The Deal With Dog Food

I'll just be over here, waiting for more food to show up in my dish.

Hi all, Lily the Corgi here.  Here's hoping you've all been safe this past week despite the rash of tornadoes and hail storms that struck.  We lost a big limb in our front yard but other than that we are just fine.  Today, daddy was cutting and burning that limb and a few that we lost during the winter, so it smells like a camp out around our house.  Sadly, no one has yet roasted any hot dogs to share with me.  Sigh.

Last week, I mentioned to you that mama had gone crazy and not only changed our dog food brand, but also started feeding us healthier portions.  Then, this past week, some corgi parents on one of mama's Facebook groups had questions about her dogs' kibble.  So that got me thinking--what is the actual deal with dog food?  What's in it?  Where does it come from?  How do pet parents choose?  So, I sent mama off to do some research, and I tried to take a nap without being bothered by Canyon, the crazy foster dog.

Had to tackle Canyon to the ground and make her settle down.  This dog needs to learn who's boss around here!

Mama says when she was a kid growing up on a farm, their doggies ate scraps.  The leftovers from breakfast, dinner (which is really lunch), and supper (that means dinner) were dumped in a bucket.  Then they poured in any spoiled milk they had and made a soupy mess.  If there wasn't much of this mixture, mama's daddy would toss in a can full of some cheap dry dog food.  After that sat for a while and the dog food soaked up the liquid, it was tossed out on the ground for the dogs to eat.  This sounds horribly primitive and unpleasant to me, but mama says that's just the way it was done back then.  Her doggies were likely to find bones in their food mixture, and I'd surely like that, but the rest just sounds nasty.

Today, thankfully, mama has grown a bit as a pet parent and goes about choosing our food more carefully.  Mama says that first, she has to consider whether she'll feed us dry or wet food.  Around here, mama almost always feeds dry dog food, unless a doggy is sick or stressed or in case it is a holiday or special occassion.  Mama says dry food is easier to feed, cheaper to buy, and better for our teeth.  I like the crunch. My cousin Quincy the ancient wiener dog, who has maybe 3 or 4 teeth left, has to eat wet (canned) food because he can't chew the dry kind anymore.  Sometimes, my Aunt Cathy feeds him little bits of cooked chicken; that sounds wonderful, but I'd rather have my teeth.

Old Quincy has always been a lean, mean, barking machine.

Next, mama says she has to consider what the food is made from.  The ingredient list on our dog food bag is a foot long, so it is hard to know what is important and what isn't, but mama says it especially matters whether the main ingredient or 2 of the food is meat based (meat, meat meal, egg, etc...)  Folks, we are dogs.  We were born to be meat-eaters.  We need our protein.  Foods primarly made from grain products probably won't contain enough protein to keep us at our best.  Even if the food technically has enough protein in it, too much filler can cause the food to pass through our systems undigested so we don't get the full benefit of the protein that's there.

Be careful about where and how your dog foods are manufactured.  Keep abreast of any recalls that may have been issued concerning your brand; not only do ingredients matter but sometimes there can be contaminations at the plants where dog foods are made.  Just like human foods, dog foods can be hit by nasty little germies, like salmonella, or they might be accidently mixed in with some sort of foreign objects or mold-causing moisture.  And, rightly or not, my mama won't buy any dog food or snacks made in China.  She says they just don't have the controls needed to insure that her babies will be safe.  You can take that for what it's worth, but I like that mama is picky like that on my behalf!

Mama says her favorite source for dog food information comes from a website:  www.dogfoodadvisor.com   That site shows a review of many different kinds of dog foods and also explains what is good and what's not, so it helps to educate the consumer as well as inform.  I invite you to check out that site to see how your dog food brand measures up.  Also, get recommendations from your vet about the best diet for your dogs.  

 All pet parents want to give us the best they possibly can, because, well, look at us!  We are adorable!   Remember that next weekend is Easter weekend--doggies and those delicious chocolate bunnies should be kept apart, unfortunately.  That's all I've got for this week, everyone.  Til next time, take care of each other and keep reading those food labels!

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

Flashback to last Easter:  my sister Lucy was pretty good at hunting eggs.

Research for this blog came from the following:

www.dogfoodadvisor.com

www.petmd.com

petco

petsmart