re: FDA finally names dog food brands linked to deadly heart disease in dogs

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They’ll still get heart disease because it’s shitty food. This wasn’t studying quality of ingredients

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7 dogs- all mutts. all on Purina Dog Chow. Not a single problem with any of them. Three dogs who passed away all over 13 years old on Dog Chow. One (pure bred) Blood Hound, one Golden Shep, one mutt.

I know this is anecdotal, but I'd say Purina is doing fine for the majority of dogs out there.

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I had a finicky lab that would turn up his nose at most foods. But he loved Ol Roy.

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Just like finicky kids love chicken fingers and french fries.

Looks like I'm going to give this a try and mix it in with our grain free stuff:

LINK

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Victor Hi-Pro Plus Formula Dry Dog Food

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The first ingredient in this dog food is beef meal. Beef meal is considered a meat concentrate and contains nearly 300% more protein than fresh beef.

The second ingredient is sorghum. Sorghum (milo) is a starchy cereal grain with a nutrient profile similar to corn.

Since it is gluten-free and boasts a smoother blood sugar behavior than other grains, sorghum may be considered an acceptable non-meat ingredient.

The third ingredient is millet, a gluten-free grain harvested from certain seed grasses. Millet is hypoallergenic and naturally rich in B-vitamins and fiber as well as other essential minerals.

The fourth ingredient is chicken fat. Chicken fat is obtained from rendering chicken, a process similar to making soup in which the fat itself is skimmed from the surface of the liquid.

Chicken fat is high in linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid essential for life. Although it doesn’t sound very appetizing, chicken fat is actually a quality ingredient.

The fifth ingredient is blood meal. Blood meal is a by-product of slaughter and used to make high-protein (very low ash) animal feeds.

Yet even though some consider it a controversial ingredient, blood meal can still be considered a quality source of animal protein.

The sixth ingredient includes chicken meal, another protein-rich meat concentrate.

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EL OH frickING EL

everyone who cares about their dogs knows basic purina dog chow made by the people who have been feeding livestock for well over 100 years is the way to go.

if your vet didn't tell you that then you need a new vet.

eta my golden/shepard mix is 13yo and its all i've ever fed him and while he's old and slow now, he's been healthy this whole time. cant imagine chasing around expensive boutique dog food.

Dogs ate with humans for thousands of years before dog food, its a scam they have the same basic dietary needs we do.so stop throwing out your leftovers and give them food they really want to eat.

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Basic Purina dog chow was nothing more than corn (first ingredient on the label for most of their products for years) Corn like they feed cattle to fatten them up. Corn jazzed up with vitamins added in. I wouldn't feed that to my dog. In recent years they've jumped on the bandwagon of making better formulas once dog owners got wise to the importance of nutrition and what crap Purina was putting out.

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link?

sounds like you got this information straight off the propaganda press release for some fancy shite dog food brand.

eta my dog is full and happy and 13 and aside from occasional table scraps, this is the only thing i've ever given him. how soon do i have to wait for the health issues to begin?

Boxer was on Science Diet then SD Grain free due to allergies
Beagle needed a bland diet for stomach issues now they all get chicken, rice, green beans & sweet potatoes cooked for them
It hasn’t helped their weight

My dog eats Royal Canin bulldog food, no problems with him.

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link?

sounds like you got this information straight off the propaganda press release for some fancy shite dog food brand.

eta my dog is full and happy and 13 and aside from occasional table scraps, this is the only thing i've ever given him. how soon do i have to wait for the health issues to begin?

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I am firm believer in doing what is best for each pup, and it certainly works for you. So not questioning your choices.

I was a standard Iams guy for my dog, but switched him to some nicer grain free stuff a few years ago after reading about some benefits. I didn't even know he was lethargic because of his food until I switched him. On top of the huge surge in energy, his coat got shinier and his bowel movements became oddly regular . He shits the same time each day like I do

But just for some light reading, here is the 1-star review of your basic Purina by this independent dog food quality testing site:

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The first ingredient in this dog food is corn. Corn is an inexpensive and controversial cereal grain. And aside from its energy content, this grain is of only modest nutritional value to a dog.

For this reason, we do not consider corn a preferred component in any dog food.

The second ingredient is meat and bone meal, a dry “rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents”.1

Meat and bone meal can have a lower digestibility than most other meat meals.

Scientists believe this decreased absorption may be due to the ingredient’s higher ash and lower essential amino acid content.2

What’s worse, this particular item is anonymous. So, the meat itself can come from any combination of cattle, pigs, sheep or goats — which can make identifying specific food allergens impossible.

Even though meat and bone meals are still considered protein-rich meat concentrates, we do not consider a generic ingredient like this to be a quality item.

The third ingredient is corn gluten meal. Gluten is the rubbery residue remaining once corn has had most of its starchy carbohydrate washed out of it.

Although corn gluten meal contains 60% protein, this ingredient would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat.

And less costly plant-based products like this can notably boost the total protein reported on the label — a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

The fourth ingredient is beef fat. Beef fat (or tallow) is most likely obtained from rendering, a process similar to making soup in which the fat itself is skimmed from the surface of the liquid.

Although it may not sound very appetizing, beef fat is actually a quality ingredient.

The fifth ingredient is soybean meal, a by-product of soybean oil production more commonly found in farm animal feeds.

Although soybean meal contains 48% protein, this ingredient would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat.

And less costly plant-based products like this can notably boost the total protein reported on the label — a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

The sixth ingredient includes poultry by-product meal, a dry rendered product of slaughterhouse waste. It’s made from what’s left of slaughtered poultry after all the prime cuts have been removed.

In addition to organs, this item can also include feet, beaks, undeveloped eggs and almost anything other than prime skeletal muscle.

On the brighter side, by-product meals are meat concentrates and contain nearly 300% more protein than fresh poultry.

The quality of this ingredient can vary, depending on the caliber of the raw materials obtained by the manufacturer.

We consider poultry by-products slightly lower in quality than a single-species ingredient (like chicken by-products).

The seventh ingredient is chicken. Although it is a quality item, raw chicken contains up to 73% water. After cooking, most of that moisture is lost, reducing the meat content to just a fraction of its original weight.

After processing, this item would probably account for a smaller part of the total content of the finished product.

After the egg and chicken flavor, we find wheat. Wheat is another cereal grain and subject to the same issues as corn (previously discussed).

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of this product.

With six notable exceptions…

First, we’re always disappointed to find artificial coloring in any pet food. That’s because coloring is used to make the product more appealing to humans — not your dog. After all, do you really think your dog cares what color his food is?

Next, animal digest is a chemically hydrolyzed mixture of animal by-products that is typically sprayed onto the surface of a dry kibble to improve its taste.

In addition, garlic can be a controversial item. Although many favor the ingredient for its claimed health benefits, garlic has been linked to Heinz body anemia in dogs.3

So, one must weigh the potential benefits of feeding garlic against its proven tendency to cause subclinical damage to the red blood cells of the animal.

Next, we find no mention of probiotics, friendly bacteria applied to the surface of the kibble after processing.

We also note that the minerals listed here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Non-chelated minerals are usually associated with lower quality dog foods.

And lastly, this food contains menadione, a controversial form of vitamin K linked to liver toxicity, allergies and the abnormal break-down of red blood cells.

Since vitamin K isn’t required by AAFCO in either of its dog food nutrient profiles, we question the use of this substance in any canine formulation.

Purina Dog Chow Dog Food Review
Judging by its ingredients alone, Purina Dog Chow dog food looks like a below-average dry product.

But ingredient quality by itself cannot tell the whole story. We still need to estimate the product’s meat content before determining a final rating.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 24%, a fat level of 11% and estimated carbohydrates of about 57%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 26% and a mean fat level of 11%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 55% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 43%.

Near-average protein. Below-average fat. And above-average carbs when compared to a typical dry dog food.

When you consider the protein-boosting effect of the corn gluten and soybean meals in this recipe and the soybean germ and corn germ meals contained in other recipes, this looks like the profile of a kibble containing a modest amount of meat.

Bottom line?

Purina Dog Chow is a plant-based dry dog food using a modest amount of unnamed meat and bone meal or named by-product meals as its main sources of animal protein, thus earning the brand 1 star.

Not recommended.

Please note certain recipes are sometimes given a higher or lower rating based upon our estimate of their total meat content and (when appropriate) their fat-to-protein ratios.

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