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Feeding Frenzy!
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Posted On 03/10/2011 11:25:34 by GroovyDogs
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Feeding Frenzy! by Bruce the Groovy Dogs Guy
Reprinted from the GroovyDogBlog
Just as your dog's health is a determining factor in their behavior, so is nutrition a determining factor in your dog's health. Arguably, the most important factor. And if it's true that "you are what you eat"--as the saying goes--then the average American pet is basically comprised of roadkill, euthanized farm animals, chemical preservatives, and indigestible grain meal. Appetizing, huh? Oh, and this goes for "upscale" commercial brands, too. Science Diet, Iams, Eukenuba...basically, the pet owner who chooses one of these brands is opting to feed their dogs toxic sludge--albeit fortefied with vitamins and minerals--and paying extra for it too!
Even less appealing is the affect this garbage is having on our companions. Diseases, shortened lifespans, outright poisoning...these are the horrifying effects that the mainstream "dog food industry" is inflicting on our beloved pets.
How did this happen? To answer, we should first understand that there was no substantial "pet food industry" until right around the middle of the 20th Century, when it sprang up as a solution for farmers to market their agricultural and meat by-products. Check out this short video about the development of the pet food industry:
As the film indicates, there are a growing number of alternatives available, all of them preferable to poisoning your dog with Kibbles & Bits. For years, my choice has been Organix, made by Castor& Pollux. Recently, however, my PetSmart connection informed me that the store was discontinuing it. I was going to have to choose a new brand. So, I figured this was as good a time as any to revisit the many choices out there, and let you guys know what I found out.
Don't Make Me BARFBARF is the wholly appropriate acronym for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food and it's a diet based on the theory that a dog's best nutritional source consistes of what their bodies have adapted to for the past several hundred thousand years. Needless to say, it's not kibble. If you're the type that doesn't mind grinding up your own butcher scraps and watching your poodle devour it raw....knock yourself out. I have four dogs, and take care of other people's pets all day. I simply don't have time to go to that much trouble for their diet. I want the best of both worlds: a healthy diet for my dogs, and convenience. I did, however, discover the existence of several companies that market ready-made raw diets for dogs in frozen and freeze-dried formats. Just cut & thaw, or add water, and voila! Raw convenience food. Just imagine.
Still, transitioning to a BARF diet requires a substantial amount of self-education, as well as an adaptation period where you have to wean your dogs off of their processed food and into the raw. So I just wasn't ready to hop on the raw bandwagon just yet. If you're convinced, however, check out my links to raw resources on my Nutrition Page. It may be just the right thing for your pooch and you're lifestyle.
Dog Food For The Rest Of UsLike I said, I wanted the best of both worlds, so I decided that I would seek out and find the very best commercially available dog foods, ones that shared with raw feeding the advantages of a meat-based, additive-free diet for my dogs. I wanted to feed my dogs a yummy, meat-laden and gravy-rich canned food, poured over a bed of high-quality kibble. The first thing I learned to do when I started researching dog foods was to read labels. I found this article, How To Read Dog Food Labels, incredibly informative. I must've spent three hours at PetSmart cruising the aisles, checklist in hand, alarming the staff. I managed to avoid having security called on me, but I only discovered four decent brands after all that time, and one of them was the soon-to-be-discontinued Organix.
I knew there were more good brands out there, they just weren't available in stores, or only sporadically. I had to do more research.
Then I discovered several websites that analyzed and rated dog foods on the basis of the quality standards I required. They were all consumer-generated, meaning whatever they lacked in credentials they made up with in impartiality.
Dog Food Analysis, created as a resource for Boxerworld members, has been online since 2005 and is updated regularly. They have information about the contents of +1500 dry dog foods, along with ratings and reviews. The ratings given and comments made about the foods assessed on their site are the opinion of "the Editors", who are "a small team of volunteers each with a long standing interest in dog nutrition." They use a 6-star rating system, with six being the highest, and they describe their criteria quite clearly here.
Mike Sagman's Dog Food Advisor is another excellent source for objective information regarding hundreds of brands. Mike's rating system utilizes a five-star system, with five stars being the highest. Mike is very upfront about the fact that he's not a veterinarian or nutritionist (although he has one of each on his advisory staff). He's a dental surgeon, but an avid dog lover and consumer advocate. He spells out his standards clearly, pays no attention to PR or press releases, and gives out recommendations with an informed detachment. In short, I trust the guy, he seems straight up. Dog Food Chat is another rating site, although this time it's 100% rated by users, so there are no objective standards per se. Still, it's useful to read the comments and get the feedback. I used this site as an auxillary to the first two. Chat rates foods on a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the highest.
These lists are eye-opening. Check to see where your current dog food rates. You might be in for a shock.
The Best of the Best
Because I wanted the very best for my dogs, and wanted to be able to recommend only the highest quality foods to my clients, I began a winnowing-out process designed to find the "best of the best" dog foods available. To narrow my search I decided to concentrate solely on the six-star and five-star brands from the websites mentioned above. The Analysis list has 53 foods in it's highest category, while the Advisor list has 94. Also, I eliminated any brands that didn't rate a 7 or higher by Dog Food Chat consumers.
Next, I narrowed down the list to eliminate brands that only had one or two varieties of food on either list. This means some very excellent, worthy brands were eliminated--like my old favorite Organix, and genuine contenders like Acana and Newman's Own I wanted a company that provides a variety of high-quality options: different formulas for special needs (senior, weight-management, etc), as well as different formats (canned, dry, raw-frozen). Like I said, I wanted to make a good, high-quality kibble with a yummy canned topping the backbone of my dog's feedings, with the option of experimenting with raw feeding in the future. Limited brands were not an option.
Right away, several brands leapt out at me with multiple entries on both lists:
Since both the Dog Food Advisor and the Dog Food Analysis sites analyze strictly by label, they are both limited in their ability to make recommendations as to which foods and companies are right for each particular dog. At this point, personal considerations, consumer recommendations, and just plain old gut feelings start to come into play. Imperfect standards, to be sure. But--along with trusty old trial and error--it's the best way to go.
I poked around into their websites. I pored over consumer forums, e-mailed other petcare professionals. I even asked my Facebook friends. Here's what I ended up with.
Evanger's has an impressive corporate history. Fred Evanger raised champion Great Danes, and his family business has been supplying the midwest with excellent food since 1939. And the fact that Evanger's dominated the lists with the most entries made me give them serious consideration. However, their reputation has been marred recently by allegations regarding the quality control and their business ethics of their new owners. These issues make me uneasy, and they may have repercussions on the future viability of the brand. So I decided to pass.
Natura, the company that produces the Innova / EVO line, produces a superlative product and has many devotees. However, they've recently been acquired by Proctor & Gamble, a multinational conglomerate that dominates the dog food industry. Despite the fact that they specified in their contract that they couldn't change any of the formulas for two years, this made me uneasy. Although they're obviously an excellent line--right now--I struck them from my list.
Wysong was an early favorite. I liked their history, I liked their corporate philosophy, I liked their variety, and they're the only one on the list who specify a willingness to ship directly (via UPS). But I also discovered some unsettling information about they way they handled a pet food recall in 2009, so I decided to put them on the back burner as well.
I don't regard the mere instance of a pet food recall to be all that alarming. Every company that's ever manufactured a product has experienced quality control issues. Many companies take a proactive approach and issue voluntary recalls at the first sign of problems. I consider this reassuring. But when a company resorts to evasion and obfuscation after a government-sponsored recall, issued after reports of sickness and death, I get alarmed. Wysong may redeem themselves at some point in the future. Until then, I'll pass.
This leaves: - Orijen
- Wellness
- Nature's Variety
- Blue Buffalo
- Fromm
- Primal Raw
- Taste of the Wild
- Stella & Chewy's
Eight terrific brands that survived the nitpickiest scrutiny. The Fromm Family developed the first distemper vaccine in the 1920's, and has been producing high-quality dog food since the 1940's. Similarly, Wellness got their start as Old Mother Hubbard's Dog Biscuits in 1926, but only branched out into holistic pet food in the 1990's. Most of the rest are relatively recent.
I can safely say that I feel comfortable recommending any one of the companies listed above. They're all high-quality, conscientious dog food producers whose products match up with discerning consumer's highest standards. I would feed any of these foods to my dogs, gladly. But of course, I had to choose one to be the backbone of my family's diet. Experimentation is good, but hitting your dogs with a completely different food every week would be chaotic. I had to make a choice.
Stella & Chewy's and Primal Raw offer freeze-dried and frozen raw foods exclusively. For my specific purposes, that eliminated them from consideration at this time.
And the Winner Is...
A tie. Here's why.
Only one company offered food in a large enough variety of formats to satisfy both my current and future needs. Nature's Variety has dry, canned, freeze-dried and frozen foods, as well as an impressive selection of "treats". I know I could make Nature's Variety my sole supplier and never run out of excellent options, no matter which feeding philosophy I eventually settled on.There was, however, one other consideration, and that's value. Now, when it comes to high-quality food, price is not a consideration, especially when comparing to low-quality junk like Purina Dog Chow.But, all other things being equal, I see no harm in looking for the most economical solution. Almost all of the foods among the finalists were roughly equivalent in cost, ranging from a $2.18 price-per-pound for Blue Buffalo kibble to a $2.60 price-per-pound for Nature's Variety. However, one brand stood out, dramatically. Taste of the Wild offers a decent selection of dry and canned foods, and their quality standards rate them as one of the best. But, at $1.33 price-per-pound for their kibble, they're HALF AS EXPENSIVE as every other company. And this competetive pricing ranges across their spectrum. All of their foods are--if not "cheap"--vastly more economical than any of the others. This shouldn't be taken lightly. This makes high-quality food well within the range of anyone who had previously been put off by the high cost of premium dog food. For myself, I've settled into a routine of pouring rotating flavors of Nature's Variety canned food over a bed of Taste of the Wild dry, and my dogs couldn't be more delighted. And I rest better knowing that I can give them high-quality nutrition without breaking my bank. The best of both worlds, indeed.Now, if TOTW would only go into the gasoline business...Peace, Love, and Chewy Toys,
Bruce Subscribe to DIG THIS! The Newsletter For Groovy Dog People
Tags: Dog Food Nutrition
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