Information on Boxer Health
Nutrition
Do you have any idea what is in that bag of dog food you just picked up in the grocery store? Take alook at some of the ingredients.
Here are the ingredients for Purina Dog Chow Nutritional Excellence Formula (tm)
1. Ground yellow corn
2. Poultry By-Product Meal
3. Corn Gluten Meal
4. Soybean Meal
5. Beef Tallow
6. Brewer's Rice
7. Barley Flour.
8. Salt
9. Animal Digest
10. Brewers Dried Yeast.
Ok....let's take a look at those. What is Ground yellow corn? In this case it is the entire corn kernel ground. That doesn't sound too bad, does it? Until you consider that many dogs are allergic to corn, in fact many dogs are allergic to grains period. Corn and vegetable material in general is difficult for dogs to digest, and generally passes through them. Ever wondered why your dog poops so much? Take a good look at his food. Corn and other fillers are probably the culprit.
Poultry By-Product Meal. What the heck is that? "Poultry by-product
meal consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcasses of
slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines --
exclusive of feathers except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good
processing practices."
This is a low-quality, inconsistent ingredient,
with multiple organs used, constantly changing proportions, and questionable
nutritional value. The origin can be any fowl (turkeys, ducks, geese, buzzards,
etc.), instead of a single source, like chicken". Poultry by-product meal is
much less expensive and less digestible than chicken meal. Yum. Sounds good to
me. How about you? Yuck.
Ok...how about the Corn Gluten Meal. "Corn gluten meal is the dried
residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ,
and the separation of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling
manufacture of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the
endosperm.
While not the best quality source of protein, the use of corn
gluten in small amounts offer preventive health benefits for cats. In addition,
unlike dogs, cats do not usually show signs of allergic reactions to corn
products. There is no real justification for the use of corn gluten in dog
foods, it is only a cheap protein filler."
Soybean Meal. Soybean meal is a poor quality protein filler. The
"Crude Protein" analysis on pet food labels is only a measurement of the amount
of nitrogen in a food -- not the quality of the protein. Because of this, pet
food companies can use the cheaper by-products of human food production, such as
soybean meal, to boost protein numbers.
Meat is always the best source of
quality protein. Meat protein is better absorbed and retained and is higher in
essential amino acids like methionine, arginine, and taurine. Soybean meal has a
biologic value less than 50% of that of chicken meal. (Biologic value is the
amount that is able to be used rather than simply passing through the
system.)
Beef Tallow. Essentially, it's fat. Beef fat. Although this is a very palatable source of fat, it is low in linoleic acid, which is necessary for skin and coat health. In addition, beef can be a source of allergies for some animals.
Brewer's rice. "Brewer's rice is a lower quality rice product that is missing many of the nutrients found in ground rice and ground brown rice."
Barley Flour."Barley flour consists principally of the soft, finely
ground and bolted meal obtained from milling barley and consists essentially of
the starch and gluten of the endosperm.
Pre-processed ingredients, such
as flours, have had much of their nutritional value leeched from them.
"
Salt. We all know what salt is. :)
Animal Digest. You'll love this. "Animal digest is a cooked-down broth made from unspecified parts of unspecified animals. Any kind of animal can be included: goats, pigs, horses, rats, etc. The animals can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination."
Brewers Dried Yeast. Brewer's dried yeast is the dried,
non-fermentive, non-extracted yeast that results as a by-product of the brewing
of beer and ale.
Although brewer's yeast is a good source of Vitamin B,
it is a potential allergen for some animals
Ok...Now we have looked at the ingredients. Lets think about something else. What is a dog. Herbivore? Omnivore? Carnivore? Silly question? Well, probably not as silly as you think. Dogs are technically classified as omnivores. Surprised? Many are. Why are they classified as omnivores? Because a dog can survive on plant based proteins. Survive. Not thrive. There is a big difference between surviving and thriving.
Dogs need meat to thrive. If we look at their dentition and their intestinal tract it is designed to digest meat and bone. Their teeth are designed to rip and scissor through meat and crush bone. Their intestinal tract is short, not allowing the extra processing that it takes to efficiently digest plant material. People are true omnivores...as are bears. If you look at our teeth, we have molars designed to crush and grind plant material as well as proteins. Our gut is longer, allowing us to break down and gain the nutritional benefit of vegetables. With their shorter gut, and incorrect teeth, dogs do not process vegetable material efficiently and many times that material passes through them without imparting its nutrients.
There is precious little meat in the dog food listed above. So what kind of nutrition for a dog can it have? Why would you choose to feed your dog, an animal designed to eat meat, a diet based mostly on the most difficult materials for it to digest?
Oh, but I don't feed Purina, I feed a premium dog food such as _________. Sad to say, but most foods, even the so called premium brands like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet etc. are not much better. Here is a link to a good tool for comparing dog foods. Take a look at what your brand of food has in it.
If you are going to choose a commercial dog food, it is important to choose one that has biologically available nutrition. Choose a food that uses only human grade ingredients. Choose one that doesn't use fillers like corn and soy.
Here are a list of a few of the best foods on the market today. They cost a little more, and sometimes they are harder to find, but isn't your dog worth it?
Canidae
Innova - Particularly Innova Evo. This food contains no grains. If your dog is itchy, it could well be that he is allergic to grains. Try this food.
Flint River
California Natural
Wellness
Of these foods, my pick would be Innova and Canidae. Nutrition is very important for your dog. You have seen a few of the ingredients that are in most of the foods that are commercially available. Most of this is garbage. Remember the old saying "You are what you eat"? Its true for your dog too. They need optimal nutrition just as you do.
Keep in mind that the pet food industry is only about 75 years old. In order to make pet foods at low cost, they generally use the waste products of the human food industry. There are no rules preventing them from using 4D meats. 4D meats refers to dead, dying, diseased and down. There is nothing preventing them from using a cancer ridden animal or a sick animal in making your dog (or cats!) food, and they do use these things. Would you eat these things? Would you consider having these things in your diet something that would help prevent cancer and some of the other illness that plague our beloved companions? Our pets lives are too short as it is. We need to make every effort to help them live longer, healthier, disease free lives, and diet is very import to that end.
Choose wisely.