The Great Dog Food Conundrum
Which dog food is the best?
"What is the best dog food?" The short answer is, there is not a single food that is the best for every dog. Different breeds and lifestyles have different nutritional needs. You can learn what to look for and read the packaging. Hopefully this article will assist you by providing you with some useful information. Prepare yourself for all the ingredient and label reading you are about to do.
Like most dog owners, we love our furry little friends. We want to give them what is best. The information on this page is the result of the time we spent trying to learn what makes a good dog food.
We have broken the 'What to look for' information into four topics.
These are *not* listed in order of importance or preference.
Portions : How much food per serving. What does the amount have to do with the best dog food?
Ingredients : What should we be looking for in the long list of ingredients? What do we not want to see on that list?
Label : What to look for on the nutrition label.
Avoid : Items that have no nutritional value to dogs, or items that are detrimental to our furry friends.
And of course a little question and answer session:
FAQ - Questions other pooch petters have posed.
Final Thoughts - What dog food do WE use? What dog foods are we looking for?
Below are the main web sites from which these tidbits of information were collected.
All due acknowledgements, credits and copyrights to the authors of those sites:
Dog Food AnalysisCanine UniversityThe Pet CenterPet Education - Article 2-1661-662Wigglets Dog Food ResearchFDA - Food and Drug AdministrationAAFCO
The serving size of a good quality dog food seems to be in the 2 to 2 1/4 cup range for a 50 pound dog. More food may indicate a lower quality meal since it takes more product to provide the nutritional value desired. Additionally, the larger feeding amount means more cost per feeding. Not to mention more to pick up in the yard.
Is 3 cups per serving bad? Probably not, however, 5 cups would indicate a pretty low quality dog meal.
The first five or six ingredients are our main focus. In a perfect world, these would be meat, more meat and meat products. Remember that our canine friends are carnivores.These meats would then be followed by good quality grain products and vegetables. Grains and vegetables are actually what helps 'bind' the kibbles together. The ingredients are listed in order by weight, starting with the heaviest (most?) first. Keep in mind that raw, unprocessed meat ingredients contain a lot of moisture. When measured by weight, the water content in raw meat causes it to weigh more than the finished version of the product. So when "chicken" is listed as the first ingredient, after dehydrating and processing, it may actually rank fourth or fifth on the list. Meat "meals" are probably more accurate in their placement on the ingredients list since they are already processed.
Ideally the order will be good meat products, good grain products, vegetables and then fillers and finally the vitamins, minerals, etc. Which meats are better? The preferred meat order seems to be: Lamb, duck, beef, buffalo, fishes, venison, turkey, chicken. (This is not the end all be all of lists, it is based on observing frequency, price, preference, etc).
While whole meat is the best form of the product. Next would be "meat meal". This is the preprocessed version of the meat item, where some of the natural fats and moisture have already been lost, but the weight will be more accurate in its placement on the label. Finally meat by-products. A word of caution regarding "by-products". The by-products should be specific in which meat comprises the by-product. Example, "beef by-products" is more preferable than "meat by-products" When "meat by-products" is listed, we have no idea what kind, or combination of animals were used to create the by-product. BTW, "by-products" are not what humans would consider food anyway. Feet, beaks, ground bones, tumors, intestines, are typical examples of "meat by-products" (Yuk!).
Which grains are better? The preferred grain order seems to be: Brown rice, white rice, oats. The whole grain version is better than the meal version of these products. Refer to Avoid below. Other items that we like to see in the ingredients list include. Vegetables, also more and different meat items. Remember that dogs are really carnivores, they like meat.
Ingredient Example:---------->
This above example is pretty good. Whole meat is first, other meats are listed in the first six ingredients. Whole grains, not grain meals or by-products round out the top six. It would be nice to see more whole meats at positions four or five. Who knows what "Natural Flavor" means
?
What to look for on the label. The four most common items listed on the label are: Crude Protein, Crude Fat, Crude Fiber, and Moisture. We look at all four of these pretty heavily. These percentages are better explained on the other sites mentioned earlier
These are the starting points we use for our lap sitters.
Crude Protein (min)................. At or Above 24%
Crude Fat (min)........................ At or Above 14%
Crude Fiber (max).................... At or below 4.0%
Moisture (max)......................... Between 10%-12%
Guaranteed Example::---------->
Also look for Fatty acids.
Some fats (Fatty Acids) help break up other fats. This aids in the digestive and nutritional processes of the food consumed. Without these Fatty Acids a variety of health issues can arise, obesity being one of them.
Omega 3 Fatty Acids Min At or above 0.3%
Omega 6 Fatty Acids Min At or above 2.3%
Label Guidelines:
For more information regarding the meaning of 'The Label', please visit:
http://www.aafco.org/
- Corn is one of the harder grains for dogs to digest. Corn, corn meal: Corn a not a good dog food ingredient.
- Soy products, wheat and other 'Glutens' are also hard on the Canine internals.
- Peas, beet pulp are also on the less than desirable list for our tail-wagging friends.
- Avoid products preserved with Ethoxyquin - Ethoxyquin is considered a carcinogen. Ethoxyquin is sometimes used as a preservative.
- Avoid foods with BHA, BHT preservatives. Dogs do not need chemical preservatives. Chemical preservatives have been linked to many health issues in dogs.
- Avoid any products that use unidentified (Generic references) 'meat', 'animal' or 'poultry' products in their foods.
- Avoid those products that make prolific use of grain fragments (Rice flour, brewer's rice)
- Avoid raw FAT (named fat E.G. Chicken Fat) anywhere in the first eight ingredients.
- Avoid grains that are only mentioned in 'bran', 'milled' or 'fragments' form.
- Avoid any form of grain by-products.
- Avoid products that mention the same content multiple time in different forms (called splitting).
- Dogs do not need artificial coloring.
Q1: Where can I find good dog food?
A1: Probably not at your local Mega-Mart or grocery store. Find specialty stores, or even shop online. PetCo® and Pet Smart® are in our area, they carry a fair selection. The local proprietary mom and pop pet shop is probably your best bet.
Q2: Is there a right way to switch foods?
A2: Mix the old and the new. Increasing the ratio of new food as you wean off of the old food. Five or six transitional meals should ease even the more delicate tummies to the new food. Our dogs do well with three tansitional meals.
Q3: Once I have found my new food, I am done right?
A3: No way, variety is important for several reasons. A given dog food will not have all of the vitamins and nutrients that your furry friend requires. Find four or five foods that you companion likes and rotate through them. Always keep your eyes open for new formulas, changes, new lines, etc.
Q4: What changes should I look for in my dog after a change in diet?
A4: Bowel movements should be regular. The stool should be firm without being hard. Skin and fur should be soft and have a nice sheen to its appearance. Not oily like an adolescent teen face, but a little shine is good. Also, the frequency and amount of bowel movements can be an indicator as well. If your pet is leaving a larger stool behind, that may indicate that little of the meal is being absorbed by your pets system, insread it is passing through your pets system.
Q5: After changing dog foods, we noticed our four legged friend doesn't smell the same. She is now more agreeable to the human scent organ. Why?
A5: Don't know why, however, will speculate that the oils and fats absorbed from the food and excreted through your four-legged friends fur are more agreeable to all parties involved.
If you have a question regarding the web site, we would be glad to respond. Send an email to us at
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. Keep in mind we are just regular dog lovers like you, with only an opinion to share.
Our initial picks (in preferred order and availability in the area):
Brand
|
Name & Rating
|
- Innova
- Natural Balance
- Blue Buffalo
- Wellness
- Natural UltraMix
|
- Adult Dog Food Dry * * * * *
- Ultra Premium Formula Small Bites * * * *
- Blue Wilderness * * * * * *
- Core * * * * * *
- Adult Canine * * * *
|
Italics is the pooch preferred product. Bold is food we have tried and liked. Underlined is food we have tried, but did not care for. Hey, dogs can be finicky too. ;)
Foods we are looking for (not available in our area):
|
Brand
|
Name & Rating
|
- Diamond Large
- Canidae
- Nature's Variety
|
- Breed Adult * * * * *
- All Life Stages * * * * *
- Instinct Duck Meal Turkey Meal Formula * * * * * *
|
The Asterisks (*) indicate the 'Star' level as ranked on the Dog Food Analysis site referenced at the beginning of this article.
We hope that this has been helpful. When we searched for dog food reviews, or dog food research, we did not find one simple answer either. Hopefully, this compilation will shorten the length of time it takes you to determine which dog food is best for your 'Man's Best Friend'.
Help keep this site up and running
Many hours of reviewing other web sites that are dedicated to the research, comparison and review of Dry Dog Foods resulted in this site.
Again, we would like to thank the authors of these sites:
- Dog Food Analysis
- Canine University
- The Pet Center
- Pet Education - Article 2-1661-662
- Wigglets Dog Food Research
- FDA - Food and Drug Administration
- AAFCO
All due acknowledgements, credits and copyrights to these people for thier knowledge and efforts.
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Dry Dog Food
