What Are You Feeding Jake?

Dog Food

Many new dog owners find themselves in a quandary over what to feed their handsome boy when they bring him home. It is important to know that not all dog food is created equally. Most store bought brands, such as those advertised on television, contain more filler than healthful ingredients to keep “Jake” healthy. When reading the label of dog food, ideally you want the first three ingredients to be chicken, beef, or duck. If you see rice, corn, gluten and anything followed by the words “by-product”, avoid this.

The following is a list of ingredients in the most popular American commercial dog food.

Ground yellow corn
Chicken by-product meal
Corn gluten meal
Brewers rice
Soybean meal
Beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (Vitamin E)
Pearled barley
Dicalcium phosphate
Calcium carbonate
Animal digest – This looks ominous
Salt – This is very dangerous for Jake and Buffy
Egg product
Potassium chloride
L-Lysine monohydrochloride
Zinc proteinate
Choline chloride
DL-Methionine
Vitamin supplements (E, A, B 12, D 3)
Manganese proteinate
Ferrous sulfate
Copper proteinate
Added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2)
Niacin
Brewers dried yeast
Calcium pantothenate
Garlic oil – Another dangerous ingredient
Pyridoxine hydrochloride
Thiamine mononitrate
Riboflavin supplement
Calcium iodate
Menadione sodium bisulfate complex (source of Vitamin K)
Folic acid
Biotin
Sodium selenite

Dogs need their food to be about 21% crude protein (more for puppies). If the first ingredient is corn and the second ingredient is a by-product (which are the scrapings that fell on the floor) then Jake is eating no better than a fast food meal.

Ingredients you want to see in dog food:

Chicken
Beef
Duck
Rice (should not be in the top three of ingredients listed)
Fat (dogs need about 9-12% of fat a day, no more)
Vegetables
Eggs
Glocosamine (good for their joints)

Even in the healthier dog foods there will be a certain amount of filler – gluten, for example. Many dog foods contain this highly unnecessary ingredient. Though you can’t eliminate the filler completely, you can minimize it.

Arguably the organic and natural brands are synonymous with expensive, but ask yourself this question: would you rather feed Jake something healthy and have him die of old age or feed him the equivalent of McDonald’s every day and have him develop stomach, colon, diabetes, liver and kidney problems before he’s six years old? The latter is both painful for Jake and for your wallet.

Ingredients you never want to see in your dog food because they are extremely harmful to them:

Garlic
Onions
Salt
Bone meal (in many commercial brands)
Hops
Grapes and Raisins
Milk

If you want to keep Jake for many years to come, this is one easy way.

Photo Credits: JnL

This post involves:

beef tallow, calcium carbonate, calcium iodate, calcium pantothenate, commercial dog food, corn gluten meal, duck rice, egg product, garlic oil, ground yellow corn, healthful ingredients, lysine, lysine monohydrochloride, pearled barley, potassium chloride, sodium bisulfate, sodium selenite, source of vitamin k, soybean meal, supplement calcium

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Health and Medical, Tips for Dog Owners, dog food

Posted by Dog Training Pet on July 27, 2010 in Health and Medical, Tips for Dog Owners, dog food. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.