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| The Healthy Bark |
Dry food-Have you ever read the ingredients or are you just watching the TV commercials that look pretty?
I am sure by now if you have been reading this blog you know I am an advocate for feeding real food such as homemade or raw, and that dried up pieces of kibble are not what I consider food. Yes there are brands out there that do a better job than others, but it is still dried food. I know some people, for what ever their reasoning may be, will not consider feeding a raw or home cooked diet. If you must feed a dried kibble diet than take the time to know what you are feeding. Know where they are sourcing, call and ask questions, read the ingredients, is there more "vitamin" mix added than there is real food.
Not all dry foods are made the same. Some use ingredients that are listed multiple ways, but are the same thing with different names. The same goes for the vitamins that are added, many of them are salt based and added together are very high in sodium.
Things you do NOT want in a pet food:
- The word "Animal" as it can be anything and I do mean anything!
- By-Products
- Corn-Wheat-Soy
- Food Dyes
- Synthetic Vitamins especially Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex
- Propylene Glycol-BHT-BHA-Ethoxyquin
The more Vitamin premix added to the food the less nutrients from actual food is in the bag. If you must feed dry food consider giving your dog or cat some real meat mixed in. Also bone broth homemade would give extra benefits. Not only would the addition to the food give them more meat since that is what they are designed to it, but using bone broth would add moisture back into the diet.Below are 2 dry kibble dog foods. One is in every grocery store or big box pet store out there. The other is only from small pet stores. Look at the ingredients and the amounts you would need to feed. You can see that the so called bargain brand is not such a bargain when you consider how much you need to feed, the fillers, and the ingredients. Also consider if you have to feed this much what is ending up in your yard every day!
Ingredients marked in Yellow are NOT nutritious, or good for your pets. Keep in mind the first 5 ingredients make up the majority of the bag.
Ground yellow corn,
chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat
preserved with mixed-tocopherols, chicken, soy flour, rice flour, propylene glycol, sugar, tricalcium
phosphate, salt, phosphoric acid, potassium chloride, animal digest, mono and dicalcium
phosphate, dried carrots, sorbic acid (a preservative), dried tomatoes, avocado,
calcium propionate (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline
chloride, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, Yellow 5, manganese
sulfate, niacin, Red 40,
Vitamin A supplement, Blue
2, copper sulfate, Vitamin B-12 supplement, calcium pantothenate,
thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, Yellow 6, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement,
Vitamin D-3 supplement,
menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity),
calcium iodate, folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.
44# Dog gets 2 2/3 to 3 1/3 cups per day
So feeding at the low end, the largest bag would last you 50 days or $0.84 a day
Boneless chicken*, chicken meal, chicken liver*, whole herring*, boneless turkey*, turkey meal, turkey liver*, whole eggs*, boneless walleye*, whole salmon*, chicken heart*, chicken cartilage*, herring meal, salmon meal, chicken liver oil, red lentils, green peas, green lentils, sun-cured alfalfa, yams*, pea fiber, chickpeas, pumpkin*, butternut squash*, spinach greens*, carrots*, Red Delicious apples*, Bartlett pears*, cranberries*, blueberries*, kelp, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile, dandelion, summer savory, rosemary, Enterococcus faecium. Vitamin A, vitamin D3, vitamin E, niacin, riboflavin, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, selenium yeast.
44# Dog gets 1 1/3 to 2 cups per day
So feeding at the low end, the largest bag would last you 81 days or $0.96 a day
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