Supersize My Dog and/or Cat

Have you ever seen the movie Supersize Me? The one where the guy eats McDonald's for 30 days consecutively? After day 5 he starts throwing up, gaining a ridiculous amount of weight, sweating without doing any physical activity, not sleeping well, etc. Sounds awful, right? You wouldn't eat McDonald's everyday so why make your pet?

I know I already wrote a dog food post when there was the recall, but I really want to write one that talks about food in general. I still see so many people walking home from big name pet stores with really unhealthy food and lemme tell you, it is getting harder and harder for me to bite my tongue. I also see that a fair amount of my clients are feeding unhealthy food as well. It's amazing how effective the media and advertising has been in training the public to think that the prettier the packaging, the healthier the food. I also think that while many vets do know about dog nutrition, A TON DON'T. This is because they often take a single nutrition class that covers all animals, from horses to dogs to cats to birds, and guess who pays for it? Hills, the maker of Science Diet. Talk about having a little push the upper hand in the curriculum. So I'm gonna break it down for everyone.

"Some companies are more forthright than others in listing their ingredients, so knowing some of the basics will help you get through the list without being bamboozled or confused.

Generally, you want to read through the ingredients carefully until you get to the first fat/oil listed. Ingredients listed before this make up the bulk of the food, and those listed after are included in much smaller amounts for flavoring, preservative value, to provide trace minerals, etc. There are some key things to look for among those top ingredients.

First, dogs are carnivores, so the meat is by far the most important ingredient in your dog’s food. You want to see specific animals rather than generic terms listed as the sources of protein (chicken/lamb/bison… not animal/meat/poultry…). “Meal” form is preferred, because it means it is weighed after the moisture has already been removed. You want to avoid foods with “byproduct” listed in the ingredients, because this pretty much means “anything left after all the stuff that is fit for human consumption has been removed.”

Let me clarify . . .
chicken meal = excellent
chicken = good
poultry = bad, because it is unidentifiable
chicken byproduct = crap
poultry byproduct = unidentifiable crap
poultry byproduct meal = unidentifiable crap in concentrated form

Second, if your food contains grain (most does), you want to check for both the type and form of the grain. Rice is generally the most digestible grain. Oats and barley are also OK. Corn is the least digestible. Other than corn, wheat is the grain most likely to cause problems because many dogs are allergic. So, generally rice is best, but not all rice is the same. Like your mother told you, brown rice is healthier than white rice. “Ground” or “meal” form is fine, but stay away from other forms of processing because any nutritional value is lost. A common ingredient is “brewer’s rice” which simply means “the crap left over from the brewery after we’ve gotten anything worthwhile out of that rice.” Stay away from that.

Third, anything that sounds mysterious on your list of ingredients is probably something the manufacturer doesn’t want you to know about. For example, stay away from foods with “animal fat” or “animal digest”—these are unidentifiable ingredients and often contain rendered animals, which can be diseased animals, animals that died before slaughter, roadkill, and euthanized pets from animal shelters. Eeeeewww!

Finally, anything that sounds like it isn’t good for your dog probably isn’t good for your dog. Stay away from “lard” or sweeteners (often used for flavoring). Stay away from foods with lots of grains listed among the first ingredients or several variations of the same grain listed early in the list (for example, ground rice, brewer’s rice, and rice flour? . . . can you say “filler”?). Also stay away from menadione (a vitamin supplement that may cause health problems).

One big confusion about dog food, I think, lies in the marketing terminology. The term "premium" has been used for years to distinguish foods you buy at pet stores from foods you buy at the grocery store. Unfortunately, the companies that produce "premium" foods are no longer committed to the same level of quality they once were. They are, however, banking on the reputation created years ago.

Companies that produce foods such as Iams and Science Diet have been bought out by corporations that also produce foods for human consumption. Therefore, instead of having their own chicken processing plant, for example, the pet food companies are getting whatever parts of the chicken we won't eat (and if you've ever had a Chicken McNugget, you know we'll eat almost anything).

Some people refer to the newer, more complete dog foods as "super premium." I avoid this term myself, because I think it promotes the same marketing confusion. I'd rather learn to understand what the labels say and decide for myself whether it's the best choice for my dog.

Manufacturers are keenly conscious of the growing awareness among dog food buyers about the ingredients listed for their products. If they have something good in them, they will highlight it however they can. So, yes, "chicken byproduct meal" may contain organ meat, but if it were all organ meat or even mostly organ meat, the label would surely indicate that. The grains listed are of little value nutritionally and there are several ingredients that are potentially detrimental.

I hope this helps. For a far more thorough and authoritative explanation, I suggest you visit Dog Food Project. This post is really intended for those who don’t have the time or inclination to sift through all the content on that site. It is definitely worth a read if you do have the time."

You can also check out Dog Food Analysis and see where your dogs food ranks and others. This site is almost right on, but there are some points that I would disagree with.

Which brands are healthy? There are a bunch! I will just name a few in no particular order. Innova, Wellness, Evangers, Canidae, California Natural, Nature's Variety, Solid Gold, Wysong, Artemis and more!! Grain Free healthy foods are Evo, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen and more! With grain free you will feed much less because there is absolutely NO filler.

Where can you find these foods? I'll name some stores that are in the area (Park Place Bark's service area) but there are a lot of locations in Chicago not mentioned below!

Soggy Paws
Located at
1148 West Leland Avenue
773.334.7663
and
1912 South State Street
312.808.0768

4 Legs (A walk away from Park Place Tower for all you folks!)
Located at
3809 N Clark St, Chicago

Wigglyville (Another short walk for a LOT of clients!
Located at
3337 N Broadway St, Chicago

What food do I consider unhealthy? Iams, Sciance Diet, Nutro (YES NUTRO), Pedigree, Purina, Dog Chow, Ol'Roy. Pretty much most foods from big name pet stores and big box stores are unhealthy.

Please think about what you are feeding your dog/cat, it can make a HUGE difference in their life and yours. For one they will probably live longer! Also you can expect terrific tiny poops, better breath, shinier coats, less shedding and more! Your kids are worth it.