This is our ten year old beagle, named Copper… as you can see back in 2009 he was, let’s say a chuncker to be kind.
It was not until Copper started to have seizures in 2009, and I started to do research to try and find out why, that I would stumble a pond the ugly world of commercial dog foods.
I also found that like with us humans, the food industry is a big part of the blame for health issue, including obesity in this country today.
When talking about humans, the food industry pumps out cheap to make high calorie foods that taste great, while charging a premium for foods that are better for our overall health.
The pet food industry is even worst, they manufacturer products that are made up of fillers, by-products and add chemicals for taste, preservatives and coloring… and if they add the right name to the food, they can still charge a premium for the crap you find in the bag.
I will give you an example below, but before I do let me get back to Copper… After doing my dog food research we decided we wanted to switch Copper to homemade dog food, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, just take a look at the one above to see the difference.
I highly recommend homemade dog food, but I would not be telling you the truth if I said it was easy, because the facts are it’s much easier to open a bag and pour some food into a bowl, and that is why I wrote a kindle book on the Best Dog Foods to Buy.
In this book I not only list and review some of the best, I also explain why they are good, and if you read it you will start to understand what type of ingredients are good and which ones are bad.
I told you I would give you an example of a bad dog food formula that they still charged a premium price, and below is an exsample right out of the book…
Iams Veterinary Formula Weight Loss Restricted Calorie Dry Dog Food
Ingredient List
Corn Grits, Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Fish Meal (source of Fish Oil), Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a source of vitamin E, and Citric Acid), Brewers Dried Yeast, Potassium Chloride, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Fish Oil (preserved wih ethoxyquin), Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, Flax Meal, Chromium Tripicolinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Oxide, Vitamin A Acetate, Ascorbic Acid, Ethoxyquin (a preservative), Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, L-Carnitine, Manganous Oxide, Beta-Carotene, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Rosemary Extract, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Folic Acid, Cobalt Carbonate
Author’s Review
The main content of this food is grain. Corn is a difficult to digest grain of limited value and that is commonly associated with food allergy problems. In “grits” form it is missing the bran and germ, and is a grain fragment we consider primarily filler. Sorghum and barley are decent quality grains, but grains are not a natural foodstuff for canines and dog foods should be based on meat rather than on grain.
The second ingredient is by-products. It is impossible to know the quality of by-products and these are usually products that are of such low quality as to be rejected for use in the human food chain, or else are those parts that have so little value that they cannot be used elsewhere in either the human or pet food industries. The AAFCO definition of Chicken by-product meal is “a meal consisting of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.
The sole true meat ingredient in the food is fish meal, but we are unable to locate any guarantee by the manufacturer that this ingredient is free of ethoxyquin. Ethoxyquin is a chemical preservative commonly added to fish ingredients destined for pet foods and which is banned from use in human foods because it is believed to be carcinogenic.
Beet pulp is controversial filler. It is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fiber, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food. There are less controversial products around if additional fiber is required. We would prefer to see the use of whole eggs rather than egg product in the food.
This product used the chemical preservative ethoxyquin. As explained above, Ethoxyquin is a chemical preservative commonly added to fish ingredients destined for pet foods and which is banned from use in human foods because it is believed to be carcinogenic.
The Iams formula above is pushed on dog parents across America from Vets offices, simple because unless a Vet is a board certified veterinary nutritionist which most are not, they have little training on dog foods and are being sold a bill of goods by the Dog Food reps that talk them into selling this crap from their office.
A recent survey indicates over 50 percent of America’s pet population is overweight or obese and if dog parents want to take control of this dog obesity problem we must first understand what is in the foods we are feeding. It makes no sense to feed our dogs empty calories low quality ingredients (and I’m being nice calling it that) when our dogs are having weight issues.
The good news is it’s easier to get your dogs weight under control than it is our own… you see most dogs will eat a healthy food and not have those cravings for sugar, high fat fast foods to contend with. You buy and put a quality food in her bowl and she’ll probably eat it and not complain. Even if she doesn’t like one formula there are many more to try… it won’t be the fact that it is good for her that she might not want one formula over another.
Once you make the switch to a better food, you might want to read our post located at the link below and use the dog food calculator provided to make certain you are feeding the correct amount to your dog… http://healthydogfoods.net/dog-calorie-calculator
If your looking for the best dog foods, and you would like to learn a little more about selecting foods think about buying our Kindle book from this link Give Your Dog a Fighting Chance to a Longer Life – Healthy Dog Food Buyer’s Guide for Dog Parents (The Best Dog Food List)
it’s only $2.99 on Kindle and even if you don’t have a kindle you can get free apps on Amazon to read kindle books on any device including your computer. Also we donate a portion of the profits of all our book sales to shelters, rescue groups or dog related education.
In conclusion you have to admit that even considering the gray added over the last three years, Copper looks a lot better and I can tell you he feels much better than he did in 2009… he also stopped scooting his butt across our carpet which is a good thing 
