First and foremost: I feed raw!
I do realize a lot of people cannot do it but please see it as a process!
Nowadays there are so much option for raw feeding, that it has been made easy for almost everyone.
If you absolutely cannot do raw, please consider home cooking!
Below are considerations for you and made me choose raw foods.. This way I know what I am feeding my dogs.
I often get asked, "how do you find a good Dog Food"!
Is it even out there?
Benefits of real raw food
Some of the benefits you almost see immediately when your dog starts eating raw!
* Shinier coat
*Cleaner teeth and fresh breath
*Better weight control
*Improved digestion
* Less allergy symptoms
*small, less smelling stools
* Mobility issues are less and more Energy in older dogs
*improved immune system
*Less trips to the vet
Kibble truth
Truth is almost all kibble is heavily processed. Fresh foods are discouraged even by vets.
Truly do you think an all processed dog food, the same thing day in day out, laced with synthetic vitamins and minerals because these vitamins and minerals cannot survive the heavy processing, will be the best thing for your Dog?
Kibble is a dead food!
In my opinion, kibble is not the best thing for your dog. It is convenient for us and It may keep your dog surviving but is your dog thriving?
Lets pull kibble apart, starting with the front of that dog food bag! What is on the front of the bag may not be what is in the ingredients.
As always, it’s the ingredients list and Guaranteed Analysis that tell you what’s special about a food.
But does it tell you about the quality of ingredients used. NO!
There are horror stories galore.
A special, perfect food for every dog? That’s what the pet food industry would like you to believe; that’s the direction taken by most of the large pet food makers – foods for tall dogs, small dogs, fat dogs, old dogs . . . you get the picture. The tactic must work, because all the biggest companies do it, and they wouldn’t make so many foods if they weren’t selling well.
And they invent a new and better dog food all the time! Really?
Dog owners should be aware, though, that there are actually only two types of products that provide legally defined “complete and balanced nutrition” for dogs. These are “ADULT MAINTENANCE” products formulated for adult dogs, and “growth and reproduction” known as “ALL LIFE STAGES” products formulated to meet the increased nutritional requirements of pregnant and nursing females and puppies.
Only these two sets of “nutrient profiles” have been established as the basis for regulation of dog food in North America. There are no other dog food descriptions with legal requirements for certain nutrient levels.
Lets say it another way: There are no legal nutritional guidelines or standards for foods that are identified by their makers as intended for senior dogs, weight loss, toy breeds, indoor dogs, Chihuahuas, or joint health, teeth health etc. If they have a “complete and balanced” statement on the label, they meet the requirements for either "adult dog maintenance" or “all life stages”
There are No legal guidelines for food included in pet food. And if there is they are NOT enforcing these guidelines: as discovered and made public multiple times now by pet food advocates attending AAFCO meetings.
Most of the giant pet food companies continually conduct research and tinker with their formulas, looking for anything that “performs” better in the dog. They want to be free to innovate and incorporate anything that gives their products a market advantage, including trendy food ingredients and higher (or lower) than average amounts of certain nutrients. No one in the industry wants another set of nutritional standards they’d have to meet for a certain type of food.
Nutritional requirements and dog food
Dogs love meat, and they need protein. Most dogs can easily tolerate a diet that contains 50 percent carbohydrates (or even more). Still, websites like Dogs naturally, Dog Food Advisor and most other experts point out that dogs don't actually need carbs at all. (I believe that too).
The other side of the coin is that carbs aren't supposed to be bad for a dog either, and provide some benefits, such as a short term burst of energy.
They are needed in processing dry kibble and in keeping down the cost of a pet food. Still, as DogFoodAdvisor.com notes, the best foods are those that are "rich in meat-based protein and lower in carbs." There are not many kibbles out there meeting a high quality animal protein requirement!
An ingredient list with the first ingredient a specified meat then grains followed right after gives a very skewed picture. Ingredients are always listed as heaviest to lightest and a meat source (not a meat meal) consists of 80% water. This will make the first ingredient the heaviest and in a dried state (like the grains) will end up way lower down the ingredient list. Always look for a food that have at least the first 3 or 4 ingredients listed as a named meat source!
"by-product." Meat by-products consist mainly of animal parts that are not used for human consumption, such as bones, organs, blood, fatty tissue and intestines. If a label says "chicken by-product," all the parts must come from chicken; the same goes for lamb, beef, etc.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to by-products in dog food. Some say that because a dog in the wild would eat the entire animal when killing prey, including skin, organs and bones, some amount of by-product in dog food is just fine.
The other school of thought is that by-products should be avoided entirely, and that a dog's diet should contain meat, vegetables and absorbable grains. These critics say that it's simply too hard to know what exactly is included in by-products. Even reviews that say by-products are fine say that dog owners should look for specific origin, such as chicken by-product or lamb by-product. Note that in poultry-based dog foods, the term "by-product" is used to identify by-product meals. However, in other types of dog food, by-product meal can be labeled as "meat and bone meal" (MBM) or even "beef and bone meal." This type of labeling is legal, but clearly misleading. However, specific meat meals, such as chicken meal or beef meal, are the named meat with the water removed, and finding them high up in the ingredient list is a good indication of a high-protein dry food. The quality of the carbohydrate sources also matters. High-quality grains, such as brown rice, provide good nutritional value, but other grains deliver less of what dogs need in their diet. Corn, in particular, is the target of some scorn among pet-food advocates. Mike Sagman at dogfoodadvisor.com looks at the pros and cons -- mostly cons -- of corn in dog food. Glutens are another group of ingredients that experts say don't provide much nutritional value to dogs and are a particular concern since 2007's massive recall of pet foods tainted by contaminated wheat and rice gluten from China. Dog food companies are making moves to get away from using artificial preservatives in dog food. Chemicals used as preservatives, like BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin, have been under scrutiny, and many companies are switching to natural preservatives like vitamin C (ascorbate) and vitamin E (tocopherols). Naturox, which is made from natural ingredients, is also gaining in popularity as a preservative. Reviews say natural preservatives are much safer. Ethoxyquin has been of particular concern to some because it is also used to preserve certain ingredients -- mainly fish meals -- before they reach the pet-food maker, and hence would not be included on ingredient lists. Propylene glycol is another controversial ingredient that is found in a host of dry dog foods. It's used to give kibble a moist texture. Lots of alarms have been raised because it's easy to confuse propylene glycol with ethylene glycol. Though both are used in antifreeze products, propylene glycol is considered to be non-toxic-- so much so that it's FDA approved and used in a lot of human foods as well, such as fat-free ice cream, cake mixes, packaged cakes, frostings, dyes, flavorings and more. Propylene glycol is known to be toxic to cats, but experts can't point to any hard evidence that propylene glycol is dangerous to dogs. Still, many pet food advocates say that they'd rather not take the risk.
SPECIALIZED FOODS
If you’re considering one of these specialized foods, try to determine what, exactly, are the features that are supposed to be unique to that product and so allegedly perfect for dogs like yours. In many cases, the differences in formulation between the “special” food and the plain old adult variety are negligible – but you won’t necessarily be able to ascertain that from the description of the product on the front of the bag, the company website, or the product’s literature.
Again read the guaranteed analysis and go through the ingredient list.
By law, only the minimum amounts of protein and fat and the maximum amounts of fiber and moisture in the food are required to appear on the Guaranteed Analysis.
In my opinion, you are better off to supplement with a separate supplement. You know what your putting into the dogs food and you know quantities exactly.
Differences are usually minute and the first ingredients still not the greatest.
“Large bites” and “small bites” have been around for ages, but today some companies are going farther. For example, Royal Canin has a food intended for Golden Retrievers, with a kibble shape the company describes as “specifically designed to prevent gulping, help your dog to feel fuller more quickly, and reduce the amount of calories consumed.” Hmmm . . . yeah okay . . .
The latest and greatest craze is the grain free fad. Grain free does not mean more meat protein and we know that plant protein is not well absorbed by dogs. Do we know what all the legumes are doing in the long run?Reports are coming in of grain free diets causing Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM), from the breeding world we are hearing diets with peas, lentils, other legumes and potato in it may cause taurine deficiency in your dogs diet leading to reversible DCM.
The levels of glucosamine and chondroitin seem to be a major factor in how big manufactures of dog food individualizes its many products too.
Me, I just feed an extra chicken foot or trachea or some wings.
I have the greatest success with natural occurring glucosamine from whole food products. Feet you can feed raw and/or dehydrated
Probiotics & Prebiotics
Probiotic organisms are living beings that support the microflora that belong in your dog’s gut. Many of the ones used to supplement canine diets are beneficial species of bacteria, including Enterococcus feacium, Bacilla coagulans, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Bifidobacterium animalis AHC7, Lactobacillus Acidophilus (and more) . Probiotics are credited with enhancing digestion and preventing and supporting the GI tract while on antibiotics, absorption of nutrients, supporting detoxification and elimination processes, and helping to boost the dog’s immune system.
For greatest benefit, probiotics need to be delivered to the dog:
-in high amounts
-in live, active form
-in a variety of species (not just one).
Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that selectively stimulate the growth of the beneficial bacterial species in the colon, such as Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli.
Prebiotics are stable substances; living, active probiotics are not. Heat kills them, making them inactive , exposure to air for long periods of time will also render them inactive (oxidative activity).
Dog food companies claims are usually unsubstantiated after the food is processed.
So Again you are better off to give it to the dog as a supplement.
I feed it in the form of fermented vegetables and kefir.
And then we have
Herbs, Berries, and Fruits,...
It’s gotten very popular in recent years for dog food makers to include a long list of whole, healthy foods on their products’ lists of ingredients. Please understand that while it makes a food sound delicious, the actual amount of the ingredients that appear below the fat source on the 10th or 15th or 25th list of ingredients that ends up in your dog’s tummy is very low; it can be characterized as so low it can be neglected.
The real purpose of many of these ingredients on a pet food label is to appease your appetite. Pet food industry publications sometimes describe this as “humanization” of the pet food. If you want your dog to experience the benefits of carrots, apples, blueberries, garlic powder, green tea extract, spinach, cottage cheese, and other terrific foods that generally appear low on lists of ingredients, feed them whole and fresh as a healthy addition to your dog’s commercial diet. Your dogs health will greatly benefit from these added foods.
Integrity of Pet food Makers
There are not many companies out there with integrity, if they do have it the ingredients are usually of lower protein levels. The big box store pet foods first priority is the bottom line. Money to the investors!
There are very few petfoods out there that can be trusted 100%!
MY CONCLUSION:
THERE IS SO MUCH WRONG WITH PETFOOD I CHOOSE TO FEED RAW, FROM KNOWN SOURCES.
FEEDING YOUR PET IS NOT ALL THAT DIFFICULT IT IS ABOUT COMMON SENSE.
FEEDING YOUR PET IS ALL ABOUT VARIETY AND STICKING TO THE GENERAL RULES OF RAW FEEDING. (80/10/10 RULE) AND LOADS OF VARIETY
AS I MENTIONED ABOVE, FEEDING RAW IS USUALLY A PROCESS BUT NOWADAYS WITH ALL PRE-MADE RAW FOODS OUT THERE IT HAS BEEN MADE A LOT EASIER.
I guide my puppy owners in feeding raw all the way and
I AM ALWAYS OPEN FOR QUESTIONS.
Need Help finding the perfect diet for your dog? Please contact me at: cora@sallysvalleykennels.com
Dog Treats
The same as above counts for dog treats, there are few you can trust
Dog treats are often laced with carbs and preservatives.
100% meat based is no guarantee, the Toxic Chicken Jerky's affected our kennel and we do not feed this anymore
Good dog treats you can easily make yourself.
Dehydrated liver and lung are great training treats as you can really cut them up fine.
A nice bone, is great for teeth health and satisfies your dogs chewing needs!
There are very few dog cookies brands you can trust, why not make some cookies for the dogs.
The same as above counts for dog treats, there are few you can trust
Dog treats are often laced with carbs and preservatives.
100% meat based is no guarantee, the Toxic Chicken Jerky's affected our kennel and we do not feed this anymore
Good dog treats you can easily make yourself.
Dehydrated liver and lung are great training treats as you can really cut them up fine.
A nice bone, is great for teeth health and satisfies your dogs chewing needs!
There are very few dog cookies brands you can trust, why not make some cookies for the dogs.