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I would be careful of that web site – i checked it out a while ago. It uses a lot of vague rules with no science behind it – I am really curious about the educational background of the person making the reviews. There are a few sites out there like it. One of the major rules it uses to rate its food is by how many meat ingredients are listed.
For example it will take a food that has turkey,turkey meal,chicken, chicken meal, starch, fat and rate it better than a food that might have chicken meal, starch, fat.
The site takes into consideration ingredient splitting inconsistently depending on the point it is trying to make. and just like you can have a chicken and cheese sandwich that has more meat total than a chicken,ham,roast beef, and cheese sandwitch… This is also true with dog food.
The site also uses a lot of outdated information or things that don’t make sense. Take this review (the first random one I pulled up): http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php/product/1730/sort/8/cat/8/page/1
Within the one review I have this many WTFs?:
1. “We note that fat is the third ingredient in this food and that research at Purdue University has identified fat in the top four ingredients of dry food as a factor increasing the risk of bloat in large breed dogs.”
Sooo, what if you are feeding raw – why is it OK as a main ingredient in raw?, or what if we ingredient split the dry food?, like add two different meats that weigh the same total as the one meat to push down the fat in the ingredient list? Just doesn’t make logical sense… What food was purdue using? It could have been corn meal,soy,chicken-byproduct,animal fat for all we know?
2.This is an entirely grainless dog food. The major carbohydrate source is potatoes, which are a good source of vegetable protein.
what?! grains have become a bad word in dog food for no apparent reason. You need a starch to hold together the dry food. The potatoes are used as a starch so are grains. If they were used as a protein source than it would be in the same category as wheat, corn, soy because those and the protein found in potatoes are incomplete proteins. grains are not bad – it is starches in general whether a grain or not that are ALSO used as main protein ingredients that are bad.
3. “This food is excellent in containing no grains. Grains are not a natural part of a canine diet and it is pleasing to see dog foods on the market that exclude grains completely from the diet”
same as above. What about potatoes? Potatoes are a natural part of a dog’s diet? How would a grain like “brown rice” be worse off than potatoes, or more unnatural?
4. The only caution we would make on this food is that the high protein content may make it suitable for adult dogs only, particularly in the case of large breeds.
Another what?!… Wasn’t this debunked at least a decade ago?! Again, what about feeding raw? So are we supposed to feed the pups more starches or more fat to lower protein content? But, that would conflict with other stuff the site says. I thought high quality protein was good for all dogs – isn’t it the calcium/phos ratio that matters? The false information that was originally put out by I think nutromax should be criminal – but it sure sold a lot of bags of dog food. I know this first hand because I fell for it and my old bulldog ended up with bad joints being raised on “large breed” dog food when I should have been concentating on ca/phos ratio, proper nutrients that support the joints, and lean body weight.
Sorry for ripping on that web site Maureen – curious where the information about grains, chicken fat, and beet pulp causing bloat came from? I have heard about the beet pulp and have concluded it was a myth. But, never heard of grains or chicken fat especially. Doesn’t make sense? Here is one decent article on beet pulp and bloat, but have never found anything proving the theory of bloat from beet pulp: http://www.drkruger.com/dog-health-article-nutrition.htm
The grain thing can make sense to me – but only from a volume point of view. Almost all the bloat cases that I have seen were dogs on high volume (lots of fillers) food that did a lot of activity after eating (within a couple hours) or the dog otherwise has an underlying health problem. That’s why when Mike shows up to bite club with Milo after he stole and ate a whole loaf of bread we won’t do bites. I am especially cautious of the foods that swell to twice their size when soaked in water (high volume fillers).
I have always fed dog food with grain, chicken fat, and beet pulp to dogs at the kennel and never had any problems, a gassy dog, or close calls – especially since the food is low volume fillers/high calorie and I avoid the high end activities after eating. that has been the only consistent factors leading to bloat that I know of – everything else seems to be theories.
The dog at the kennel, Darren (rottie)came to us burping up a storm. He was fed crap his whole life at the shelter and is a very nervous dog. I haven’t heard all the burping lately… but I have considered him the biggest bloat risk. Especially since he will jump around in the kennel even after he eats when we take out other dogs.
If I could I would feed all the dogs raw, like you do, and not have to worry about any of it. Curious if anyone knows a dog on raw that has bloated?
Without a doubt the more natural you go the better.
