Everyone needs food, and feeding a dog should be reasonably easy. I think consumers have a right to expect dog food to be safe and nutritional. Right? As a doggy-mom, I want to be able to go to the grocery store and pick up food for both me and my pets that is safe and healthy.
Unfortunately, the truth is much more complicated. Dogs, for example, can't really digest corn and wheat. What's the number one ingredients in many brands of dog food? Corn and wheat. Even worse; they contain byproducts of chicken and cows, and those byproducts could be anything.
Many dog foods contain dyes. It's smart; we humans think the food contains more high quality meat if it looks red. The food can be of low quality, but if it looks healthy, we tend to think it is. Some people say dogs can't see colors at all. It's not entirely truthful - they see some colors but not all of them. Either way, I don't think my dogs care what color their food has. They care about the smell and the taste.
Some dyes seem harmless, but others are closely linked to diseases. Examples: Red #40 is linked to lymphomas, Blue #2 to brain tumors, and Yellow #5 to allergies, thyroid tumors and lymphomas. Yummie!
I've been really ambiguous about what to feed my dogs. Every time I've thought I've given them really good food something there has been a big recall or other scare that convinced me I was killing them. (I'm sure you've heard all the reports about chicken treats leading to kidney failure, salmonella in foods, and so on.) I gave them Taste of the Wild for a while and thought I was home free, but then they had a huge recall of contaminated pet food.
After the Taste of the Wild fiasco I gave up and went back to buying pet food from the grocery store. I figured Beneful might not be good for them, but they have to eat something, and at that point in time, all the major food manufacturers were wrestling with quality problems. Look at this pet food recall list and you'll see what I mean. There is also this list of recent recalls.
They've been chewing Beneful for quite a while, until we got a new foster dog. This food didn't sit well with her at all. She ate it and thought it was yummie, and threw it all up after about half an hour. Nothing else was wrong with the dog - it had to be the food. I moseyed off to the pet store, determined to find something better to feed her.
There are too many types of pet food to choose from. I poked some bags and pulled a couple out of the shelf to read the backside text. Fortunately, someone saw my confusion and came over to help. We talked about pet food for a little while, and I was about to leave with a bag. Then, he asked, "What kind of dog is it?"
I said, "It's a Border Collie. Or, well, a Border Collie mix."
The young man's face brightened. "Oh, a dog like that deserves real food."
I thought, "Don't all dogs deserve real food?" but nodded and agreed. I wanted to know what the real food might be. He recommended a brand called Orijen. Compared to the other brands it's expensive, but the table of contents doesn't have any of the weird stuff. Also, since it's a high quality food, the doggies need less of it than they do of the cheaper brands.
I've been feeding it for about a week and a half now. Thus far, the dogs love it, and all of them seem to feel great. I read a review of it. It said: "...a kibble containing a notable amount of meat.What’s more, this dog food is grain-free. There’s no corn, wheat or soy. And no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. Bottom line? Orijen Adult is a meat-based dry dog food using an abundance of meat and fish meals as its main sources of animal protein, thus earning the brand 5 stars.Enthusiastically recommended."
Compared to feeding them corn meal, wheat, and meat byproducts... I don't care if the bag costs five or even ten dollars more than the other foods.
If you want to read more about pet food, I strongly recommend that you visit dogfoodadvisor.com.
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