying to point out that you need to do your OWN research about what YOU want to feed and be happy with your choices and comfortable they work for you

[HoundDog]

My biggest PET HATE ----BY-PRODUCTS------

You see it on most Premium pet food labels as the first or second ingredient.

As we know ingredients are listed in decending order of quanity.

Below is an extract of what is allowed by AFFCO as a by-product. Yummie......

"Meat By-product" could be viscera and blood soaked sawdust from the floors of a packing house where meat is being processed.meat being processed can be lamb, beef, horse, or any other source. Each one has its own IFN. Some of the animal feed IFN's that contain wood shavings from the floor of a processing facility include "Dried Ruminant Waste" #1-07-526, and "Undried Processed Animal Waste Products" #5-02-790. It is important to note that the amount of wood shavings in either of these two "Meat By-products" is limited and should not be more than 35% in one and 40% in the other. When a pet food label's list of ingredients shows the word By-product you can be assured that there is NO measurable amount of meat in the ingredient. If the ingredient contained enough meat that it could be measured the pet food company would proudly list the MEAT, not just the By-product of that meat's production.

[KitKat]

What stopped the flatulence? One particular supermarket brand. According to the label, it's pretty much full of non-meat crap and byproduct. So now he's on 50% BARF (for his health), 50% cheap kibble (for his bowels).

Go figure...

If anyone thinks they can explain this, they're welcome to go ahead!

:D

I can NOt all dogs will do well on all foods...even on hte premium foods...say they might do better on Proplan then Eagle Pack..or on RC rather then SD. Now those mentioned are great foods...but not every dog is going to perfectly suited to it. My older dog was brought up on Chum kibble and Pal kibble...and always looked incredible. As in when we went into the vets for vaccs they'd ask me which premium kibble he was on as he looked so good and healthy...And really there hasn't been much difference since i changed him onto half barf half premium kibble. Yet i noticed the difference in my GSD pup

All in all...go with what suits your dog

[Staranais]

I guess all dogs are different then.

I just think it's amusing that my boy's a poster boy for ultra-cheapie supermarket food. :D

[Koza]

yessss...its all very personal. Stella had very poor coat on BARF, and she looked fantastic and oily on SD Skin. And a few others in between. Solly looks good and poops good on anything (so far).