What constitutes a grain?
In my never-ending quest for dog-related knowledge, I went to PetSmart and Wal-Mart to check out the kinds of foods I can get there. I looked at the ingredients of most bags and marked which brands and ingredients I liked and didn't like. Ultimately, I want to feed Waffle a non-grain food. (Well, ultimately I want to feed raw, but until I have the ability to manage that, I want a non-grain kibble.) The kibbles that didn't contain corn or wheat or meat by-product meal had rice flour or potato flour. Aren't potatoes bad for dogs? Bleh. I don't know what's good and what isn't. Help me out?
As a side note, I want to express some EXTREME DISAPPOINTMENT I experienced in Wal-Mart. I saw a bag of Ol' Roy with a corgi on it, and I flipped it over and found out that it had High Fructose Corn Syrup. BLECH. I don't even want to be eating that stuff-- it horrifies me that they're trying to feed it to our pooches now! :|
As a side note, I want to express some EXTREME DISAPPOINTMENT I experienced in Wal-Mart. I saw a bag of Ol' Roy with a corgi on it, and I flipped it over and found out that it had High Fructose Corn Syrup. BLECH. I don't even want to be eating that stuff-- it horrifies me that they're trying to feed it to our pooches now! :|
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sarah C. on
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Potato SKINS are bad for dogs. As are the green parts. Potatos and sweet potatos are used in plenty of very good foods as a binder and carbohydrate supplier.
Remember, if we're thinking of "in the wild" animals eat the contents of a prey item's stomach, which includes some vegetation. The reason people don't like wheat and corn is because they have a fairly high allergy risk, they are not highly digestible, and they are not very nutritious. Rice and potatos are nice because they are pretty widely tolerated (if you, for example, were put on a "find the allergy" diet, you would start with things like rice and potato, and then work your way back to normal food), and they are easily digestible. Lots of foods also use things like barley and wild rice and beetroot pulp (beetroot pulp has been associated with some allergies and intolerance and is considered filler to some websites ;3).
In my experience, Petco has most of the big-label premium foods like blue-buffalo and solid gold and wellness and what not that a lot of people like to feed their dogs. Try http://dogfoodanalysis.com/ . They have some great information. For my own price range I use wellness core which is considered a 6 star there.
Keep in mind though...
Like human food and health, there are a thousand different opinions on what is good for dogs and not a whole lot of solid research. Take some things with a grain of salt.
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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on
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I wish we had a Petco around where I live. I checked out the Petco website, though, and they have a program where they deliver food to your house. That's pretty cool! Wellness is near the top of my list of foods I'm looking into. Thanks for sharing your knowledge; it's very much appreciated by both me and my future pooch.
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Permalink Reply by Ginny and Diggory on
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You're going to have a really tough time finding a grain free food at Walmart. Agree with Sarah... first avoid wheat, corn, and "byproducts". We started Ginny feeding her Nature's Variety Prairie which incorporates different healthy grains (rice, barley, oatmeal, millet) with different meat sources, which you rotate through. We've recently switched to Blue Buffalo which also contains healthy grains. We've had success with both. I know that it seems like the really expensive foods cost a lot (and by comparison to the "junk" that's out there, it's true), but you can end up feeding less, because they're more nutritious. Ginny eats only 1.25 cups of food per day, and she's fit and trim, with a healthy coat and bright eyes. Growing puppies may need a little bit more as they get a bit bigger. Good luck on your quest!
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I don't think I found any grain free foods at Wal-Mart at all. I did find some grain free and USDA approved treats, though. Anyways, that's why I went to Petsmart! Blue Buffalo was one of the brands on my list, among some others that I'd never heard of before.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Keep in mind that dogs, like people, didn't really eat many grains "in the wild" because they lack the proper teeth and digestive enzymes to break through the seed coats. Animals (like birds) that eat grain "in the wild" have specialized digestive systems to get past the seed coat.
Processing techniques allow dogs (and people) to digest foods they wouldn't normally have eaten because the seed coat has been broken down for them by processing. Hunter/gatherer humans did not really eat grains much more often than dogs did, til they got the idea of grinding them down into flours and stuff.
Just watch the protein and calorie content; a lot of the premium "grain-free" foods are high protein and high calorie, which is good for working dogs and hard keepers but could be a recipe for obesity in a typical pet, even one who exercises daily.
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By the way, please don't take my post the wrong way! If you want to feed grain-free, that's great. With a kibble, you will need some sort of binder and if you don't have any grain, that is likely to be some sort of potato. A potato is no more or no less "natural" to a dog's diet than is a grain. It's a matter or what ingredients you are comfortable with, and in what quantity. The "no-grain" thing puts me in the mind of the Atkins diet, personally.
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Thanks for your insight! I'll keep all this in mind. :]
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Rachael, click on the FAQ and read the articles regarding to pet food, FDA and AAFCO, learn the lingo and you'll be able to make a better decision.
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I read that and know the lingo and know what to look for in a dog food more or less, I just wasn't sure what is good and bad for a dog in terms of allergens and naturalness. :] That's a great resource though! Thanks~
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Permalink Reply by Sky and Lyla on
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Rice flour is a grain (I think), potato flour is not, but is often used in a "grain-free" foods to bring down the protein content for dogs that either don't need as much protein or for puppies. Since you don't have your dog yet, it is a GREAT time for you to start doing some reading on pet foods and how to pick the healthiest food available. If you are interested I would love to point you toward some resources, just let me know. Also, if you decide you want to start a raw diet, either buy the pre-packaged raw (very expensive) or do A LOT of research before doing homemade raw. Homemade raw done wrong can cause more harm than a bad kibble, but if you do it right is the best you can do for most dogs.
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With homemade raw you're just supposed to simulate eating a real animal in the wild, right? Bones, meat, and organs balanced out for all the nutrition needs. :3 I've done a lot of reading and have the basics down for feeding (raw or kibble) but need clarification on the details. I would love some extra reading material, too. Thanks!
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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
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Lori fed our first corgi, Siri, raw chicken wings, legs, necks. She had a skin allergy with the first food we fed her. The raw meat eliminated that. She was a gulper, though, and one day there was this turkey neck... naw, I don't want to remember that day...
That got us started on the raw meat thing. There is a Seattle company (Darwin's) that delivers it to our door, frozen. Don't ask me what it costs, I don't want to know.
Waffle's gonna need butter and maple syrup too, right?
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