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What Is The Best Dog Food

Excellent question!  The answer is going to be about a chapter or so long as well.  This is another area that always generates a lot of controversy simply because of all the dog foods on the market that say they are balanced and complete.  If they were all balanced and complete and ideal for your dog, why are there so darn many of them?  And why do so many of them seem to cause problems for our dogs?

Speaking of problems with dog food will of course trigger the memory of the most recent devastating loss of canine and feline lives due to contaminated food. This was horrifying and widespread and opened the eyes of consumers about what was really in the food they were feeding their dogs.  And the information was NOT good. 

Various reports indicated the numbers of affected cats and dogs hit the 39,000 mark across the country.  Animals that were extremely sick or died due to the contamination of commercial pet foods with an industrial chemical – melamine, used to make plastics and fertilizers.  This chemical was found in more than 100 brands of pet food that were recalled in Canada and the USA starting in mid-March.  The major culprit was identified as rice protein concentrate (otherwise called rice gluten) NOT brown rice.  Then in June concerns were raised about reports of acetaminophen (Tylenol) being found in dog and cat food, followed by salmonella poisoning in others.  If you want to cruise through the FDA site for information (some of which is dated by now due to the passage of time) here is their url:

https://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html

The second chemical also found with the melamine was cyanuric acid - deadly when combined. And BOTH were found in the cat and dog food recall in March 2007. Cyanuric acid is commonly used to slow the breakdown of chlorine in swimming pools and hot tubs. It has NO place in pet food!

It was speculated then (and some still hold the same opinion now) that those two chemicals were in dog food because it was a sneaky and unethical way to increase the reported nitrogen content. 

This staggering pet food recall was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to discovering what was actually in the pet food people were feeding their pets.  Other things came to light – for instance many of the cheaper commercial brands of pet foods were nothing more than inferior meat meals, cheap grains like corn and soy, fillers, by-products, pesticides, preservatives and toxins. 

By the way, soy is on of the top cited allergens by Vets.  An allergen being a substance that causes severe allergic reactions. How severe?  Reactions can include coughing, sneezing, runny nose, hives, diahrrea, facial swelling, shortness of breath, swollen tongue, difficulty swallowing, fainting, anaphylactic shock – in other words it can KILL your dog.  Interestingly enough soy was known as a deadly allergen in the 1980's.  So that begs the question, so why is it still being used in dog foods?  So far no one is saying a word.

The bad news doesn't seem to stop there (with the above discoveries).  Although the food recall has largely stopped since the end of May 2007, you will still find commercial dog foods on the shelves with some of the poor ingredients listed above (corn, soy, wheat, etc.)  And that is not all.  There is further dismaying news in a book written by Ann Martin called Food Pets Die For. (https://cats.about.com/library/reviews/aafprfoodpetsdiefor.htm)

This particular book was seven years in the writing and covers thing like companion animals being used in pet food, a section on the legal sources of meat, carbohydrates and fiber used in pet food; hidden hazards in pet foods (rendering does not effectively degrade antibiotics and other drugs including phenobarbitol used to euthanize pets) etc.  It is definitely a book worth reading if you are concerned about what you are feeding your pets.

We'll also point you to another site belonging to Dr Wendell O. Belfield, D.V.M. who during the course of his veterinary career has seen things in the dog food industry relating to WHAT goes into dog food that would make you rethink what you feed your dog.  For Belfield's article go here:

https://www.belfield.com/article3.html

Just to give you an idea of what you will find in Belfield's experiences, and it's really not pretty: rendering plants that process decomposing animal carcasses, large road kill and euthanized dogs and cats into a dry protein product that is sold to the pet food industry.

There is one small plant in Quebec, Canada, that renders 22,000 pounds of dogs and cats per week. The Quebec Ministry of Agriculture states that "the fur is not removed from dogs and cats" and that "dead animals are cooked together with viscera, bones and fat at 115° C (235° F) for 20 minutes". 

Is the USDA Center for Veterinary Medicine aware of these practices?  Apparently they are and have said they have not specifically acted to prohibit rendering of pets – but that is not to say they condone using that material in pet food.  Some of the dead pets have been euthanized with sodium phenobarbitol, a drug that does NOT degrade when rendered.  It other words it survives the rendering process - a fact proven scientifically by researchers at the University of Minnesota.

The above rendered "product" has fat stabilizers added to stop it from going rancid.  Those stabilizers include BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) - both known to cause liver and kidney dysfunction - and ethoxyquin, a suspected carcinogen. Many semi-moist dog foods contain propylene glycol related to ethylene glycol (antifreeze), that destroys red blood-cells. Lead frequently shows up in pet foods, even those made from livestock meat and bone meal.

And what is vegetable protein then?  This is usually one of the mainstays of dry dog foods and includes ground yellow corn, wheat shorts and middlings, soybean meal (see above discussion on soy as an allergen), rice husks, peanut meal and peanut shells (called cellulose on labels).  None of these so called proteins has any oil, germ or bran left in them so they are deficient in essential fatty acids, fat-soluble vitamins and antioxidants.

And what is animal protein then?  Another staple in dry dog foods evidently can include roadkill, contaminated slaughterhouse material, fecal matter, rendered cats and dogs (see above discussion on this), and other matter.  The major source of animal protein is provided by dead-stock removal operations that specialize in dead, diseased, dying or disabled animals delivered to receiving plants for hide, meat and fat removal.  It is doused with charcoal and labeled unfit for humans, but is sold for inclusion in pet foods.

Been a bit of a trip hasn't it to this point finding out what things possibly go into your pet's food?  It's time to take a look at other alternatives.

PREMIUM COMMERCIAL FOODS – THE BEST BET FOR HEALTHY PETS?

This section will take a look at some of the top ranked commercial dry dog foods and give you a quick run down of the first top EIGHT ingredients in the bag.  It's usually the first eight that tell you the story of what is in the bag anyhow, so this will come in handy for you.

We will put the not so desirable ingredients in BLUE, and we're going to also give you a list of what ingredients you DON'T want in a dog food and the reasons why.  This list of popular dog foods is going to surprise you, because some of them are well known brand names that sell a higher end commercial dog food.

In part we are going to also teach you how to read a label with the following, so mark this page and keep it handy.

If you see the term meat by-products on the label, what this means is pet grade by-products are organs and other body parts not wanted or condemned for human consumption.  By-products are generally inferior sources of protein and can be difficult to digest, which means less nutrition and more clean up.   E.g. bones, blood, intestines, lungs, ligaments, heads, feet etc.  

Corn and any of its derivatives by any other name (and manufacturers will break it down into various components to make it look better) is difficult for dogs to digest.  It is a filler.  Soy, corn, corn gluten and wheat gluten are often used as protein sources; however, they are generally inferior and difficult to digest.

Food fragments listed on a label mean things like wheat bran and brewer's rice (a waste product from the alcohol industry).  These by-products point of origin is another food manufacturing process.

You'll see this next one listed often – meat and bone meal and beef and bone meal.  These are cheap sources of animal protein and many batches contain a large amount of bone, which is hard to digest and won't provide adequate nutrition.

Animal fat means a generic fat source of some nature, most often made up of rendered animal fat, used restaurant grease or other rancid oils not fit for humans.  What you want is a named source like poultry or chicken fat that is naturally preserved.  If you see beef tallow on the label, this means they have used a low quality fat product.

Look for chemical preservatives like butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate, propylene glycol and ethoxyquin. BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin are potentially cancer-causing agents. Remember your pet would be eating this mix at least twice a day for the length of his life.  Think about the build-up of harmful chemicals in his body. Artificial colors are also linked to health problems – in particular red dye.

Try to avoid foods that use sweeteners like corn syrup, sugar and cane molasses (added of course to increase the dog's desire to eat them – not a good sign to start with).  Added sugars aggravate health problems like diabetes and cause tooth decay, flatulence, lots of stool etc.

And a quick word on freshness, because frankly, you have no idea how long that bag of dog food has been packaged and sitting.  Many large manufacturers make pet food in huge batches that can last for a VERY long time thanks to chemical preservatives.  You may be feeding food that is six months to a year old.

A quick word about what chicken meal means, or any other meal like turkey, beef or lamb.  It is simply chicken that has been baked to remove bacteria and other toxins. Chicken is simply pure chicken, pure beef, lamb, turkey etc.

What people don't know about chicken etc., is that it is made mostly of water. If a label on a bag of dog food says 60 percent whole chicken, that's really misleading because it does not take into account how much of that 60 percent of chicken is left after baking it to remove unwanted substances!  So then the question is what makes up for the rest of the bulk?  Answer is usually grains or other fillers.  Which is what you don't want.

CONVERTING FROM WET TO DRY BASIS TO COMPARE 

This can be a bit tricky, but it's still doable.  As you will notice, all pet foods have a different level of moisture.   Canned can have up to 80 percent moisture whereas, some dry foods can have as little as 6 percent. Why does this make any difference to you – I mean you just buy the stuff and feed it right?  It makes a difference because first of all food is priced by the pound. So if you buy dog food that is 80 percent water, you get 20 percent food and the rest is water.   That also means you aren't feeding that much food and it's pricey.

Another reason to understand percent moisture is to let you compare crude protein and fat between brands and between canned and dry. The listings on the label are for the food as it is, not as it would be on a dry matter basis. So without converting both brands of food to a dry matter basis you can't compare them accurately. The conversion isn't that hard to do though, so that makes it easier for you.

For instance is a dry dog food has 10 percent moisture that means it has 90 percent dry matter. Look at the label and see what the protein level is – say it is 20 percent.  Divide the 20 percent protein by the 90 percent dry matter, which gives you 22 percent – THAT is the amount of protein on a dry matter basis.

Next canned conversion.  Say the can has 80 percent moisture.  That means 20 percent dry matter, and the label says 5 percent protein.  Divide the 5 percent by 20 percent and get 25 percent protein on a dry matter basis.  The canned food then has more protein per pound on a dry matter basis after all the water is taken out.   You can do the same for fat, fiber, etc.

And now on to the most popular foods and what is in them.  Remember the BLUE ingredients are ones you would not really want in your dog's food.