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A happy dog is a healthy dog.
Your dog's health depends on you. Without healthy food, good grooming, plenty of exercise (for body and mind) and proper veterinary care, a dog is doomed to a short and unhappy life. Of course, you can't prevent all illnesses or accidents from happening, but you can give your dog the best possible chance at a long, happy, meaningful life.
It seems like nobody ever teaches dog owners about dog food. I think nutrition is an elective in vet school. My first vet, back when I was an ignorant, average dog owner, told me that Puppy Chow is a good food. It's not! Store owners may try to steer you toward the food that makes them the most money. My first step away from Dog Chow was when I got a bag that was rotten, took it back to PetSmart, and the manager taking the return said, "Hey, why don't you try a better food instead?" Which was good, then he got me to buy Authority, which, it turned out, was PetSmart's store brand, and not really much better than Dog Chow. Most dog owners will tell you what they feed their dogs, and will think that brand is great, so how do you know what's really good? To make matters worse, it can be hard to find a high-quality brand you're interested in at large pet stores like PetSmart. You have to go to smaller, locally owned stores (which I highly recommend anyway - support local business!,) feed stores, or online. The reason behind this is that most really good foods aren't preserved with the chemical preservatives that allow larger stores to stockpile the product in a warehouse for months on end before distributing it. The big stores have been working on this, though, as more people switch to more natural foods. I don't have a PetSmart near me anymore, but the selection at Petco and Pet Supplies Plus includes several high-quality, all-natural brands.
There are three main philosophies: 1: commercially prepared food, whether dry, canned, or a combination of both; 2: raw food (also called BARF, for Bones And Raw Food, or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, depending on who you talk to); and 3: home-cooked meals. The first step to choosing a good food for your dog is to determine which philosophy works best for you. Oddly enough, this topic is one of the most hot-button topics in all of dogdom. People get very passionate about the side they've chosen, and it is difficult to find a clear, unbiased source of information. I will do my best to close that gap.
Now, most of us, myself included, prefer the convenience of commercially prepared food. Not only is it easy to buy, to have ready when you need it, and to measure appropriate portions, but it is also guaranteed to provide the proper levels of nutrients your dog needs to live a healthy, long life. Assuming the company you choose keeps up on the latest research, that is. More on that later. For those who would like to feed raw, several manufacturers have now begun packaging frozen raw diets, so raw feeding is much more convenient than it used to be when your only choice was to make it yourself. It can be purchased in logs or medallions and easily measured. What it still lacks in convenience is that it takes up a lot of freezer space to stock up, you have to remember to thaw it out, and as with any raw food, keep surfaces, bowls, utensils, and hands especially clean. How much inconvenience you're willing to deal with will depend on how strongly you feel about the benefits.
Raw diets, or BARF diets, were developed and brought to popularity by a Dr. Ian Billinghurst. The theory is two-fold: 1, that commercially prepared diets are bad for our pets and actually cause them to develop illnesses, diseases, etc., and 2, that raw meaty bones and scraps are what dogs evolved to eat in the wild, and cooking kills necessary enzymes and nutrients, so the best diet for dogs simulates this natural approach. Now, it is true that some commercial dog foods use chemicals and other odd things in them that could potentially build up in a dog's system over time and make them sick. The 2007 occurence of contaminated gluten that caused the vast majority of commercial dog foods to be recalled is an example. However, the risk of this affecting your dog can be greatly reduced by choosing a high-quality food made by a manufacturer that only has one or two lines and doesn't outsource their production to mass-manufacturers where ingredients are shared among many different brands. Also, in fairness, it must be noted that raw food still carries the risk of salmonella, e. coli, or other bacteria or parasites (even if you make it yourself,) and manufactured, pre-packaged raw food has the same potential for poorly sourced or contaminated ingredients as any other manufactured food of the same quality.
The second point is much more subjective. Supporters say that dogs evolved to eat a certain type of food, so we should give them that food. Opponents say that wild dogs only live to be 3-6 years old; dogs have evolved much more quickly, and in some unplanned ways, at the hands of manipulative humans, than they ever did in the wild, so how do you know they haven't lost their ability to efficiently process raw food; they can choke on bones; and dogs aren't hunters anyway, they are scavengers, so why don't you feed your dogs the garbage? The truth of the matter is, no one has ever proven that raw food is any better or worse than a high-quality commercial kibble. So my personal belief is, if they haven't proved it's better, why not just stick with a good kibble, which is so much easier? But, if making your dog's food yourself is something you have the time and desire to do, you get a huge benefit in that you know exectly what your dog is eating and where it came from, preventing them from eating nasty chemicals like that recalled gluten. If feeding raw appeals to you and you're interested in learning more, try this site: http://www.barfworld.com/html/barf_diet/barfdiet.shtml
Now, for the few people who like the idea of knowing exactly what their pet is eating and don't mind preparing a diet themselves, but really don't like the risks of bacteria or choking that come with the raw diet, there is the home-cooked diet. Much like the do-it-yourself raw diet, only you cook it first. If I had the time, money and patience to cook for my dogs, this is what I would do. The problem with either the raw or home-cooked diet is that there are a bazillion places to get recipes, and the vast majority of them are not prepared by veterinary nutritionists and could be severely off-balance or lacking in necessary nutrients. Feeding dogs the family's leftovers is what people used to do before commercial dog food became popular in the 1950s. The reason even the crummy commercial dog foods can say that they extend the life of your pet is because they are, in fact, much better than just feeding your dog the family leftovers. To have a healthy, successful home-cooked diet that is better for your pet than a commercial food, you would need to consult a veterinary nutritionist. There is an excellent website for that here: http://www.petdiets.com/ which also has a lot of good information on nutrition in general. They have a generic recipe available, or you can pay extra and have them develop one specifically for your dog, which is probably the best way to go.
Now, for commercial diets. First of all, when considering wet or dry food, it’s easy, go with dry as your staple. Dry food helps keep their teeth clean, and they eat a lot less of it than canned food (a Labrador Retriever that eats 2 1/2 cups of dry food daily would have to eat something like 6 full-size cans a day of wet food!) If you want to add a little extra tastiness to your dog's meals, you can mix the two together, but the recommended amounts for mixing usually end up with feeding a dog like a cup and a half of dry food and a quarter can of wet food a day, which means you have to keep the open can in the fridge. I started doing this with canned food used to give Bandit his medicine, and it isn’t that much of a hassle. When Juneau went through his refusing to eat anything phase, I used a mix of dry and canned food to encourage him to eat (with varying degrees of success,) and it eventually just became habit, but you can get similar benefits simply by adding a little warm water to your dog’s dry food. Also, if you are mixing wet with dry, I highly recommend brushing your dog's teeth.
Now, how to choose a good food: look at the ingredients and learn how to read them. The number one ingredient should be real meat and/or meat meal from a specific animal. If it is meat and not meat meal, then two of the top four ingredients should be meat or meat meal. Meat (whether it be chicken, beef, lamb, etc.) is the muscle tissue of the animal. Meat meal is the same thing, but it has been dehydrated and flaked or powdered to make it easier to mix. Ingredients are listed by raw weight, and meat weighs a lot more than meat meal because of the water in it, so all other things being equal, a food with meat meal first is better than a food with meat first.
One thing to look out for is by-product. What you will see a lot of on your popular low cost foods, even the so-called “premium” foods like Pro-Plan, Eukanuba, or Science Diet, is some sort of meat by-product or meat by-product meal. This ingredient is, in my opinion, pretty disgusting. In can be just about any part of the animal, including organs such as lungs, gizzards, intestines, beaks and feet, etc. I believe the only part of a chicken they can’t use is the feathers. Sometimes they don't even tell you what animal it's from. "Poultry by-product meal" could be chicken, turkey, duck, goose, pigeon, any kind of bird, and it may vary from batch to batch, which can be difficult for some dogs to digest. "Meat by-product meal" is scarier yet, as you don't know even what class of animal it's from. Could be beef, pork, sheep, fish, poultry... or it could be horse, rat, elephant, who knows? Even if they stick with the normal food animals, most of the good stuff goes to human food, so what do you think the majority of the pet food industry is going to get? The leftover parts we won't eat, and the animals that are deemed unfit for human consumption, like the cows that died on the way to the slaughterhouse. Yuck! Of course, if you are of the mindset that dogs eat gross things and it should be perfectly healthy for them, then fine. I, personally, would never give that stuff to my dogs on purpose.
The next thing to look out for is corn. Corn is commonly used as a “filler” grain in lower quality dog foods. It is generally indigestible by the dog, but it helps them feel full. It also comes out the other end. A dog food with a lot of corn in it is likely to produce much larger stools than one without. And guess who gets to clean THAT up? Corn, wheat, and soy are also three of the most common allergy-causing ingredients, but few dogs have food allergies, so that’s not such a big deal unless you have a breed prone to allergies. Recently, "grain-free" or "low-carb" foods have become more prevalent. Dogs do not require carbohydrates for energy like humans do. Their bodies process fat and protein differently than ours, and while carbs don't necessarily hurt them, they're not all that important either. Going back to the natural approach of what dogs ate in the wild, while they might chew on leaves, grass, or fruits, the only grains in a wild dog's diet would be the partially digested stomach contents of a prey animal. Again, there is no study showing that grain-free foods are any better or worse than a similar food with grains, so your choice here is again a matter of personal taste and your individual dog's needs. The food that finally helped break Juneau out of a seven-month-long anxiety-driven hunger strike was a grain-free food called Nature's Variety Instinct, which, incidentally, has the added benefit of coming in a "Raw Boost" variety that includes freeze-dried raw pellets mixed in with the kibble. He has done so well on this food that I now try to make sure all of his treats are grain-free as well, but Colt lived to be 16 (rare for a black lab) on foods with rice and barley in them, so I have nothing against those!
Other things you can look for to identify a high-quality food are the use of “human grade” ingredients (meaning they DON'T use the animals that are unfit for human consumption,) organic ingredients, etc. The animal source is a matter of personal taste unless the dog has an allergy. Chicken, beef, and lamb are all equally nutritious, and there are also formulas out there that use venison, bison, duck, or fish. It may be grain-free or may have rice or barley instead of corn as the carbohydrate source, and lots of fruits and veggies to provide vitamins. A lesser-quality food will be made from by-product meal, corn, and will have lots of added vitamins and minerals because they don’t occur naturally in its ingredients.
An example of a lower-quality food:
Whole grain corn, poultry by-product meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), corn gluten meal, meat and bone meal, brewers rice, soybean meal, barley, whole grain wheat, animal digest, calcium carbonate, salt, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2, Yellow 6), DL-Methionine, manganese sulfate, manganese proteinate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, copper proteinate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, Vitamin B-12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin D-3 supplement, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.
Red flags: Corn is the number 1 ingredient! Poultry by-product meal is used, and the only other meat listed is "meat and bone meal," which would be great if it was, say, "chicken meat and bone meal," but "meat" by itself could be literally any animal that they happened to have on hand that day. Wheat and soy are also used, common allergens in dogs. There are no natural sources of vitamins other than the grains. They’ve added color. Why? Dogs don’t care what color their kibble is!
A medium-quality food:
Chicken, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Ground Whole Grain Wheat, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Brewers Rice, Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Oil, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, 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), minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), DL-Methionine, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.
Good: it uses real meat and some healthy things like biotin, flaxseed and rosemary. All of the meat sources are named as chicken.
Bad: Chicken is probably only the number one ingredient because of its water weight. Corn is probably truly the most prevalent ingredient. Also, it uses by-products, soy and wheat.
A high-quality food:
Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Pork Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Anchovy, Sardine & Salmon Meals, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Tomato Pomace, Menhaden Fish Oil, Carrots, Peas, Sun-Cured Alfalfa, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Quinoa (Organic), Blueberries, Apples, Inulin, Beta-Carotene, Cranberries, Dehydrated Kelp, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Pantothenic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Choline Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Biotin, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Inositol, Polysaccharide Complexes of Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Copper and Cobalt, Potassium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Lactobacillus acidophilus Lactobacillus casei, Enterococcus faecium, B. subtillus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus coagulins, Aspergillus oryzae, and Aspergillus niger
This food uses no by-products, chicken meal (dehydrated) is the number one ingredient, and look at all the other (named) sources of meat: chicken meal, pork meal, anchovy, sardine, & salmon meal. There is no corn, wheat or soy, instead sticking with rice and oatmeal, which are more digestible, lots of fruits and veggies for vitamins, and even some added prebiotics and probiotics (the "good bacteria" that helps support digestion.)
Now, the good news is, after the 2007 gluten recall, a lot of people started switching brands, so a lot of the major manufacturers started making better-quality foods. The bad news is, they’re still going to have chemical preservatives and shared ingredients from possibly unhealthy places (the contaminated gluten came from China, notorious for poor food quality control.) I like to stick with smaller companies that have a dedicated philosophy of wellness, not low cost profitability, and who source their own ingredients and manufacture their own food instead of contracting it out. Some good brands that are fairly easy to find are Holistic Select, Nature's Variety, Innova, and Solid Gold. I would recommend checking out these and other high-quality brand websites to see which company you like best, which one you can find near you, and which one has a formula that works best for you and your dog.
Also, check out their company philosophy and see if you can tell if they keep up with the latest research. I used to feed Bandit a food called Wellness, until I adopted Juneau and realized they did not have a large breed formula, but yet they had low-carb foods, which at the time were newly emerging more as a fad than as a grain-free movement. Curious, I emailed them about it, and I never got a response. Then, as I was researching large breed foods from Holistic Select (which at the time was not affiliated with Wellness - they were bought later, much to my dismay,) I came across an article from Purina about how recent research had indicated that senior dogs, who were previously thought to need less protein than normal adults due to decreased kidney function, actually needed MORE protein than adults to help maintain their muscle mass. As Wellness’s website showed no indication of knowing about this research or developing a new, high-protein senior formula, I immediately switched Bandit to Holistic Select‘s senior formula, and after a few weeks, I could definitely see a difference in the strength of his back legs as he regained muscle mass.
Once you've chosen a brand and formula, stick with it unless it isn't sitting well with your dog. Most dogs don't mind eating the same thing every day, and switching foods abruptly can cause a lot of intestinal discomfort (and nasty messes to clean up!) If your dog gobbles up all of his food within a few minutes of you giving it to him, he's happy with it! If your chosen brand is specially designed for variety, also called rotation feeding, such as Nature's Variety, you may be able to vary which flavor you give your dog, but watch carefully for changes in your dog's appetite and bowel habits, and if it's uncomfortable for them, don't do it. As an example, through experimentation, I found that Juneau's favorite is duck and turkey, but he also likes chicken, and I can switch him from one to the other without any problems, but beef gives him the runs and he doesn't like lamb, venison or fish (a sled dog that won't eat salmon? Seriously? Yeah, Juneau's just weird like that.) I don't feed him their rabbit formula because their rabbits are the one ingredient they get from China, and I just don't trust China no matter how many great inspections the farm gets. Plus, it drastically increases your carbon footprint if your food is flown halfway around the world, but that's a completely different subject.
There has been some research showing that animals which get a lot of variety in their diet when they are young are less likely to be picky eaters or develop allergies when they are older, so puppyhood may be the best time to experiment with brands and meat sources to find what works best for you and your dog. You will still probably have to switch from puppy food to adult food as they grow, but by then you will probably have a good idea of what you're going to switch to, and the transition will be easier for your adolescent pup. Don't be afraid to experiment even with an adult dog, just make sure you introduce new foods gradually by mixing them with the current food, and be willing to react appropriately to poorly tolerated foods. During our experimental phase, it was pretty obvious that Juneau thought Solid Gold (a favorite of some) was disgusting. So we donated the bag, which was about 90% full, to the animal shelter.
Hopefully this article has been helpful, and you now feel informed and well-armed for your next trip to the pet store. Good luck and happy feeding for happy dogs!
There are three main philosophies: 1: commercially prepared food, whether dry, canned, or a combination of both; 2: raw food (also called BARF, for Bones And Raw Food, or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, depending on who you talk to); and 3: home-cooked meals. The first step to choosing a good food for your dog is to determine which philosophy works best for you. Oddly enough, this topic is one of the most hot-button topics in all of dogdom. People get very passionate about the side they've chosen, and it is difficult to find a clear, unbiased source of information. I will do my best to close that gap.
Now, most of us, myself included, prefer the convenience of commercially prepared food. Not only is it easy to buy, to have ready when you need it, and to measure appropriate portions, but it is also guaranteed to provide the proper levels of nutrients your dog needs to live a healthy, long life. Assuming the company you choose keeps up on the latest research, that is. More on that later. For those who would like to feed raw, several manufacturers have now begun packaging frozen raw diets, so raw feeding is much more convenient than it used to be when your only choice was to make it yourself. It can be purchased in logs or medallions and easily measured. What it still lacks in convenience is that it takes up a lot of freezer space to stock up, you have to remember to thaw it out, and as with any raw food, keep surfaces, bowls, utensils, and hands especially clean. How much inconvenience you're willing to deal with will depend on how strongly you feel about the benefits.
Raw diets, or BARF diets, were developed and brought to popularity by a Dr. Ian Billinghurst. The theory is two-fold: 1, that commercially prepared diets are bad for our pets and actually cause them to develop illnesses, diseases, etc., and 2, that raw meaty bones and scraps are what dogs evolved to eat in the wild, and cooking kills necessary enzymes and nutrients, so the best diet for dogs simulates this natural approach. Now, it is true that some commercial dog foods use chemicals and other odd things in them that could potentially build up in a dog's system over time and make them sick. The 2007 occurence of contaminated gluten that caused the vast majority of commercial dog foods to be recalled is an example. However, the risk of this affecting your dog can be greatly reduced by choosing a high-quality food made by a manufacturer that only has one or two lines and doesn't outsource their production to mass-manufacturers where ingredients are shared among many different brands. Also, in fairness, it must be noted that raw food still carries the risk of salmonella, e. coli, or other bacteria or parasites (even if you make it yourself,) and manufactured, pre-packaged raw food has the same potential for poorly sourced or contaminated ingredients as any other manufactured food of the same quality.
The second point is much more subjective. Supporters say that dogs evolved to eat a certain type of food, so we should give them that food. Opponents say that wild dogs only live to be 3-6 years old; dogs have evolved much more quickly, and in some unplanned ways, at the hands of manipulative humans, than they ever did in the wild, so how do you know they haven't lost their ability to efficiently process raw food; they can choke on bones; and dogs aren't hunters anyway, they are scavengers, so why don't you feed your dogs the garbage? The truth of the matter is, no one has ever proven that raw food is any better or worse than a high-quality commercial kibble. So my personal belief is, if they haven't proved it's better, why not just stick with a good kibble, which is so much easier? But, if making your dog's food yourself is something you have the time and desire to do, you get a huge benefit in that you know exectly what your dog is eating and where it came from, preventing them from eating nasty chemicals like that recalled gluten. If feeding raw appeals to you and you're interested in learning more, try this site: http://www.barfworld.com/html/barf_diet/barfdiet.shtml
Now, for the few people who like the idea of knowing exactly what their pet is eating and don't mind preparing a diet themselves, but really don't like the risks of bacteria or choking that come with the raw diet, there is the home-cooked diet. Much like the do-it-yourself raw diet, only you cook it first. If I had the time, money and patience to cook for my dogs, this is what I would do. The problem with either the raw or home-cooked diet is that there are a bazillion places to get recipes, and the vast majority of them are not prepared by veterinary nutritionists and could be severely off-balance or lacking in necessary nutrients. Feeding dogs the family's leftovers is what people used to do before commercial dog food became popular in the 1950s. The reason even the crummy commercial dog foods can say that they extend the life of your pet is because they are, in fact, much better than just feeding your dog the family leftovers. To have a healthy, successful home-cooked diet that is better for your pet than a commercial food, you would need to consult a veterinary nutritionist. There is an excellent website for that here: http://www.petdiets.com/ which also has a lot of good information on nutrition in general. They have a generic recipe available, or you can pay extra and have them develop one specifically for your dog, which is probably the best way to go.
Now, for commercial diets. First of all, when considering wet or dry food, it’s easy, go with dry as your staple. Dry food helps keep their teeth clean, and they eat a lot less of it than canned food (a Labrador Retriever that eats 2 1/2 cups of dry food daily would have to eat something like 6 full-size cans a day of wet food!) If you want to add a little extra tastiness to your dog's meals, you can mix the two together, but the recommended amounts for mixing usually end up with feeding a dog like a cup and a half of dry food and a quarter can of wet food a day, which means you have to keep the open can in the fridge. I started doing this with canned food used to give Bandit his medicine, and it isn’t that much of a hassle. When Juneau went through his refusing to eat anything phase, I used a mix of dry and canned food to encourage him to eat (with varying degrees of success,) and it eventually just became habit, but you can get similar benefits simply by adding a little warm water to your dog’s dry food. Also, if you are mixing wet with dry, I highly recommend brushing your dog's teeth.
Now, how to choose a good food: look at the ingredients and learn how to read them. The number one ingredient should be real meat and/or meat meal from a specific animal. If it is meat and not meat meal, then two of the top four ingredients should be meat or meat meal. Meat (whether it be chicken, beef, lamb, etc.) is the muscle tissue of the animal. Meat meal is the same thing, but it has been dehydrated and flaked or powdered to make it easier to mix. Ingredients are listed by raw weight, and meat weighs a lot more than meat meal because of the water in it, so all other things being equal, a food with meat meal first is better than a food with meat first.
One thing to look out for is by-product. What you will see a lot of on your popular low cost foods, even the so-called “premium” foods like Pro-Plan, Eukanuba, or Science Diet, is some sort of meat by-product or meat by-product meal. This ingredient is, in my opinion, pretty disgusting. In can be just about any part of the animal, including organs such as lungs, gizzards, intestines, beaks and feet, etc. I believe the only part of a chicken they can’t use is the feathers. Sometimes they don't even tell you what animal it's from. "Poultry by-product meal" could be chicken, turkey, duck, goose, pigeon, any kind of bird, and it may vary from batch to batch, which can be difficult for some dogs to digest. "Meat by-product meal" is scarier yet, as you don't know even what class of animal it's from. Could be beef, pork, sheep, fish, poultry... or it could be horse, rat, elephant, who knows? Even if they stick with the normal food animals, most of the good stuff goes to human food, so what do you think the majority of the pet food industry is going to get? The leftover parts we won't eat, and the animals that are deemed unfit for human consumption, like the cows that died on the way to the slaughterhouse. Yuck! Of course, if you are of the mindset that dogs eat gross things and it should be perfectly healthy for them, then fine. I, personally, would never give that stuff to my dogs on purpose.
The next thing to look out for is corn. Corn is commonly used as a “filler” grain in lower quality dog foods. It is generally indigestible by the dog, but it helps them feel full. It also comes out the other end. A dog food with a lot of corn in it is likely to produce much larger stools than one without. And guess who gets to clean THAT up? Corn, wheat, and soy are also three of the most common allergy-causing ingredients, but few dogs have food allergies, so that’s not such a big deal unless you have a breed prone to allergies. Recently, "grain-free" or "low-carb" foods have become more prevalent. Dogs do not require carbohydrates for energy like humans do. Their bodies process fat and protein differently than ours, and while carbs don't necessarily hurt them, they're not all that important either. Going back to the natural approach of what dogs ate in the wild, while they might chew on leaves, grass, or fruits, the only grains in a wild dog's diet would be the partially digested stomach contents of a prey animal. Again, there is no study showing that grain-free foods are any better or worse than a similar food with grains, so your choice here is again a matter of personal taste and your individual dog's needs. The food that finally helped break Juneau out of a seven-month-long anxiety-driven hunger strike was a grain-free food called Nature's Variety Instinct, which, incidentally, has the added benefit of coming in a "Raw Boost" variety that includes freeze-dried raw pellets mixed in with the kibble. He has done so well on this food that I now try to make sure all of his treats are grain-free as well, but Colt lived to be 16 (rare for a black lab) on foods with rice and barley in them, so I have nothing against those!
Other things you can look for to identify a high-quality food are the use of “human grade” ingredients (meaning they DON'T use the animals that are unfit for human consumption,) organic ingredients, etc. The animal source is a matter of personal taste unless the dog has an allergy. Chicken, beef, and lamb are all equally nutritious, and there are also formulas out there that use venison, bison, duck, or fish. It may be grain-free or may have rice or barley instead of corn as the carbohydrate source, and lots of fruits and veggies to provide vitamins. A lesser-quality food will be made from by-product meal, corn, and will have lots of added vitamins and minerals because they don’t occur naturally in its ingredients.
An example of a lower-quality food:
Whole grain corn, poultry by-product meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), corn gluten meal, meat and bone meal, brewers rice, soybean meal, barley, whole grain wheat, animal digest, calcium carbonate, salt, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2, Yellow 6), DL-Methionine, manganese sulfate, manganese proteinate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, copper proteinate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, Vitamin B-12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin D-3 supplement, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.
Red flags: Corn is the number 1 ingredient! Poultry by-product meal is used, and the only other meat listed is "meat and bone meal," which would be great if it was, say, "chicken meat and bone meal," but "meat" by itself could be literally any animal that they happened to have on hand that day. Wheat and soy are also used, common allergens in dogs. There are no natural sources of vitamins other than the grains. They’ve added color. Why? Dogs don’t care what color their kibble is!
A medium-quality food:
Chicken, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Ground Whole Grain Wheat, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Brewers Rice, Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Oil, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, 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), minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), DL-Methionine, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.
Good: it uses real meat and some healthy things like biotin, flaxseed and rosemary. All of the meat sources are named as chicken.
Bad: Chicken is probably only the number one ingredient because of its water weight. Corn is probably truly the most prevalent ingredient. Also, it uses by-products, soy and wheat.
A high-quality food:
Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Pork Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Anchovy, Sardine & Salmon Meals, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Tomato Pomace, Menhaden Fish Oil, Carrots, Peas, Sun-Cured Alfalfa, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Quinoa (Organic), Blueberries, Apples, Inulin, Beta-Carotene, Cranberries, Dehydrated Kelp, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Pantothenic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Choline Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Biotin, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Inositol, Polysaccharide Complexes of Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Copper and Cobalt, Potassium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Lactobacillus acidophilus Lactobacillus casei, Enterococcus faecium, B. subtillus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus coagulins, Aspergillus oryzae, and Aspergillus niger
This food uses no by-products, chicken meal (dehydrated) is the number one ingredient, and look at all the other (named) sources of meat: chicken meal, pork meal, anchovy, sardine, & salmon meal. There is no corn, wheat or soy, instead sticking with rice and oatmeal, which are more digestible, lots of fruits and veggies for vitamins, and even some added prebiotics and probiotics (the "good bacteria" that helps support digestion.)
Now, the good news is, after the 2007 gluten recall, a lot of people started switching brands, so a lot of the major manufacturers started making better-quality foods. The bad news is, they’re still going to have chemical preservatives and shared ingredients from possibly unhealthy places (the contaminated gluten came from China, notorious for poor food quality control.) I like to stick with smaller companies that have a dedicated philosophy of wellness, not low cost profitability, and who source their own ingredients and manufacture their own food instead of contracting it out. Some good brands that are fairly easy to find are Holistic Select, Nature's Variety, Innova, and Solid Gold. I would recommend checking out these and other high-quality brand websites to see which company you like best, which one you can find near you, and which one has a formula that works best for you and your dog.
Also, check out their company philosophy and see if you can tell if they keep up with the latest research. I used to feed Bandit a food called Wellness, until I adopted Juneau and realized they did not have a large breed formula, but yet they had low-carb foods, which at the time were newly emerging more as a fad than as a grain-free movement. Curious, I emailed them about it, and I never got a response. Then, as I was researching large breed foods from Holistic Select (which at the time was not affiliated with Wellness - they were bought later, much to my dismay,) I came across an article from Purina about how recent research had indicated that senior dogs, who were previously thought to need less protein than normal adults due to decreased kidney function, actually needed MORE protein than adults to help maintain their muscle mass. As Wellness’s website showed no indication of knowing about this research or developing a new, high-protein senior formula, I immediately switched Bandit to Holistic Select‘s senior formula, and after a few weeks, I could definitely see a difference in the strength of his back legs as he regained muscle mass.
Once you've chosen a brand and formula, stick with it unless it isn't sitting well with your dog. Most dogs don't mind eating the same thing every day, and switching foods abruptly can cause a lot of intestinal discomfort (and nasty messes to clean up!) If your dog gobbles up all of his food within a few minutes of you giving it to him, he's happy with it! If your chosen brand is specially designed for variety, also called rotation feeding, such as Nature's Variety, you may be able to vary which flavor you give your dog, but watch carefully for changes in your dog's appetite and bowel habits, and if it's uncomfortable for them, don't do it. As an example, through experimentation, I found that Juneau's favorite is duck and turkey, but he also likes chicken, and I can switch him from one to the other without any problems, but beef gives him the runs and he doesn't like lamb, venison or fish (a sled dog that won't eat salmon? Seriously? Yeah, Juneau's just weird like that.) I don't feed him their rabbit formula because their rabbits are the one ingredient they get from China, and I just don't trust China no matter how many great inspections the farm gets. Plus, it drastically increases your carbon footprint if your food is flown halfway around the world, but that's a completely different subject.
There has been some research showing that animals which get a lot of variety in their diet when they are young are less likely to be picky eaters or develop allergies when they are older, so puppyhood may be the best time to experiment with brands and meat sources to find what works best for you and your dog. You will still probably have to switch from puppy food to adult food as they grow, but by then you will probably have a good idea of what you're going to switch to, and the transition will be easier for your adolescent pup. Don't be afraid to experiment even with an adult dog, just make sure you introduce new foods gradually by mixing them with the current food, and be willing to react appropriately to poorly tolerated foods. During our experimental phase, it was pretty obvious that Juneau thought Solid Gold (a favorite of some) was disgusting. So we donated the bag, which was about 90% full, to the animal shelter.
Hopefully this article has been helpful, and you now feel informed and well-armed for your next trip to the pet store. Good luck and happy feeding for happy dogs!
Good nutrition is the foundation for a healthy body, but good grooming is extremely important as well. Good grooming doesn't just mean baths, brushing, and fancy haircuts. Probably the most overlooked area of grooming is dental care.
Approximately 80% of dogs will have some form of gum disease by age 3. The other 20% are probably getting their teeth brushed at home! Brushing your dog's teeth may seem silly to you, but when the best dog you ever had dies from an infection that started in his nasty mouth, you might change your mind. Have you ever skipped a few trips to the dentist, or gotten lax with your brushing and flossing, and ended up with sore gums that bleed and hurt when you brush your teeth or eat something crunchy? Imagine feeling like that, or worse, every day of your life, and not being able to do anything about it. That's how a dog with gum disease might feel. Dental chews, toys, and treats can help, as does a good diet, but there is no substitute for brushing your dog's teeth. It is simple to do, only takes a few minutes a day, and will prevent a considerable amount of future health problems.
Start out teaching your dog to accept having his muzzle held closed and his lips and gums touched. Have your dog come into the kitchen, or wherever you plan on doing the brushing, and give him treats just for letting you touch and gently hold his muzzle for a moment. Work up to several seconds without pulling away. Once he tolerates that, use your other hand to slip a finger under his lips, and reward him for that. Keep doing that until you can hold your dog's muzzle, rub your finger all over one side of his mouth, then shift your grip and rub your finger all over the other side of his mouth before he gets a treat. Depending on your dog's individual level of tolerance for restraint, touch, and training length, this could take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. Working at the dog's comfort level and with consistency, most dogs will be cool with it by the end of the first week.
That's when you introduce the brush and a dog-appropriate toothpaste. Find a dog toothpaste in a flavor your dog will enjoy, and let him lick a little bit off the end of your finger. Then do the gum-rubbing routine with some paste on your finger. Next, start using the toothbrush with a small amount of toothpaste in a fashion similar to how you worked up the amount of time rubbing with your finger. Don't feel like you have to brush every surface of every tooth right away. The dog will be used to the feeling of something in their mouth, but the brush feels much different than your finger. For the first week or so, your dog might have a really clean left canine tooth as you work up to doing the whole mouth!
Your dog will probably try to open his mouth and lick the toothpaste off while you are brushing. If you want, you can keep your training consistent and teach him to keep his mouth closed until you are done, and only brush the outsides of his teeth (which is where most of the tartar and plaque buildup will occur) or, as you and your dog get better at brushing together, you can do what I do and use his opening mouth to your advantage. Keep his mouth closed while you brush one side, then let him open it and brush the mating surfaces and insides while he's trying to chew on the brush and lick the toothpaste off. It'll annoy him just enough that he wants to close his mouth again, so then you let him close it and hold it closed while you brush the outsides of the other side. Once you're all done, reward him with a favorite dental chew like Greenies, and pretty soon he'll be running up to you at the sink when you get his toothbrush out, ready for his daily cleaning!
Approximately 80% of dogs will have some form of gum disease by age 3. The other 20% are probably getting their teeth brushed at home! Brushing your dog's teeth may seem silly to you, but when the best dog you ever had dies from an infection that started in his nasty mouth, you might change your mind. Have you ever skipped a few trips to the dentist, or gotten lax with your brushing and flossing, and ended up with sore gums that bleed and hurt when you brush your teeth or eat something crunchy? Imagine feeling like that, or worse, every day of your life, and not being able to do anything about it. That's how a dog with gum disease might feel. Dental chews, toys, and treats can help, as does a good diet, but there is no substitute for brushing your dog's teeth. It is simple to do, only takes a few minutes a day, and will prevent a considerable amount of future health problems.
Start out teaching your dog to accept having his muzzle held closed and his lips and gums touched. Have your dog come into the kitchen, or wherever you plan on doing the brushing, and give him treats just for letting you touch and gently hold his muzzle for a moment. Work up to several seconds without pulling away. Once he tolerates that, use your other hand to slip a finger under his lips, and reward him for that. Keep doing that until you can hold your dog's muzzle, rub your finger all over one side of his mouth, then shift your grip and rub your finger all over the other side of his mouth before he gets a treat. Depending on your dog's individual level of tolerance for restraint, touch, and training length, this could take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. Working at the dog's comfort level and with consistency, most dogs will be cool with it by the end of the first week.
That's when you introduce the brush and a dog-appropriate toothpaste. Find a dog toothpaste in a flavor your dog will enjoy, and let him lick a little bit off the end of your finger. Then do the gum-rubbing routine with some paste on your finger. Next, start using the toothbrush with a small amount of toothpaste in a fashion similar to how you worked up the amount of time rubbing with your finger. Don't feel like you have to brush every surface of every tooth right away. The dog will be used to the feeling of something in their mouth, but the brush feels much different than your finger. For the first week or so, your dog might have a really clean left canine tooth as you work up to doing the whole mouth!
Your dog will probably try to open his mouth and lick the toothpaste off while you are brushing. If you want, you can keep your training consistent and teach him to keep his mouth closed until you are done, and only brush the outsides of his teeth (which is where most of the tartar and plaque buildup will occur) or, as you and your dog get better at brushing together, you can do what I do and use his opening mouth to your advantage. Keep his mouth closed while you brush one side, then let him open it and brush the mating surfaces and insides while he's trying to chew on the brush and lick the toothpaste off. It'll annoy him just enough that he wants to close his mouth again, so then you let him close it and hold it closed while you brush the outsides of the other side. Once you're all done, reward him with a favorite dental chew like Greenies, and pretty soon he'll be running up to you at the sink when you get his toothbrush out, ready for his daily cleaning!