INFORMATION

Educating ourselves about what our dogs are eating is so important, but it is also very difficult. The majority of the pet food bags on pet store shelves say that this food meets AAFCO standards. What it doesn’t say, is what the AAFCO trial actually consist of.  IN short, no dog or cat is allowed to lose more than 15% of its starting body weight.  Specific minimum values for the blood tests are given, and applied to the average result of all participating animals that finished the trial. Only 8 animals (either dogs or cats) need to participate in the feeding trial.  There is no restriction regarding breed or sex, however, all dogs must be over one year.  Only 6 of these 8 need to complete the trial, which lasts for just 26 weeks.  During the trial, the only food available to the test animals is the food being tested. Most nutritional deficiencies or excesses will not be apparent within a brief six-month period, as they tend to take much longer to develop. In short, dog food companies can label their food “Complete and balanced” or  “For all stages of life,” as long as six dogs eat their food for six months and don’t die. I could eat Twinkies for six months, and not die…but that certainly doesn’t make it a complete and balanced diet. The AAFCO standards are not as grueling as one may think.

Reading the label

Ingredients are listed in descending order, by weight. However, the listings may be misleading. Suppose beef is listed as the first ingredient, causing you to think it is the primary ingredient. Look again. If it's followed by wheat flour, wheat germ, wheat middlings and so on, the combined wheat products may very well total much more than the beef.

Nutrients are (Fat, Protein, Carbohydrates, Vitamins, Minerals, and Water) necessary for the growth, normal functioning and Maintaining of life.

The two main points are:

So ingredients are only as important as the nutrients they contain, how good they taste to the pet, and their digestibility

Neither wheat nor corn would be an adequate diet alone, but fed together with one or two meat-based proteins capable of supplying the missing amino acids, they could supply an adequate diet.

"Crude" refers to the total protein content, not necessarily the amount of protein that is actually digestible.

Ingredients

As a rule of thumb, because the ingredients are listed in descending order by weight, one of the first three ingredients must be a meat. Another good rule, if you can’t pronounce it, do you really want to feed it to your dog?

Quick break down of meat: Deboned Chicken is ideal...Chicken meal is better than chicken by-product, which is better than chicken digest, which is better than animal digest. But in our prospective, anything less than meal, is not fit for our dogs.

 JUDGING FOOD QUALITY

The majority of low-quality dog foods out there have a couple hallmark ingredients in common. Here are a few and their definitions.

Ethoxyquin
Promoted kidney carcinogenesis.
Significantly increased incidence of stomach tumors.
Enhanced bladder carcinogenesis. Ethoxyquin is listed and identified as a hazardous chemical by OSHA. It has a rating of 3 on a scale of 1 to 6, with 6 being super toxic requiring less than 7 drops to cause death.

BHA
Enhanced stomach and urinary bladder carcinogenesis.
Causes squamous-cell carcinomas in stomachs.
(Cancers of this type are among the most lethal and fastest acting, the swiftest effects being seen among animals with light colored fur.)

BHT
Promoted urinary bladder carcinogenesis.
Could be a promoter of thyroid carcinogenesis.
Studies have noted that BHA and other antioxidants, particularly Propyl Gallate and ethoxyquin, showed additional effects in inducing stomach hyperplasia and cytotoxicity. Both BHA and BHT are known to cause liver and kidney dysfunction and are banned in some European countries. Ethoxyquin is suspected of causing cancer and that propylene glycol (a pet food ingredient closely related to anti-freeze) causes destruction of red blood cells.

Sweeteners: Dogs, like humans, have a taste for sweets. Corn syrup, sucrose, ammoniated glycyrrhizin, and other sweeteners are sometimes added to make foods more appealing. They serve no other purpose and can aggravate health problems in dogs, including diabetes.

Propylene Glycol - This chemical preservative was designed for use in antifreeze, oil and waxes. It causes irregularities in the red blood cells of cats. Dogs and Cats can become addicted to it. It can cause skin problems, hair loss, dull coat, diarrhea, overweight and even death in both dogs and cats.

Lamb meal, chicken meal, or beef meal:

Meat and Bone meal: is the “rendered product” of either lamb, chicken or beef with the addition of bone. Although the meat has been cooked, dried, and ground it is still meat. The percentage of meat to bone is not stated.

Meat by-products: Meat by-products are not meat. It is often used as a foods main protein source. By AAFCO it is defined as, “the non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughter mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, stomachs, and intestines.” Basically, everything we (humans) won’t eat. When you get to by-products, you’ve really departed from a product with any quality.

Digest: is worst of all, it is the by-product hat has been treated with heat and water to create a slurry. Gross.

Wheat and soy are commonly used, however, they seem to be the two main culprits for dog allergies. Is your dog itchy? Check his food label for wheat and soy.

It is also important to note that Phosphorus is directly related to the exacerbation of Renal Disease, kidney failure. Renal Disease is the #1 cause of death in dogs!

Some of the ingredients that comprise a higher-quality food are:

Wellness dog food

At Bellington Shepherds  we feed, recommend, and supply Wellness by Old Mother Hubbard.

Wellness contains NO