Dog food-are these ingredients necessary?
Been comparing dog foods again as I'm trying to find a less expensive alternative to the Blue Basics we've been using. Blue Basics contains lots of ingredients like blueberries, cranberries, yucca, p...
Forum Discussion
Oh boy, another food thread.
So much misinformation and marketing hype that is taken for fact.
First, meat by-products are essential for complete canine nutrition - it just depends on what those by-products are. If you just fed muscle meat without the essential nutrients, you'd eventually get a sick dog. So eliminating a food that has by-products as an ingredient is folly. Perhaps distasteful to us, but really essential for the canine.
Many of the boutique ingredients may provide essential nutrients but these nutrients are present in other brands, just provided by different raw ingredients. Marketing somehow insists that the nutrients provided by these boutique ingredients is somehow better.
For the most part (with the exception of diabetic) sugar is a non-issue with dogs.
There have been recalls on many natural, raw, super premium brands of foods as well as the store brands. Nobody has been immune.
Dogs with sensitive digestive systems present a problem in choosing foods. You can try different brands, but sometimes end up with a mess. I usually recommend that you find what works and you can afford and stick with it.
Doug, DVM
So much misinformation and marketing hype that is taken for fact.
First, meat by-products are essential for complete canine nutrition - it just depends on what those by-products are. If you just fed muscle meat without the essential nutrients, you'd eventually get a sick dog. So eliminating a food that has by-products as an ingredient is folly. Perhaps distasteful to us, but really essential for the canine.
Many of the boutique ingredients may provide essential nutrients but these nutrients are present in other brands, just provided by different raw ingredients. Marketing somehow insists that the nutrients provided by these boutique ingredients is somehow better.
For the most part (with the exception of diabetic) sugar is a non-issue with dogs.
There have been recalls on many natural, raw, super premium brands of foods as well as the store brands. Nobody has been immune.
Dogs with sensitive digestive systems present a problem in choosing foods. You can try different brands, but sometimes end up with a mess. I usually recommend that you find what works and you can afford and stick with it.
Doug, DVM
