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Just a few notes on the subject--you need to be more concerned about the quality of the ingredients then the actual nutritional content. Did you know that feather meal is an empty protein source used by many companies in livestock feeds-it does raise the protein level in the food without the expense of a meat protein. Similar to the recall issues with the China made products this last year.
So with that comment-look for meat meals in the ingredients as they are more concentrated and contain less water. Remember ingredients are listed based on their weight not on their caloric or nutritional content. Say whole fresh chicken is the first ingredient, take equal weight amounts of the chicken meal and fresh chicken, process out the water. Your end result will be less fresh chicken then meal.
Dogs in the wild often eat the internal organs of animals, including the stomach contents of the grass eaters they kill. Those animals have already semi fermented and processed their diet. At home it's not unusual for my crew to have a hayday cleaning up the dropped pellets from the horses.(I feed pellets as it's jump started the digestion process for the horse and allows for more absorbtion of the vital nutrients.) They nibble on grass out in the pasture too. Eat mulberrries of the trees, windfall apples and pears. So the correct carbos in moderation is good for a dog-corn is not all bad, it works best if it's a processed corn product then a whole grain item. Any grain needs to be a meal as our dogs aren't cows and can't ferment and process a whole grain as well.
What I look for is information on the company also-where they get their ingredients and where it is made. Grocery store brands such as Euk and Iams have less quality control due to the multiple locations where it is made. So one bag that I purchase on the east coast can vary considerably from the same formula that I get that is made in the southwest.
For years, the logic was that high protein puppy food was causing all the issues with the mature dogs and joints. New studies show that it wasn't the protein but the fat levels. Puppies should have moderate levels of protein with lower fat levels. Feeding puppy food for the life of the dog can be an issue with dogs that have kidney problems, dogs that are not active and can't turn that protein into energy quick enough. All in moderation as my grandmother says.
I don't feed puppy food to my dogs past one large bag - as in, momma dog gets to eat puppy food a few days before she whelps, while she is nursing and then the puppies are grueled on goats milk, rice cereal then slowly introducing the mashed puppy food. Once that bag gets low, mom is usually weaning, puppies are then introduced to the adult dog food the rest of the gang here eats. I have actually ran into issues with growth on one cardigan when it started sneaking puppy food from the babies. Once I got him back on a lower protein, fat product, he got better.
Overview-know the ingredient sources, look deeper into that ingredient list and there are loads of good quality products out there, just gotta find them.
Cindy and the crew
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