Is this food going to be healthy for my dog?

Question

I had been feeding my dog Bil-Jac for a while, but once I found out that corn was like the third ingredient on there, I decided to switch. I did some research on this other brand that I found, and so far it checks out of any bad quality or poor nutrition sources. Have I missed anything?

There are no preservatives that I have found, and no dyes or anything, either. Let me know your opinions!

Ingredients

Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Brewers Dried Yeast, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Beta-Carotene, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Flax Meal, Apple Pomace, Dried Carrots, Dried Peas, Choline Chloride, Dried Spinach, Dried Tomato, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), L-Carnitine, Rosemary Extract

Answer 1

I'd research whether this brand was recalled a lot in the recent recalls of the past few years.  It sounds like the ingredients for Iams.

Your dog may do fine on this food, but for the health of the dog, I'd check with their track record.

It does have lots of grains (main content- but when grains are listed separately they would appear to be lesser in content but collectively they are far greater than the content of meat, it would seem.)

By-Product Meal generally means dried out offal or waste products from the chicken.

I wish dog food companies (ALL OF THEM) had to list the content of their food by amount per serving. Also, whether they process their meat without removing packaging, whether they get grains from third world countries, whether some of their B-Vitamin source is from animal tissue other than chicken, for example. And also, wish they'd have to certify whether their meat was from downer animals.

Then again, when I was a kid, a person whose chickens got sick and were dying sold their chickens (that were used for laying eggs) to a well known soup company.

AAFCO allows for all kinds of hidden goodies to be added to food. I feed my dogs a food that was not recalled during the recent recalls. It has some content I am not wild about, but they tolerate the food well. (A venison and rice food).

The ingredients sound better than Bil Jac, but not top of the market food.  Then again, who here has actually toured the plant that makes their dog food, or even knows where it is at?

Answer 2

I agree with Katey on California natural. I feed the chicken and rice formula and my dog does terrific on it.  

Answer 3

I'm not impressed, no. It has by-products (heck a by-product /meal/) and corn in it.

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to dump cheap leftovers in. Will it kill your dog? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.

Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.

Thankfully, there are some excellent dog foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Pedigree, Kibbles n' Bits, Beneful, Ol'Roy.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Canidae All Life Stages, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety Prairie, Nature's Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix.

Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you're getting what you're paying for. Less filler material means more concentrated nutrients... this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less p**p!

A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diets include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Merrick Before Grain, Canidae Grain Free All Life Stages, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now! and Sold Gold Barking At The Moon, Taste of the Wild.

Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic, Blue Buffalo, Castor & Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo. If you can't find a food, most of the high quality food brands have websites with store locators on them.

Remember that foods should be switched gradually, especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies.

Another option for feeding dogs is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:

http://www.barfworld.com/

http://www.rawfed.com/

http://www.rawlearning.com/

http://www.wysong.net/controversies/rawm...

More on dog food:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?...  (Learn how to determine the quality of your dog's food.)

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_... (Dog food reviews. Four stars is a decent food, five stars is a great food, and six stars is an excellent food.)

Answer 4

I wouldn't feed it. Let's look at the first several ingredients:

Chicken = GOOD ingredient, but 80% water, so likely not even in the top 5 ingredients

Chicken By-Product Meal = BAD ingredient, dried leftover parts

Brewers Rice = BAD ingredient, low-quality filler

Corn Meal = BAD ingredient, low-quality filler and common allergen, not very digestible

Ground Whole Grain Sorghum = between BAD & OKAY ingredient,  not very digestible

Ground Whole Grain Barley = OKAY ingredient, a quality grain and not a common allergen

Chicken Fat = GOOD ingredient, named meat source of fat

Dried Beet Pulp = BAD ingredient, low-quality filler

.

Answer 5

For the most part it sounds alright. I dont see a lot in there that concerns me. If youre still worried about what your dog is eating, your best bet is to go to a feed store and buy dog food there. My vet told me to give my dog California Natural because its one of the best dog foods made and sold today. Look around there and see what you can find.

Answer 6

The main ingredients in kibble are usually all the items before the first source of fat. In your kibble, everything before Chicken Fat. The following ingredients after that are usually only in very small quantities. The two main ingredients that are iffy are:

1. Chicken By-Product Meal : You generally don't want by-products.

2. Corn Meal: Many dogs are allergic to corn.

A good, not too expensive kibble is Canidea All Stages:

It has good protein and is grain free. Note the main ingredients are Chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb, potatoes, peas. No by-products, no corn, and no wheat.

Other good kibble brands that are high protein and grain-free include Orijen, Innova EVO, Nature's Variety Instinct, and Wellness CORE.

Answer 7

Personally I don't like to feed my dog anything that had chicken in it, just because chicken is a very popular food allergy in dogs, also corn meal is a filler, I completely avoid fillers in my dogs food as well, Chicken by-product is something that i also avoid as it is everything from the chicken that is not suitable for people to eat (organs, bones, beaks, etc.) so if it isn't good enough for me to eat, neither is it good enough for my dog, also added animal fat is not too good, that makes the food extra fattening and can lead to heart disease in dogs, I feed my Husky Solid Gold Hundenflockon, which is there lamb and rice formula which works wonders on his coat, lamb and rice is very good for skin and coat and is very good for dogs with food allergies.

Solid gold contains non of the following

~Corn

~Sugar

~Added animal fat

~By-products

~Soy

~Wheat

~Preservatives

~Artificialflavors

~Fillers

Here are the ingredients in my dogs food

Lamb | Lamb Meal | Brown Rice | Cracked Pearled Barley | Millet | Rice Bran | Oatmeal | Ocean Fish Meal | Canola Oil | Tomato Pomace | Flaxseed | Natural Flavor | Salmon Oil (source of DHA) | Choline Chloride | Taurine | Dried Chicory Root | Parsley Flakes | Pumpkin Meal | Almond Oil | Sesame Oil | Yucca Schidigera Extract | Thyme | Blueberries | Cranberries | Carrots | Broccoli | Vitamin E Supplement | Iron Proteinate | Zinc Proteinate | Copper Proteinate | Ferrous Sulfate | Zinc Sulfate | Copper Sulfate | Potassium Iodide | Thiamine Mononitrate | Manganese Proteinate | Manganous Oxide | Ascorbic Acid | Vitamin A Supplement | Biotin | Calcium Panthothenate | Manganese Sulfate | Sodium Selenite | Pyridoxine Hydrochloride | Vitamin B12 Supplement | Riboflavin Supplement | Vitamin D Supplement | Folic Acid |

Also the food is made here in to USA, with only high-quality ingredients

Solid gold pet foods was not on the recall list, and is a holistic all around healthy dog food. It is excellent for dog with food allergies because it does not contain any fillers, and ingredients that are related to most dog allergies. I used to work a petshop that sold solid gold, and I have heard so many excellent things about this dog food, and the changes in the dogs apperance, health and behavoir since they swithed their animals to solid gold, I swear by this food and I know a lot of people who do as well. Yes solid gold is some what expensive, but really in the long run you are spending less money, your dog will be able to eat less food, because Solid gold contains all the nutriants that he needs, and will fill him up much faster.

Here is their website if you would like to look into the food

http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/

Answer 8

It sounds like a good food to me. I am happy to see no wheat in the ingredient list. I cannot hazard a guess as to the brand but it sounds like one of the more top line brands to me.

I am in Canada and we probably don't have all the same foods as the USA (I assume.....that is where you are???)

I am a professional groomer and part time pet food store manager. I would recommend the food.....after I recommended a couple of others that have no corn at all (nor wheat,nor soy - neither of which you listed). Since my dogs have no allergies, I would have no problem feeding what you recommended...

May I be so bold as to ask what it is??? I would have guessed Nutro's but I am not sure that it is wheat free so I am showing my ignorance....my main job is grooming....not the store....but I try to keep up with nutrition.,,,there are just SO MANY BRANDS out there!!!