Dog Foods

"I've been studying up on alternative pet care for some time, and am interested to hear what people are feeding their dogs. Mine are on (or were until today) Nutro Natural Choice Lamb & Rice food.

Today was their first day on a home-made diet. I have never seen food disappear so fast! Wow!"

Response

I've been going to through the same thing lately and researching different foods. A good friend is swearing by a food called Abady. It is the stuff you see in the no graphics ads once in a while in the Dog magazines. Apparently it takes a long time to change over, and the stools are never as solid becuse they don't use beet pulp, or other stool firmers. It looks different, like shredded something or other.

I searched all over the Net for comparisons of food. There are some really good papers on how the indentification of components by weight etc. are arrived at through government legislation. Also some interesting insights into how volume by weight is not dependable because some items are measured dry, others wet. One of the first 3 ingredients listed (supposed to be the greatest by weight) often is actually the 5th or 6th when the water is taken away. Most of the comparisons though are by manufacturers, and when you learn to read the way the ingredients are listed, you can see where they conveniently leave out some competitors for certain comparisons. I finally did find one done by a vet (which didn't necessarily mean it would be accurate knowing what many vets sell). But it rated a bunch of foods for different things and generally rated as follows: (Descriptive ratings are my interpretations)

I am writing these down from memory so I may have a few mixed up, but I think you will catch the general drift. Remember these are what I read about somewhere, and are not my opinions. For the life of me, I haven't a clue how I got to this page and thought I'd bookmarked it. "Dog Food Comparison" might have been the search term I used.

BEST
Nature as in Wild Nature, as in dark forests

EXCELLENT
Home made with correct components (no need for preservatives, no boiling away or oven over-heating of good stuff, no fat dipping/oil coating to improve palatability etc. like in prepared foods (ever felt your fingers become greasy after touching some types of kibble?). Danger, is not developing a balanced home cooked diet with proper nutrition.

PRETTY GOOD
Abady, Natures Recipe, Wysong, Flint River, Dynamite

OK I GUESS - BUT ARE YOU GETTING WHAT YOU PAID FOR
Iams, Eukanuba, Pro Plan, Science Diet and a few other "Premiums" of similar ilk

I GUESS IF YOU HAVE TO
Purina and other medium market or standard dog foods and some "Premiums"

GARBAGE
Many grocery chain store types, low end big names or no-names

WORSE THAN ABOVE OR NOT EATING
Kibbles and Bits, Gravy Train, Chuck Wagon, many canned foods, foods shaped like miniature steaks and bones usually in different colours, general grocery store choices (not in all cases of course)

I may not be dead accurate on all of the last ones, but my main interest is from the Eukanuba type class upwards through - Pretty Good and Excellent.

We have changed over the years and were on Eukanuba most recently or previous to that other so-called premium foods. I have been quite happy about our current food, but then I start thinking and reading things here and there. You seem to hear good and bad stories about all of them at one time or another. We have had no success with Lamb & Rice anything (and I kind of like Lambs :-).

We are now thinking about change because I am concerned about preservatives (only eighteen million different kinds it seems!), the thinking that maybe we are being hyped by many of the so called premiums, learning much more about pulp additives (stool stiffeners etc.) toxic build up, and so on. Also a lot of dogs seem to be developing allergies just like people, so I wonder exactly what it is we are feeding them.

The frustrating problem is getting a truly independant analysis of these foods. I may try the Abady, or at least one of the Natures Recipe or Wysong. Maybe we will put 3 dogs each on several types of food to see if we develop a preference. I have never seen the other 2 Excellents (Dynamite and Flint River) products, at least we don't see them here. I am sure there are many others (because I think I visited most of their home pages) who would fit into all of the categories above.

We did the home recipe 4 or 5 years ago, but it was a real pain in the stove if I recall (with a lot fewer dogs); tough to do when travelling i.e. to shows as well.

After putting it off for the last little while, I think I am going to try and bury my head into the reams of boring USDA and other legislative documents about what the labels and contents on pet food packaging really mean (I think this is the real trick), and then compare and make an informed decision.