Dog food-are these ingredients necessary?

We had a discussion about dog food with our vet a couple of months ago. He said that the brands he KNOWs are good are: Royal Canine, Science Diet, and IAMS. As far as the cheap brands (he specifically mentioned Old Roy), he said he has seen dogs that were feed eight cups a day of Old Roy and yet suffering from malnutrition. Dogs that got such food get their only real nutrition from table scraps.

As an example of how the ingredient lists on dog foods give no real information, he said that after corn kernels have been processed for corn syrup, all that is left is the skin (which has no nutritional value), but cheap dog foods will use only that skin and can legally list "corn" as an ingredient.

Crowe wrote:
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, peas, chicory root, kelp, and a few other things. This is in addition to the more "standard" type of stuff. This is their formula designed for dogs with food sensitivities. Do these things really add that much nutrition to the food? I would think that introducing items that aren't normally in a dog's diet might increase sensitivity. I've been looking at Purina Pro Plan's sensitive formula and it has the same basic items with good protein and fat levels, but none of the extra food-type items listed above. Comments?

Ehh. Everybody's got an opinion, and unless it's a vet (or even better, a veterinary nutritionist) then they're all worth pretty much the same two cents. Mine is that those ingredients are mostly gimmick. I'm sure they are nutritionally beneficial, but I doubt there's enough quantity of them in each bag of kibble to really be beneficial. Peas may be the exception, as many of the grain free foods (another gimmick, IMO) use peas to add protein.

And for a dog with allergies or sensitivities you want a kibble (or canned food) with the fewest ingredients possible. It's not that more ingredients necessarily increases sensitivity, but that the more there are the more likely it is that one or more of them will be a trigger.

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, peas, chicory root, kelp, and a few other things. This is in addition to the more "standard" type of stuff. This is their formula designed for dogs with food sensitivities. Do these things really add that much nutrition to the food?

Those ingredients are in the bits that are 'added' to the kibble.

Are they necessary? No. Are they beneficial? IMHO yes.

BUT, they do add sugar which is of course is not listed on the label. So you have to be aware of that if you have a diabetic dog or where added sugar poses a problem.

I have been going around and around with Blue. They have substantially decreased the amount of the bits in the food. AND they just about completely eliminated all the bits in the 50 lb bag. When I buy a bag of dog food I want ALL the ingredients to be in there!!

Those bits are the most expensive ingredient to the manufacturer. So I guess they are backing off on it to increase their profit line.

No surprise there. Every single dog food that gets popular real fast.....the company starts changing the ingredients to make more money while they are on the gravy train. :(

Great Life is the first to use those bits and that food was REAL high priced which is why I switched to Blue.

Next letter goes to AAFCO they were approved WITH all the bits in the food at X amount percent and now they are lowering the amount and totally eliminating them in the larger bags. Time to make them accountable. And BTW they have repeatedly refused to tell me WHERE their food is processed.


:B

I would like to recommend Kirkland (Costco) Super Premium Adult dog food. (Chicken, Rice and Vegetable formula). I have used other brands. Wysong had some issues and I decided to try Kirkland. It is very economical without compromising quality. (The first ingredient listed is CHICKEN). There are some meals too. I also buy canned wild caught salmon and albacore tuna at Costco and give them each a teaspoon (alternating) with their dry food. Add a tablespoon of hot water to create a gravy. They love it and it maintains it's freshness for 6 months+. We store it in an air tight garbage can. It passes my smell test too.

Wholesome Ingredients and Their Benefits
Blue Buffalo Ingredient Glossary

Bone Meal. Take a bunch of bones, grind them up to smaller than cornmeal grit.

Meat By-products. Animal fat trimmings. Grissle. Animal parts that can not be sold for human consumption.

I think I would avoid Purina - their store shelf products are pretty bad things in it. Like buying a car from a dealer who sells junk cars, and now I want to buy a nice car from that one?

I used to buy Solid Gold products. I would also give the dogs a little bit of higher quality canned food. I forget the brand names now, but would recognize them when I go through the dog food section of Petco or other stores.

I have not had a dog in about 10 years, so I forgot what to get them. .

Fred.

Buy the BEST kibble you can. (BTW--I've heard good about Blue brand) Don't use meat by-products....that often contains the scrapings off of slaughterhouse floors which includes cancerous animal parts (really--research it!) Watch grocery store shelf foods--there's been WAY too many recalls on them--Pedigree just had several recalls within this past week! I make most of my dogs' food, yet add just enough (high quality) kibble (hard food) for crunch (for their teeth).

To get on a list for dog food recalls, sign up here:
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recalls/

LOTS of info on dog food brands and ingredients on here:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/