dog and cat nutrition. To believe vets or not

[TiaView]

Many younger dogs do ok on a food with cheaper ingredients and less quality because good genetics and youth go a long way to compensate for a lot of junkfood.

But as dogs age they have a harder time holding onto good skin and health if their nutritional needs are not being met. I see a lot of dogs, every day, that benefit from better quality ingredients. Suddenly the allergy shots and steroids that they get from the vet aren't necessary. Good nutrition can solve a lot of problems.
Wellness is a great food, but the DRY bagged food does have a lot of grain in it. I'm sure the cans are more meat based. There are a lot of wonderful foods out there that have wholesome ingredients that are not preserved with chemical toxins and loaded with fillers. IMO a little bit of money spent on good food will save money in the long run as a pet stops compensating for poor nutrition. I can SMELL corn and wheat and crappy dog food on a dogs skin while grooming them. It has a yeast smell and the artificial colors that they add to these foods stain cement floors when the dogs are kenneled. It's gross.

 

[bock]

Quote:
Yup, I have just been so busy lately I haven't had time to look until now.

So here is what are animals are eating right now:

1 adult dog and one senior dog: 4health chicken and rice adult formula, dry (only at TSC)

1 adult cat and one senior cat: Taste of the Wild rocky mountain feline formula for all ages, dry

1 kitten: Blue Buffalo chicken and rice kitten formula, dry

I have been giving them all a little bit of Wellness wet food for the past 4 days, but I just ran out of the dog's today. So, if we were to go with 100% dry, I think the cats would stick with the food they are on (until the kitten grows up of course), but I have a few questions about the dog's food. I would be willing to switch from 4health (4 star food) to Taste of the Wild, but Blue Buffalo is too expensive. The thing is, I thought I heard that TOTW has too much protein for dogs that aren't very active, and it can cause problems. Is that true? My dogs get a 20 minute walk a day, and I usually play fetch with Sabrina for like 10 minutes a day, but Sugar doesn't play fetch. My lab mix also has bad allergies, she itches her face and bites her feet, I think they are caused by her food, so would TOTW be good for that? Other than that, they are doing great on 4health! If we were to go with wet food, the only good food wet food we could easily get is Blue Buffalo wet food from TSC. They may have other good brands, but I haven't noticed them. So, that is what's going on, I am just trying to decide if we should go wet or dry, and if we should switch the dogs' food. Thanks everyone
!

 

[Stina]

Taste of the Wild is grain free, so for a lot of dogs with food allergies it will make a difference...but it depends what they are allergic to. The most common allergies are to grains. Some dogs are allergic to chicken and/or other poultry...so you'd have to get the fish formula (just forgot what its called), which has no chicken. Some are allergic to fish though....some are allergic to beef....depends on the dog.

I think the whole "too much" protein thing is a crock....its hard to overload a primarily carnivorous animal with protein. The problem dogs can have with protein is poor quality protein from questionable sources. 40% protein in a dry food with 10% moisture is equatable to ~13% protein in a 70% moisture "body" or canned food.

 

[cubalaya]

'wellness core' has no grain and is probably one of the best dry dog foods that you can buy.

 

[Beekissed]

Wow! You all have a lot of time on your hands! I can't even imagine researching all these feeds and totaling up proteins and such. No offense, but this seems to be a real serious, time consuming thing with you folks.

My hat is off to you!

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Quote:
Actually just like human food, dog and cat foods have a labeling standard that will always include nutrition anaylisis. It totals proteins, fats, moisture, minerals, calories per cup, ect. Its very very easy to get this information.

 

[Riocotesei]

Agreed! If this was time consuming in any way more than just reading labels and some articles I wouldn't do it lol.

Bock,
Since TOTW is grain free and many dogs have allergies to wheat, soy and corn. I believe even 4health is free of those things.
So depending on your money situation you could pay some more for totw or go for 4 health and see how they like it, maybe try the lamb and rice. Maybe your older dog is allergic to chicken?
I wouldn't worry about your dogs having too much protein I think that is something to worry about /maybe/ is for a fast growing large breed puppy.
I have an 8 yr old Heeler mix male on the TOTW and 4health (rotates day to day) and he has a bad leg from a healed injury. Because of this, he isn't as active as he used to be, and he does not have any issues with those foods.

Don't worry about using Blue Buff though, I think you have some better options that that now.

 

[welsummerchicks]

4health performance does contain grains, it contains rice, barley and flax. Rice and barley are grains. Flax is referred to as a seed. It also contains beet pulp, a food processing byproduct.

The idea behind the food is substituting something for wheat and corn that some people don't like having in the dog food.

Wellness core contains potatoes and sweet potatoes instead of grains, but provides similar nutrients to grains - carbohydrates, etc.

A feed company can do a Least Cost Analysis and create a dog food based on a variety of different possile ingredients based on how easily the product can be manufactured into shapes, availability, cost/desirability the public perceives of various ingredients. If corn or wheat lose popularity(or get too expensive) they can use another carbohydrate source, produce a feed that meets the guidelines, and make a popular food.

Right now, since corn and wheat have flown upward over the past few years (ethanol prodution up, etc)
companies are extra motivated to push feeds with other ingredients instead of corn and wheat. If they can convince people that's healthier, they sell more feed, plus they make more profit by buying cheaper ingredients.

Both wheat and corn prices started skyrocketing in 2005, so potatoes are good business. Both corn and wheat hit a big peak in '96, wheat is higher right now than in any time in history including the peak in '96. A great deal of corn is used to feed poultry, beef cattle and hogs, and to make ethanol.

Most American pet food manufacturers can also cut costs by using foreign-producted ingredients - glucosamine, taurine, fish meal from foreign sources, meat meal from other countries, etc.

As one product becomes unpopular(wheat gluten, rice, etc) they can use Least Cost Analysis to substitute other ingredients.

 

[bock]

Okay, so I think Wellness Core sounds really good, but my mom says it's too expensive. And we would have to drive 30 miles to get it. My second choice would be TOTW, but the fact that the fish they use is preserved with ethoxyquin scares me. Would it harm my dogs to eat that? Is there a variety of TOTW that doesn't contain any fish? TOTW is also made by Diamond, and they are known for recalls. Also, I think a 50/50 wet and dry would be a good idea, but the only good wet food TSC sells is Blue Buffalo. That is a pretty good food too, right? So I could spend more and drive farther to get Wellness Core, or I could spend less and cross my fingers that they would be okay with TOTW. So, that is the decision I have to make.

 

[Stina]

Watch sales at your local pet stores. We get Innova Evo, Natures Variety Instinct, Wellness Core, Earthborn Holistic Wilderness Blend (their grain free), and/or Blue Wilderness....whatever happens to be on sale. This month Pet Supplus Plus has Innova Evo Red Meat for $15 off the 28.6 lb bags! We bought 3 bags...lol They ended up at $46 a piece! Evo and Instinct are probably my 2 favorite dry dog foods. Pet Supplies Plus has AMAZING sales...but you can find good sales anywhere if you watch. There's also www.petfooddirect.com which sometimes has free shipping and good sales to have food shipped directly to your door. There's no reason you have to use the same food all the time...just make sure the next bag is mixed in slowly before you run out of the current one. We have 3 dogs and mix in different food to their existing food any time we find something good on sale (of the foods mentioned above) and they don't have any problems with switching (though some dogs that have especially sensitive stomachs may need to be switched very slowly). It's usually not difficult to switch between grain free foods as the quality and levels of the ingredients is much more consistent than in many grain inclusive foods.