Your Questions About Organic Dog Food Reviews

admin answers:

Here are some high-quality, fish-based dog foods:

– Fromms Four Star whitefish and potato – http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=13&cat=3

– Fromms Four Star salmon a la veg – http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=12&cat=3

– GO Natural Wild Salmon & Oatmeal – http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1086&cat=3

– Nature’s Variety Prairie Salmon Meal and Brown Rice – http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=863&cat=3

– Timberwolf Organics Ocean Blue – http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=484&cat=3

– Blue Buffalo Fish & Sweet Potato – http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=530&cat=4

– Eagle Pack Holistic Select Anchovy, Sardine & Salmon Meal with Oatmeal – http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=98&cat=4

– Flint River Ranch Premium Fish & Chip – http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=448&cat=4

– Wellness Fish & Sweet Potato – http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=324&cat=4

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Below the line is my normal shpeel on choosing a dog food.

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On choosing a good dog food:
Read the ingredients on the food you buy. Go with a high quality dog food. A grain should not be in the first couple ingredients ingredient (corn and such are mainly fillers, dogs don’t digest it well). Avoid foods that have a lot of “by products” listed.

Here is an article about byproducts:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=ingrd

And an article on what ingredients to avoid:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients

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Some GOOD foods are :
* Merrick – http://www.merrickpetcare.com/
* Solid Gold – http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/
* Canidae – http://www.canidae.com/
* Timberwolf – http://timberwolforganics.com/
* Orijen – http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/orijen/
* Wellness – http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/
* Chicken Soup brand – http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/
* Innova – http://www.naturapet.com/brands/innova.asp
* Innova EVO – http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp

Or check this website for good foods: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/
(I recommend only feeding foods rated 4, 5, or 6 stars. Anything 3 stars or less, I would stay away from.)

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Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, Purina, etc.)

Beware “premium” foods. “Premium” does not mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. It has the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc..)

Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that’s why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don’t focus a lot on nutrition. It’s not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told “this is good food”, so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it’s good as well.

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When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:
25% food A, 75% food B
50% food A, 50% food B
75% food A, 25% food B
100% food A

admin answers:

There is no food that is the *best*, different individual dog may thrive on different foods. What is best for one may not be the best for the next. And just because a food is good quality, it doesn’t mean it will jive the best for your dog.

What you want to find is the high-quality food that *your dog* does best on.

For my dog, I feed primarily Merrick foods. This is what my dog does excellent on; great coat, solid stools, no excessive or smelly flatulence, etc.
Http://www.merrickpetcare.com/

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Below the double line is my shpeel on how to choose a good dog food.
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Read the ingredients before you buy. Go with a high-quality dog food.

Here is my “short list” of rules when I am looking at dog food ingredients:
1) When I chose a dog food, I chose one high meat content. I want to see preferably at least 2-3 out of the top 5 ingredients be meat or meat meal (first ingredient must be!). Meal is simply the meat with the moisture removed.
2) I want to see higher quality grains, such as barley, brown rice, and oatmeal, instead of seeing wheat and corn. Or an alternative starch/carbohydrate such as potatoes or sweet potatoes.
3) I don’t want to see any byproducts.
4) I don’t want to see a lot of fillers.
5) I don’t want to see preservatives that are believed to be carcinogens (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin).
6) I don’t want to see artificial colorings such as the Red, Blue, and Yellow dyes.
7) I don’t want to see added sugars (sugar, corn syrup).
8) I don’t want to see mystery meats (meats identified only as “meat” or “poultry”.)

Here is an article about byproducts:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=ingrd

And an article on what ingredients to avoid:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients

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Here are some examples of high quality foods:
* Artemis
* California Natural
* Canidae
* Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul
* Eagle Pack Holistic Selects
* EVO
* Fromm
* Innova
* Merrick
* Nature’s Variety
* Orijen
* Solid Gold
* Taste of the Wild
* Timberwolf Organics
* Wellness

Or check this website; the 4, 5, or 6 star rated foods are all good foods, 3 or less stars I would stay away from. Http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

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Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more of a low-quality food to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, higher-quality food will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.

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Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, etc.)

Beware “premium” foods. “Premium” does not always mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. Most of these foods have the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc..)

Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that’s why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don’t focus a lot on nutrition. It’s not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told “this is good food”, so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it’s good as well.

Hills company, the makers of Science Diet, are heavily involved in vet schools. “Hill’s scientists author more than 50 research papers and textbook chapters each year and teach at leading schools of veterinary medicine” (Source of quoted section: http://www.hillsvet.com/zSkin_2/company_info/company_info_general.jsp?JSESSIONID=HMz2B3Jn3hv0rnSoxCobfbBhOec35ODG7yh5t3P0vcvhOtzRlQ9M!598359213!167846923!7005!8005&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026072&bmUID=1196192566575 )

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“Big box” petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (I do believe that PetCo sells “Solid Gold” and “Natural Balance” brands and Petsmart sells “Blue Buffallo”, which are all higher quality foods, but most of the foods aren’t.)

Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren’t good places to buy food either.

Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:
– small, locally owned petstores
– dog boutiques
– farm supply stores

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When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:
25% food A, 75% food B
50% food A, 50% food B
75% food A, 25% food B
100% food A
.

admin answers:

Nutro Natural Choice or Pro Plan Selects you can get them at petco, petsmart, and most pet stores.
Whatever food you get make sure they don’t use
“BHT/BHA and Ethoxyquin: These are preservatives in some dogs food that have been banned from use in human food because they are linked to many health problems such such as liver/kidney damage, cancerous skin lesions, loss of hair, blindness, leukemia, fetal abnormalities and chronic diarrhea. In animals it has been linked to immune deficiency syndrome, spleen, stomach and liver cancer, as well as the above mentioned diseases.

Propylene Glycol
This potentially harmful chemical is added to many products to maintain the right texture and moisture. Along with the use of Ethoxyquin, these humectants tie up the water content and thus prohibit the growth of bacteria. These preservatives allow dry food to stay on the shaves for up to five years, and canned products indefinitely. As well as inhibiting bacteria growth in the product, they inhibit proper and necessary growth of friendly flora in the digestive tract, which aids in the assimilation of nutrients. They also decrease the amount of moisture in the digestive tract, which has led to intestinal blockage and a host of serious digestive tract problems such as cancerous intestinal lesions.
”
By products (that stuff is discussing)

Also some dogs are sensitive to corn, which appears to be in a lot of lower grade dog foods.

You best bet is to learn how to analyze dog food and read labels . For example this is why Iams is considered a 1 Star dog food

Review of Iams from http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=145&cat=7
The first ingredient on the listed is a named meat product, but since this is chicken inclusive of its water content (about 80%) and this ingredient will weigh only about 20% of its wet weight once water is removed (as it must be to make kibble) it is unlikely that this is the true first ingredient in the food and would be more accurately placed much further down the ingredient list. Fish meal, at 5th on the ingredient list, is a second named meat product in the food, but this is far too low down toelevate the meat content to an acceptable level. We note that the manufacturer does not claim to use ethoxyquin-free sources (ethoxyquin is a chemical preservative commonly added to fish destined for meal, and is believed to be carcinogenic).

The next two ingredients are low quality grains. Corn is a problematic grain that is difficult for dogs to digest and thought to be the cause of a great many allergy and yeast infection problems. We prefer not to see this used in dog food. Sorghum is a carbohydrate source low in digestibility. We consider it primarily filler.

The next ingredient in this food is by-products. It is impossible to ascertain the quality of by-products and these are usually products that are of such low quality as to be rejected for use in the human food chain, or else are those parts that have so little value that they cannot be used elsewhere in either the human or pet food industries. The AAFCO definition of chicken by-product meal is “a meal consisting of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.”

Beet pulp is further filler and a controversial ingredient – it is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food. There are less controversial products around if additional fiber is required.

Here is the ingredients list of Iams

Ingredients:
Chicken, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Chicken By-Product Meal, Fish Meal (source of fish oil), Corn Grits, Natural Chicken Flavor, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of vitamin E, and Citric Acid), Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Dried Egg Product, Brewers Dried Yeast, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement, (source of vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), DL-Methionine, Rosemary Extract

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (minimum) 26%
Crude Fat (minimum) 14%
Moisture (maximum) 10%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 5%
Omega-6 Fatty Acids not less than 2.8%

You can read about other foods on the website above.
And just keep in mind, more expensive food maybe only a few dollars more for a 20 pound bag, but the quality and your dogs health is worth it.