DOG FOOD 101 LETS GO ----->

I've been wanting to write something of this magnitude for my customers, clients and whomever has a love for animals (dogs in particular) to read. If you ever stop by a Pet Co/PetsMart you'll probably never get the real facts since it is there job to push what foods they have on there shelves instead of what is really good for dogs. It is important to note that there is not a specific food in the market that will work for every breed, age or affordability.

This is going to be a 2 - 3 part series on dog food. the good, bad and ugly of it all. Hope by reading this you'll understand how important it is for us to really do something to change what's going on within the pet industry and to change our dogs diets especially if they aren't eating a better quality food.


I will begin by choosing a food, not by name but by how many people come in and say that they feed this specific food and how it's good cause they "heard" it was good and there veterinarian told them it was too. Here is the order of ingredients as taking from their website.

  Ground Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Dried Egg Product, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Vitamin E Supplement, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

What you need to know is that the first five (5) in order of ingredients make up 50 - 70% of your dogs food. So lets take the time to break down the ingredients one by one. 

Ground whole grain corn - what you need to know is that corn offers very little nutritional value to dogs. Corn is a subsidized commodity. It's abundant in the states and inexpensive for manufacturers to purchase. We humans cannot digest corn and we have a very complex digestive system, so how do we expect our dogs too? Corn is not a staple in a dogs diet, since dogs are carnivorous they wouldn't even think about ingesting it into there diets. Let me make a mention that the usage of corn here so early in the ingredient panel is to help push the protein levels (percentage in this case 24%) but keep in mind that dogs do not possess the digestive enzymes needed to break it down. Corn is also a main culprit as to why dogs develop skin, ear and urinary tract issues.  
Chicken By-Product Meal - this one is a little tricky, since it is a chicken that is stated in the ingredient panel, therefore yes it is chicken but if you read along it also states By-Product. What a By-Product is everything of the chicken we humans don't eat. The feet, beak, feathers, entrails, etc. What makes matter's worse is that in the pet industry, By-Products are labeled the 4 D's. 
4 D's are any animal in this case, chicken that is Diseased, Dying, Debilitated or Decaying can and will be used in the process and manufacturing of a dog food but labeled a By-Product. Simply put, if a chicken has Avian Flu it can be used in the food still fully intact yet has to be labeled a by-product. What really needs to be understood here is the fact that a cheaply purchased protein source is being used and passed along as chicken on the bag of food.

Animal Fat - every food has a fat source of some kind. In this case, it states Animal fat, when it is written as such you need to know its is impossible to determine where it comes from since there not being specific. What is not known but widely used is the fact that a majority of fat source meats also includes animals euthanize at shelters (dogs), think if they are using euthanize animals which carries the euthanasia still in there blood stream after death. your dog is absorbing trace amounts of it every time it eats. 

Dried Beet Pulp - im kinda in the middle on this ingredient, mainly for its use as a binding fiber. In this case since it's being used for a rather cheaply made food then i have to agree that it's not the best ingredient/usage of its nutritional value. other's believe that it is used to slow rancid fats commonly used in dogs foods which can cause issues with the liver and kidneys.  

SoyBean Oil - SoyBean's has been used extensively by many dog food companies to help push the protein levels up. keep in mind we are feeding a dog here, grains do contain protein but not a viable protein source for a carnivorous animal to digest since they lack the digestive enzymes to do so. In the case of Soy being used, the essence of an oil is being used cause it's basically a cheaper way to get it in the food.  

Since the first 5 ingredients are what makes up the food i feel that we should take a look at the next two since they actually have much bearing to this food. Dried Egg Product and Flaxseed is thrown in there mainly again to push the protein levels up and help with promoting great skin/coat respectively. You'll notice that i make a mention quite a few times the fact that protein levels are being pushed up by the usage of some ingredients, Eggs as we all know is a great protein source yet really a Dried Egg Product is just what it is, a powderized version. Most of the times the actual egg shell is crushed to add to the mix. Flaxseed is actually one of the shining points in this ingredient panel but its the 7th ingredient, very little of it is actually used. 

Keep in mind im not trying to bash any food or company, simply educate my readers, friends, clients and customers as to what they should know about the foods on the market today. Part 2 of the Real Dog Food story coming up....