Saturday 5 January 2008

knowing the ingredients in commercial dog foods

I'd better confess straight away that although I mostly 'raw feed' Penny, she does get commercial dog foods some of the time. For instance, I like Nature's Gift canned food and Ziwi canned foods when I am looking for something to stuff into her kongs and freeze. This is especially useful in the hot weather we're having.



I also feed Eagle Pack and Evo dried food on occasion, often in some sort of interactive toy where she has to work to get the food out.


I also use 4-Legs cooked food and their meat treats.

Today I was reading Bark Blog and followed a link to The Dog Food Project by Sabine Contreras, where there is list of ingredients you might find in commercial foods. The author says it will be updated as more information becomes available. To me it seems a useful reference. When I'm thinking about buying new food I could check it against this list. I think I might get out some of the foods on our shelf and check the ingredients.

8 comments:

curator said...

Hi Parlance, wanted to swing by and say hi to you and Penny. The Dog Food list sounds useful -- I know that these days I feed my cats strictly Wellness brand canned food and a small-batch quality dry food. It really does make a difference, as you know. Our dog gets good quality food too and all our pets are shiny and bright-eyed. Anything for them, right?

Anonymous said...

Hi! It's me, Rusty! I like the food your person is getting for you! Mom got me some home made dog biscuits today from a little shop at First Monday. They sure taste good. Mom likes the sound of that book "Lucky for Me' and is going to find it to add to her growing list of books to read.
Happy New Year Penny!
Rusty

Amber-Mae said...

My mommy never really believes in feeding us too much commercial food becoz you don't know what ingredients are inside. Yes, they may be very good becoz they are so called so-called holistic & so on but still, they're processed. Imagine you eating sawdust-tasting dry kibbles everyday too? One dog actually passed away from eating commercial food. Died from liver failure. My mommy got scared when she heard about that. My mommy always believe in feeding half of commercial food & home-cooked food. She believes in moderation in everything. We get the best of both worlds!

Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer

parlance said...

Hi, Curator
Does 'small-batch' mean made by a small company rather than a mega-corporation?

parlance said...

Rusty, I hope your mum enjoys the book.

parlance said...

Amber-Mae, I wish I was as careful with my own food as we all are with our dogs' food. I eat too much 'rubbish'.
I think I'm not willing to feed commercial foods to Penny even though I eat some fast-food myself (not too much) because she has a small body and I think bad foods would have a bigger effect on her.

curator said...

Hiya Parlance,
Yes, our pet food is made by smaller companies - we have to go to specialty pet stores to get it. I know I wondered at first but within a month of springing for expensive food, I noticed they ate less and looked great. They don't even (ahem) smell as bad if you understand me.

parlance said...

Curator, thanks for that. Yes, I agree that the cost of better food soon pays for itself, partly because you don't have to give so much. No fillers.