What Should I Feed My Pet?
Dec 2006
By Don Hanson
Only you can decide what type of food to feed your pet. You may want to consider a combination of the types of food mentioned. Whatever you choose, select the ingredients carefully, looking for the following:
- A superior source of animal protein, such as whole, fresh meats (chicken, lamb, etc.) or single-source meat meals (chicken meal, pork meal, lamb meal, etc.). An ingredient listed as “meat and bone meal” is unacceptable. Typically, meat meals are used only in dry dog food.
- A whole meat source, such as chicken or chicken meal should be the first ingredient listed. Two or three meat sources within the first five ingredients are even better, because they provide a broader amino acid profile. Whenever possible, meat sources should be free of antibiotics, added hormones and single source fats, such as chicken fat. Animal fat or animal digest is unacceptable.
- Whole, unprocessed grains and vegetables, such as ground whole corn or ground whole brown rice is preferred. The more a food is processed, the less nutrition it contains. Consider grains only if you are feeding a dry food, and look for grain sources that are free of pesticides and herbicides.
- Supplementation with digestive enzymes, prebiotics and probiotics to aid in digestion and optimal utilization of nutrients is preferred, as is use of natural preservatives and packaging that helps preserve the food, avoiding foods that use artificial preservatives such as Ethoxyquin, BHA or BHT.
- Do not use food fragments. Regulations require that ingredients in a dog food be listed by weight, with the heaviest ingredient being listed first. Food fragments occur when a manufacturer breaks a single ingredient down into several descriptions on the food label. For example, rice may appear three times on the label as brewer’s rice, rice flour and rice bran. Manufacturers that do this are trying to make rice appear lower on the ingredient list. If rice was listed once, it would probably be the predominant ingredient in the food and would have to appear at the top of the label. Using food fragments is not only poor nutrition, it is deceptive.
- Do not use meat by-products, which are an inferior source of protein and are frequently used in low-end dry and wet foods.
- Avoid unnecessary content from artificial colors, propylene glycol and sweeteners, such as corn syrup and sucrose. These ingredients add nothing to a food’s nutritional value and may even be harmful.
- Look for full disclosure by the manufacturer to calculate the true feeding cost of the food. If a manufacturer will not reveal food density and kCal/cup, what else are they hiding?
- Look for compliance with AAFCO’s (Association of American Feed Control Officials) nutritional adequacy statement. While this only ensures minimal nutrition, a food without this statement may not meet even minimal requirements.
I am often asked, “Which food is best for my dog?” Unfortunately, there are not always easy answers to this question, because each dog is different and each may do better or worse than another on a given food. Over the course of our dogs’ lives, we have fed each of the types of food listed above. As our dogs aged and developed health problems, we switched to a 100 percent commercial raw diet, because it gives the dogs the best possible nutrition. Formulas are switched at the time of each purchase and brands used are alternated.
Recommended foods and daily feeding costs are available online under “Pet Food” at www.greenacreskennel.com. Look for “A Comparison of Dry and Raw Dog Foods.”
Don Hanson and his wife, Paula, own and operate the Green Acres Kennel Shop in Bangor, where he is the director of behavior services and training. He is a Bach Foundation Registered Practitioner animal specialist, Certified Dog Behavior Consultant and Certified Pet Dog Trainer. Hanson hosts the “Woof-Meow Show,” which airs at 8:30 p.m., Sunday, on WVOM, 103.9FM.
