Choosing A Dog Food

Updated on 11/17/15, Originally posted on 8/13/11 This was our very first Weekly Creature Tip.  Feel free to leave comments and or ask questions. Weekly Bible Verse: Exodus 22:31 “And you shall be holy men to Me: you shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs. The verse above is part of the rules God gave to Moses for the children of Israel.  31 is the last verse in Exodus chapter 22.  God loves his people and wants the best for them.  It would be disgraceful and unholy for His children to eat meat torn by beasts.

 

Raw food is the #1 best thing to feed a dog.  Vets are often against raw as they say it will make dogs sick but dog kibble has only been around for about 70 years.  Dogs are designed to eat raw just look at coyotes, wolves, and foxes.  Vets often make a huge profit on selling kibble.  Kibble too has it’s dangers and so does raw but if you learn how to feed raw properly there are not so many dangers in feeding raw as a vet might lead one to believe.  A dog can digest raw food quickly, in about 8 hours, so the meat is not sitting in the gut too long and this is why they don’t get sick eating raw as it all passes through quickly.  Dog kibble on the other hand takes about 12 hours at least to digest as it is highly processed.

#2 The 2nd best option is you cooking food for your dog.  Cooking food is the 2nd best thing for your dog as you can buy better ingredients than a dog food company would, also you won’t be processing it like they do and dry it all up.

Kibble is #3 on the list to feed your dog.  Some people don’t have time or know how to feed raw or cook for their dog and what supplements to add.

Here we are going to talk about what to look out for and what kibble to buy if feeding raw and cooking are not an option for you at this time.   Their are some very bad crazy but yet legal thing that are put into dog food so get your self educated TODAY!!! When selecting a kibble for your dog at the store, look at the ingredients.  Ingredients are listed in order of predominance by weight.  Watch out for ingredients that are listed twice but in two different forms.  For example an ingredient list may read Chicken, Peas, & Pea Protein.  This food would actually contain more peas than chicken.  Find a food that has a meat as the first ingredients such as Chicken (but not chicken meal or some other meal meat and NOT chicken by-product).  It is an added bones if the first ingredient is de-boned chicken or some other de-boned meat.  Avoid food with cracked yellow corn as one of the first few ingredients.  Ideally grain free foods are better for your dog and some dogs can be highly allergic to these grains.  The higher quality food you buy the less your dog will need to eat but you will pay more a pound.  Cheap kibbles are bad for your dog and they will need to eat more of it to have their nutritional needs met.  Also because the cheaper foods are so full of fillers your dog could not eat enough food to consume the proper nutrition.  On a higher quality food, your dog will also poop less and often shed less too! You dog will poop less because they are able to use up most of the nutrients in the food.  Feeding the cheap foods is like feeding your dog junk food and fast food for their life!  One last thing, do not choose a food because it looks colorful in the photo.  Dyes in foods are not the best thing for your dog.  The colors are there to look appealing to the owner and not the dog lol.  Our dogs don’t care if their food is green, orange, or bright pink dog food, and your dog does not care either!  Remember that any pet food can change manufacturers quickly and without notice!  The ingredients will change when the manufacturer takes over the food or sometimes the same manufacturer will change their ingredients.  Always recheck your dog’s food ingredients often!!

A few ingredients to never feed your dog!:

Animal Digest: unspecified parts of unspecified animals cooked down to slop, including plastic and styrofoam from meats that are old from the grocery store!  No one takes the time to unwrap the wrapping of old meats from the grocery store.

Animal Fat: Generic fat source, restaurant grease, or other oils too rancid form human consumption.  Fats that list the animal name such as chicken fat or lamb fat are great as an ingredient; it just needs to list the kind of animal so your know what you are getting.

BHA (Butylated Hydroxysanisole) & BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene: Can cause cancer. (BHA is often used to spray down the euthanized dogs from the shelter so they don’t smell so bad on the way to the rendering plant but the rendering plat dose not break the BHA up so your dog is eating it!)

Ethoxyquin: Ethoxyquin is used as a pesticide for fruit!

Food Fragments: low cost leftovers from food processing plants, ex wheat middling’s, brewers rice, wheat germ meal, wheat bran, potato product, mil run, oat hulls, cellulose (ground up wood!)

Hydrochloric acid: Meat & Bone Meal: animal parts obtained from any source including 4D animals (dead, diseased, disabled, dying upon arrival animals, and pets euthanized at shelters.)

Meat By-product: Can include pus, diseased tissue, decomposed tissue, road kill, dead zoo animals, & pets euthanized at shelters!   It also can be hide or skin, hair, horns, teeth, fats, bone, ligaments and cartilage, feet, glands, blood, and lungs.

Menadione Sodium Bisulfite: Synthetic version of vitamin k, msds guides states; toxic to kidneys, liver, mucous membranes, lungs

Propylene Glycol: toxic if consumed in large amounts, canines cannot metabolize, and Propylene Glycol is even banned in Europe.  Propylene Glycol can slowly kill dogs!

A few ingredients to avoid if possible:

Beef Tallow: low quality bee fat, that is not even suitable for human consumption

Brewers Rice: waste product of the alcohol industry Carbohydrates

NO flour or meals: brewers dried yeast, Oat Hulls, Soy Flour, Soybean Meal, Wheat gluten meal, Wheat Bran, Potato Product, rice mill by-product, wheat bran, germ, and wheat middlings.

Chicken by-product meal and Poultry by-product meal: rendered product of slaughterhouse wast.  This stuff can contain almost anything such as feet, beaks, undeveloped eggs.  It’s anything except quality skeletal muscle (real meat).

Corn: avoid any kind of corn

Coloring: Blue 2, Red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, and titanium dioxide. These have been know to cause allergies.

Flavoring- artificial flavor, cane molasses, sorbitol, sucrose, corn syrup, fructose, ect

Poultry Fat: rendered product of slaughterhouse

A few good ingredients:

Specified meat or Specified de-boned meat: chicken or de-boned chicken, fish, turkey, lamb, venison, herring, etc. Specified meal meat: as long as it’s not the first ingredient. Carbohydrates: Grain free is always best but a few whole grains can be okay as long as your dog is not allergic. Brown rice, Barley, oatmeal. Whole named fruits and vegetables Named fat sources: chicken fat, lamb fat, canola oil, sunflower oil, salmon oil, etc Good food preservatives: Dog food bags will contain preservatives unless they are vacuumed packed. Mixed Tococpherrols Vitamins, Minerals, Supplements: tocopherols, choline, chloride, Vitamin A, D3, B12, B6, Thiamine Mononitrate, and Biotin, Amino acid chelcate. Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids such as flax seed, specified oil like fish oil, or canola oil. Glucosamine and chondroitin, salt iodized or sea salt.

A short list of just a few dog foods to avoid!

Alpo Dog Food

Atta Boy! Dog Food

Ben’s Best Dog Food

Beneful Dog Food

Big Red Dog Food

Bruiser Dog Food

Caliber Dog Food

Chef Michael’s Dog Food

Country Acres Dog Food

Country Squire Dog Food

Country Vet Choice Dog Food

Dad’s Dog Food

Dad’s Kibble Select Complete

Doggy Bag Dog Food

Everpet Dog Food

Good Sense Dog Food

Gravy Train Dog Food

Grreat Choice Dog Food

Heartland Reserve Dog Food

Hi-Point Dog Food

Hubbard Life Country Balance

Hubbard Life Dog Food

Hungry Hound Dog Food

Hunter’s Special Dog Food

Joy Dog Food

Kal Kan Dog Food

Kibbles ‘n Bits

Kroger Value Chunk Dog Food

Maintain Chunks Dog Food

National Dog Food

Ol’ Roy Dog Food

Old Glory Dog Food

Old Yeller Dog Food

Ole Jack’s Dog Food

Pedigree Dog Food

Pet Shoppe Dog Food

PMI Nutrition Dog Food

Purina Active Senior 7 Plus

Purina Be Happy Dog Food

Purina Dog Chow

Purina Dog Chow Light and Healthy

Purina Healthy Morsels

Purina Little Bites

Purina Puppy Chow

Rancher’s Choice Champions Dog Food

Retriever Dog Food

Rex Dog Food

River Run Dog Food

Shawnee Dog Food

Shep Dog Food

Simply Right Dog Food

Sonny’s Pride Dog Food

Southern States Advanced

Supreme Dog Food

Tomboy Dog Food

Tops Dog Food

Other resources for you to explore:

You might enjoy exploring these links but please note that we may not agree with everything at these links:

• Euthanized pets are in dog food.  Warning! because images are graphic we have not included the link. Viewer discretion is advised.  To see this video look google the video “What’s REALLY In Your Pet’s FOOD??” taken at D & D Disposal, West Coast Rendering, Vernon, CA, April 2007.
• Take a look at dog food brands with ingredient list to help you choose a food Dog Food Advisor
• Lean more about what is in pet foods www.bornfreeusa.org/downloads/pdf/PetFoodReport_05-07.pdf
• Look out for pet food recalls as no company is going to let you know of a recall! www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/safetyhealth/recallswithdrawals/