Kat's Perfect Puppies

Food.

Walk into Wal-Mart or Pet Store alike, and you are confronted with a plethora of foods. Most marketed with pictures that appeal to us rather than our pets, and many with advertising that is hard to forget. Just because that 40lb bag of science diet is $40, (and the fact most vets recommend it), doesn’t mean you are paying for quality. Just because Eukanuba sponcers breeder programs and dog shows, doesn’t mean you can’t find better for less. And just because those pedigree commercials are so cute, doesn’t mean your dog can digest most of it.

There are five most popular and different levels of dog food. Check your ingredients to see how yours compare.

1) Corn Meal.

If your first ingredient is corn meal, then you are definitely off the track of what you should be feeding your dog. Although many companies, like Purina with Beneful line, appeal to our sensible side of veggetables are healthy, dogs are carnivores and don’t process the protiens from most veggies and corns. The more corn in your dogs diet, the gassier he will be and the more he will poop as he will have to eat more of it to feel full.  His coat will probably suffer as well. Some vets will attempt to claim that puppies need the protiens in corn (carbs) to grow. What they don’t say is you can get this in other foods in other puppy diets with higher quality ingredients. Some Bil-Jac, alot of science diet, and all of Pedigree has this as the first ingredient.

2) Meat and Bone Meal.

What does this mean? Simple. Meat and Bone, from any animal, ground up. Do you really think feeding your dog bone meal is a good idea?

3) ____ by product.

Let’s say "chicken" by product, as that is the most common. This means that it is technically chicken, by product. This generally means no white meat, and includes beak, feet, organs, etc.  The same problem as the previous two apply--not as filling, dog has to eat more, and poops more because of it. Companies like Bil-Jac try and convince you that dogs eat this in the wild and therefore must be good. I challenge them to find a wild pack of yorkies.  Also, animals in the wild that are and can be domesticated, tend to live longer in captivity because we can meet their nutritional requirements that they can not often meet themselves on their own. Think about children who have to fend for themselves on the streets, versus children who are well cared for at home. The differences are vast in appearance and health.

4) [insert whole product here] ie. Chicken, Lamb, etc.

This is the sign of a good food. This means no by products, just whole product. Your dog will eat less of it, feel full faster, poop less and have less gas. There is only one more stage that is better as a first ingredient than this, and that is...

5) [insert whole product here] meal. ie. Chicken Meal, Lamb Meal, etc.

The difference in a whole product vs. a whole product meal, ie Chicken and Chicken Meal, doesn’t sound like much. By there is a difference.

Chicken is cooked,  and processed into the food.

Chicken meal, is dehydrated before being processed. There is roughly 5 lbs of chicken to 1lb of chicken meal.

Dehydration takes out all the water weight, and seals in the nutrients. If you have a 40 bag with Chicken as the 1 ingredient, lets say it has 15lbs of chicken in it, and another bag of 40lb food with 15lbs of chicken meal, your chicken meal bag really has about fivetimes that amount in chicken nutrients and protiens.

Nutro/Natural Choice, Diamond Naturals,  Planet Organic, Merrick and Nutri Source are just some of the brands that use meals and little or no by products or corn in their foods. I use and recommend Nutro Max/Natural Choice.

Each bag and formula of Nutro is also guaranteed to help the skin and coat of your pet. Puppy and Senior diets have glucosamine and chondrotin to help with growing or ailing bones/joints. They are also priced very competatively and less than Science Diet and Eukanuba, and have a frequent buyer program where you buy ten bags over the course of 14 months, and you get one free.