Food Friday: Rolled Dog Food

Yes, dog food comes in roll form. I've shared several different brands recently, and now it's time to discuss the whole concept of dog food rolls. Why do they exist? What are they good for? Are some better than others?

What's in a Roll?

Grain-free dog food roll

While several dog food companies have recently added food rolls to their product lineup, dog food rolls have been around for at least 15 years. The recipes vary quite a bit between brands, but the basic formulation is the same. These are all shelf-stable salami-like products that need to be refrigerated after opening.

All complete and balanced dog food rolls that I've encountered so far have had ingredients lists that start with meat, followed by some type of flour. The grain-inclusive ones usually have rice flour and/or pea flour. The grain-free rolls just have pea flour. 

Surprisingly, all the dog food rolls I've encountered also contain both eggs and added sugar. Some also have molasses, broth, and potato starch. Eggs and sugar appear to be essential though, I've guessing they hep the roll hold its shape or something.

To Grain or Not to Grain

The biggest difference between a grain-free food roll and a grain-inclusive roll is the texture. The ones made with rice flour tend to hold their shape really nicely. They don't crumble easily, and are easy to cut into super tiny cubes for training treats. They don't tend to go moldy very quickly, but they do dry out within a few days of being cut off the roll, even when sealed in an airtight container. 

Grain-free rolls tend to be more squishy and less firm. It's tough to cut cleanly through a roll without a very sharp knife, and it tends to crumble when chopped very small. The grain-free stuff seems to hold more moisture, so it doesn't dry out and go hard. Instead it gets moldy. I had half an uncut roll go moldy in the fridge within a week. Not even gonna talk about when happens when it gets forgotten in a bait bag or pocket.

Let's Roll!

The added sugar means all dog food rolls are high in carbohydrates, so I wouldn't recommend making them a major staple of a dog's diet. They also aren't terribly economical compared to kibble and canned food. They make excellent shelf-stable convenience food, and also great toppers for kibble. I use them primarily for training treats. 

Natural Balance has been making their grain-inclusive complete and balanced dog food rolls since before I got Brisbane in 2005. Redbarn and Blue Buffalo both offer grain-inclusive and grain-free versions of their food rolls. Walmart's Pure Balance brand has grain-free rolls. It's worth noting that these are all complete and balanced dog foods. There are meat rolls with no eggs and no sugar added, like Happy Howie's, but these are intended to be used only as treats.

Do you know of any dog food rolls that I didn't mention here? Please share them in the comments!

Food Friday: Annamaet Sustain

I bought this bag of Annamaet Sustain because I wanted to try out another fish-based kibble. This company actually makes two different grain-free fish kibbles, the other is their Aqualuk formula. Sustain is unique because it is made with sustainabley-harvested fish. Knowing the current state of world fisheries, this is a pretty cool concept.

The Company

Annamaet is named after the founder's mother, Anna Mae. Rob Downey is unique among the pet food company executives I've read about so far, because he has actually published papers on dog diets. He's been publishing in places like the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine since 1979. Are you impressed? I'm impressed. Rob Downey also races sled dogs, and a lot of his works have to do with stamina and effects of diet on working dogs.

Annamaet is definitely a company that is concerned with ecological sustainability, something I'm always happy to support. They're also concerned with contamination, and one of the few pet food companies that formulate their own vitamin and mineral packs rather than buying pre-made packs. The pre-made stuff usually has ingredients from China, which are more likely to be suspect.

 This company does use a co packer to manufacture their food, they do not have their own production facility. I do not believe their co packer has been involved in any recalls though.

The Food

The first ingredient in Sustain is cod heads, from line-caught fish. The second ingredient is turkey meal, so this is actually a turkey-based food. These are followed by chickpeas, sweet potatoes, both green peas and pea protein isolate, and tapioca. The two pea ingredients mean that peas should really be a bit higher on the ingredient list, but overall this is a good grain-free food. It is not currently lsted on the Dog Food Advisor website, but all of the other Annamaet grain-free dogs foods rate five out of five stars.

The Verdict

At 33% protein and 13% fat, this food is an interesting combination of high protein and relatively low fat. This might be why my girls didn't do very well on it, as highly active working dogs they really need the energy provided by a higher fat food. Still, I think this is an excellent option for a less active dog. I would definitely consider Sustain for an overweight dog, as it offers lower fat without being packed full of carbohydrates.

Food Friday: Pulsar Pulses and Fish Formula

Pulsar's Pulses and Fish Formula is a grain-free kibble made with red lentils, peas, and salmon. This is a potato-free food with a low glycemic index. Pulsar strives to make high-quality grain-free food that is still affordable.The Pulsar foods are all formulated for all life stages. There's a lot to love about this company.

The Company

Parent company Horizon actually owns their own production facility in Saskatchewan, Canada. No co packers here! To date, they have never had a recall. They've only been around since 2007, making them seem rather new compared to giants like Tuffy's and Fromm. Still, a newer company with their own facility is pretty awesome, some of the older and larger companies have been guilty of letting their equipment get old and icky. (I'm looking at you, Diamond.) They opened a second production facility next door in 2016. 

Like Champion Pet Foods, Horizon seeks to source their ingredients as locally as possible. The company is located in an agricultural basin, surrounded by farmland. They get a whole lot of their ingredients directly from the growers. Yes, another Canadian company with grower-direct ingredients and control of their own production means, that sounds very much like Champion, makers of Acana and Orijen. However, Horizon also places a lot of emphasis on affordability. Their foods are made with the same integrity, but without the sticker shock.

The Food

Ok, I can't be the only person who looked at this bag and went, "Pulses and fish? What the heck is a pulse?!" I kinda figured it was a creative made-up term, like Blue Buffalo's "lifesource bits". I was wrong though, it turns out that "pulse" is another words for legumes. Yes, beans, peas, and lentils are all pulses. Thanks to pulses.org, I now know that pulses are a great form of sustainable agriculture. Hooray for Google!

I had been wanting to try out some fish kibbles, so I ordered this bag from Chewy.com. Admittedly, mostly I got it so I could tell you the story of how I learned what pulses are. Horizon makes four brands of food, and Pulsar is their most affordable option. This means it has the lowest amount of meat ingredients. This food has a lower protein and fat content than I'd like for my dogs in the long-term, but it was still worth trying.

The ingredients for Pulses and Fish starts with salmon meal, followed by red lentils, peas, and pea starch. This means they use ingredient splitting to make it look like there's less peas in their food, but they only have pea products on their twice and don't do that with any other ingredients. That's not nearly as bad as foods with ingredient lists that look like, "salmon, peas, pea starch, pea protein, pea flour..." There's more peas in that food than fish. Horizon is a bit more honest with us.

I'm not super thrilled that they chose to put egg product in this food. Horizon appears to be one of those companies that thinks eggs are so awesome that they should be in everything all the time. Having owned a dearly beloved dog with a major egg allergy, it annoys me that this can't be considered a limited-ingredient or allergy-friendly food.

The Verdict

While I love the company and their philosophy, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to other pet owners, I don't think Pulsar is the best choice for my high-energy working dogs. Both Godzilla and Zip have had rather dull coats lately, and I'm looking for a food with enough fat and protein content to have them looking and feeling their best.

Food Friday: Naked Turkey + Pea Formula Kibble

Naked's Turkey + Pea kibble is a grain-free, single-protein dry dog food that is very allergy-friendly. We received this kibble in our first Naked Dog Box (this is an affiliate link), a subscription box that arrives every two weeks. Ours came free as part of a promotion, but we may keep subscribing because this is such a great concept. If you'd like to try it out, you can use the coupon code thedoggeek10 and get $10 off your first box!

The Company

Ok, you know how some grocery stores have bulk bins, where you can bag up your own beans, rice, or whatever in any amount, for super cheap? The Naked Dog has taken this eco-friendly and wallet-friendly concept and applied it to pets. You can can kibble and treats in bulk, and if you visit one of their brick and mortar locations, you can even bring your own bag to fill! 

I often comment on dog food companies and how they use package design to influence their customers. If the bags aren't covered in pictures of wolves and claims about "ancestral diets", they're splashed with images of fresh vegetables and cuts of steak and chicken that look fresh from the meat counter at the supermarket, yet bear no resemblance to the actual ingredients in the food. Naked skips all that and just puts the food in a plain bag, so you don't have to pay for their graphic designer, artist, or photographer. Heck, you don't even have to pay for a bag if you bring your own!

The Naked Dog, also known as Protein for Pets, was founded by the same mastermind behind Dogswell. It's a company and philosophy I trust. I don't think they have their own manufacturing facility, but I really hope their stuff is co packed by Tuffy's Pet Foods. They're hard to beat for high-tech kibble production.

The Food

Naked refers to their food as "stripped down", and I can see why. This turkey and pea kibble only has turkey and peas in it. They didn't feel the need to cram some fish or egg into every recipe, or load up on five kinds of carbohydrates. Admittedly, they did some ingredient splitting with four different pea-based entries on the list, but turkey and then turkey meal come first. This is a low-glycemic food that is extremely allergy-friendly, and it would be a good place to start when figuring out potential food allergens for your dog.

The Verdict

Zip loves this food, which is nice because she's not always super excited about dinner. I mean, it's just food, right? You can't herd it or fetch it. It's too early to tell what effect the food will have on her skin and coat, but she's been doing pretty well as long as we keep the fleas under control. Long-term I think I'd prefer to have her on something with a higher fat and protein content, but I think this food is an excellent and affordable choice for most pet dogs that aren't herding sheep all day.

Food Friday: Homemade Dog Food, Round 1

So I finally got educated enough to make my first batch of (presumably) nutritionally balanced homemade dog food. I had a lot of help. Specifically, I joined the Home Cooked Dog Diets group on Facebook. They're like wizards over there. They're not all about sharing recipes, either. This is a place you go to learn how to develope and evaluate your own dog food recipes.

Nutrition Data

Ready to cook!

Nutrition Data is a free online tool you can use to evaluate the nutritional content of a recipe. You just search for your ingredients, add them to your recipe in the right amounts, and then his "analyse". The results include what percentage of the calories come from fat, protein, and carbohydrates. It also gives you a good idea of the calcium and phosphorus content so you can add supplemental calcium as needed. You can continually change a recipe and reevaluate it, so you can add or subtract ingredients, or change amounts, and see how it affects the analysis.

The food processor is your friend.

This tool is absolutely amazing because it allowed me to alter my dog food recipe on the fly. I went into the grocery store with the plan to buy the cheapest meat to start with. I expected this to be a bone-in pork picnic shoulder, a super fatty cut. Turns out they were having a special on boneless sirloin chops, a significantly leaner cut. I stood there in the meat department, fiddling with the recipe on my phone, until things looked right. Here is what I ended up making. This recipe has a fairly high fat content because my dogs do well with that. It is also grain-free, because quinoa doesn't count as a grain. 

Finding Balance

The Home Cooked Dog Diets group has an amazing library of files to help both beginner and serious dog food geeks. One of my favorites was a nutritional analysis of homemade bone broth. Turns out it has a lot more phosphorus than I thought!

The file I use the most so far is the checklist for a balanced food. It helps me remember that my recipe needs either fish or fish oil to make sure I have the right omega fatty acids in there. It reminds me how much calcium I need to add, which always matches the amount I calculate from my Nutrition Data results. There are quite a few other important bits in there, and between that list and the nutrition tool, I'm pretty confident in my ability to formulate recipes for my dogs. The Home Cooked Dog Diets group gave me a whole lot of confidence because they encourage newer members to post their recipes for critique. They also post various recipes from around the web for members to practice analyzing. So very geeky!

The Results

Portion control done right.

I baked porkchops and butternut squash in the oven, and cooked the quinoa, eggs, and pureed liver and veggies in a pot on the stove. The cooked meat and squash went through the food processor, and then everything got mixed in a big bowl with seaweed calcium, cottage cheese, and canned salmon. I could probably get away with chipping things finely for the girls, but Ru would definitely avoid veggies unless everything was very well mixed.

I weighed out everyone's portion, Godzilla and Zip got 3% of their bodyweight while Ru got 5% because chihuahuas are not fuel efficient. Everybody loved it! Even Ru! He dove right in and gobbled down the whole bowl. That never happens. Of course, I offered him the same thing a day later and he took a few bites and then lost interest because the only food he really loves is tacos.

Financially, this is not a viable way for me to feed my dogs everyday. Gone are the days when my beloved Brisbane and Ru could eat the same tiny portion of food and I could feed them both on half a cup of kibble a day. These days, we're going through closer to 4+ cups, and the cost of food is a much bigger consideration. This batch of food cost me $20 to make, and fed all three of my dogs for three days with a bit left over. It was a lot of fun to make though, and I do plan to include more home cooked meals in their diets. If you are interested in making your own dog food, I highly recommend the Home Cooked Dog Diets group as a wealth of information!

Food Friday: Earthborn Holistic Duke's Din Din Stew

Earthborn Holistic makes some convenient little tubs of wet food with cute names, like Duke's Din Din Stew. Each flavor appears to be named after a dog with an incredibly common name: Lily, Chip, Pepper, Toby. These are grain-free foods with visible bits of vegetables, all packed into a resealable 8oz tub. Perfect for tiny dogs!

 Midwestern Pet Foods

I've mentioned Earthborn's parent company in the past. Midwestern Pet Foods also makes SportMix and ProPac foods. They have their own manufacturing facility, so they're more than just a marketing company. They are a subsidiary of Nunn Milling Company, founded in 1926 in Indiana and still owned and run by the same family. 

Nunn Milling Company began as a miller of corn and flour. They started making pet food in the 1940's from, presumably, mill byproducts. They still make a value-brand dog food called Nunn Better, but it's no surprise that the company isn't out shouting from the rooftops that Earthborn traces back to a milling company. Last time I wrote about Earthborn, I was puzzled over the lack of readily-available history for the company, but this information completes that puzzle nicely. Earthborn is still a super high-quality food from a reliable company with a long history making pet food, and I think that's pretty cool.

Duke's Din Din

This is a fish-and-pea-based food, the first ingredients are fish broth, fish, egg, and then pea protein. It also contains tapioca, duck, sweet potato, carrots, pumpkin, and apples. You can see the vegetables clearly, and then meat is in nice little flakes that are just the right size for tinydog mouths.

At 8oz per tub, these really only work as a meal for a very small dog. They actually last Ru two meals. I think most pet owners use them as a kibble topper, and the resealable tub is absolutely perfect for that. 

Earthborn's dry foods are all manufactured in the USA, but their wet food is produced by USPet Nutrition, in their production facility in Thailand. This isn't terribly unusual in the world of high-quality pet food, Weruva also produces their wet foods in Thailand. The foods are made in facilities that also make human foods, so they have to follow extremely strict guidelines about how the foods are handled and what ingredients may be included. A whole lot of canned fish other meat products for humans are packaged overseas, check out the fine print on a can of tuna sometime.

The Verdict

This is one of the few food that Ru will eat reliably. The tiny size of tubs is just right for him, and he doesn't pick out the vegetables or anything. It rates 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Dog Food Advisor website, and it's one that I'm happy to keep in his wet food rotation.

Food Friday: Home Cooking?

I am looking into the possibility of cooking fresh food for my dogs, in addition to their regular dog food. It's not impossible to make your own dog food, but being a DIY dog chef is all about balance. You need the right balance of fresh food to pre-made food. The right balance of calcium and phosphorus. The right balance of protein and fat and carbohydrates. The right amount of fiber. Here's what I've learned so far.

It's Not That Hard

Not a balanced diet!

The dietary needs of dogs are not ridiculously complex. You don't have to be a veterinary nutritionist with a research lab in order to make nutritious healthy food for you pet. Every meal does not need to be "complete an balanced". Variety is the most important thing to consider, you don't want to make just one recipe and feed that to your dog every single day forever. Different proteins, different vegetables, different carbohydrate sources, the more variety the better!

I've learned that you can replace 10% of your dog's food with fresh stuff and the nutrition in their commercial dog food will provide all the balance they need. With that in mind, I cheerfully add yogurt, canned pumpkin, sardines, and leftover meats to my dogs' food on a regular basis.

It's Not That Easy, Either

When you start replacing more than 10% of your dog's meal with homemade food, it's time to start worrying about balance. I cringe when I "easy dog food recipes" that basically consist of a small amount of chicken, a lot of rice, some veggies, and nothing else. Where's the calcium?! Too many good intentions and not enough science can result in a dog with nutritional deficiencies. Many, many dog food recipes found online have major deficits. A lot of them aren't even specific enough! I already know a recipe is bad news if it calls for "1 pound of ground beef" without ever specifying whether that weight is for raw or cooked meat.

To this end, I've joined a homemade dog food Facebook group that focuses on analyzing recipes with tools like the Nutrition Data site. Outside scrutiny is really your best insurance against making mistakes, and having crowd-sourced data certainly beats doing all the research on your own. I haven't finished my research or started developing my own recipes yet, but I can share the principles I'm working by.

Homemade Dog Food Guidelines

• As much variety in ingredients as possible. Different meats, different veggies, different grains.
• Consider your budget. Don't let anyone tell you that everything needs to be organic, that's mostly a marketing term and there's no difference in nutritional quality. Organic produce is still grown with pesticides, sometimes with a lot more and stronger chemicals than conventional produce, as long as the pesticide is on the list of approved organic pesticides. Buy the cheap stuff and don't feel guilty about it.
• Get help. Find a large and contentious group of people that cook for their dogs, observe them arguing with one another, and learn everything you can. Some dietary supplements come in different forms that are better or worse for certain health conditions. 

Food Friday: Merrick Wingaling Canned Dog Food

We all know that dogs aren't supposed to eat cooked chicken bones, so why in the world does Merrick's Wingaling canned dog food have actual chicken wings in it? Is this some sort of mistake? Actually, the bones are cooked in a special process (involving a pressure cooker) that leaves them soft and squishy and totally safe and non-splintery. The result is an unusual treat for your dog. Safe chicken bones!

Merrick Pet Food

For years, Merrick was well-known for being one of the best independent pet food companies out there. They had their own manufacturing facilities, sourced all their ingredients domestically, and had been around for years. It was the sort of feel-good brand that hardly anyone had complaints about. They started out making dog treats, and then expanded their product lines to include both canned and dry dog and cat foods. I had been fond of them for years because they offered so many different flavors and varieties.

All that changed in 2015 when the company was purchased  by Purina. Now they are owned by a giant faceless corporation. While consumers have been promised that nothing will change about the facilities, production, ingredients, etc, it's a tough claim to swallow. My biggest concern is the sourcing of ingredients. Not that I think they're suddenly buying meat from China, just that they can switch to buying much lower qualities of ingredients without having to change anything on the label. Maybe they used to buy fresh apples and now they're buying giant bricks of frozen apples that have been in storage for years, stuff like that.

Wingaling Has Chicken Bones

Ok, this dog food is unique because it contains whole chicken wings, bones and all. Everybody knows dogs can't eat chicken bones! Well, raw feeders know that dogs can eat fresh, raw chicken bones, but they still should never have cooked chicken bones! Right?

Did you know that you can put chicken bones in a pressure cooker and make them soft and crumbly? It's true, and I would totally do it with all my chicken bones if I owned a pressure cooker. Such a tasty treat for dogs! 

The whole chicken bones in Merrick's canned dog foods are cooked soft, and can easily be mashed with a spoon if you are at all worried about them stabbing your dog in the digestive tract. You can also pull the bones out and throw them away, if you wish. 

I bought a can of Wingaling for Ru mostly out for novelty. This food contains a couple of chicken wings, some squishy chunks of processed food, and a whole lot of broth. Even though it's got 334 calories per can, it just doesn't fee like very much food. It's also difficult to split into multiple portions, or to use as a kibble topper.

The Verdict

I know some dogs absolutely love pressure cooked squishy chicken bones, but Ru is not a Wingaling fan. It might be because he doesn't enjoy this particular flavor, and it might be because he's been getting a little too much leftover taco meat as a snack, but I can't get him to even taste the actual wings. The girls will be finishing this can.

Food Friday: Drs. Foster and Smith Everyday Wellness Canned Dog Food

Drs. Foster and Smith Everyday Wellness Canned Dog Food is a new brand of dog food that just popped up at Petco recently. If the name sounds familiar, it's because Drs. Foster and Smith have been sending out catalogs in the mail for almost all of eternity. Their new line of pet foods are grain-free, and the product range includes dietary supplements and dental chews.

Drs. Foster and Smith

Way back when I was an internetless child, mail order catalogs were the best thing ever. It was like fantasy shopping, without having to go to a store! So many things to look at! Of course pet supply catalogs were the best of the best, and I used to spend hours pouring over the pages of the Drs. Foster and Smith catalogs, because I was a giant nerd even as a small child. They've been sending those things out since 1983, so they were a household name before the internet gave us a whole new option for shopping in our underwear. 

In 1993, DFS launched their own brand, and in 2002 they started making dog food. I hadn't paid attention to them in years because the last time I considered buying something, there was a flat rate for shipping. Great if you're buying a fair amount of stuff, not so great if you're looking to buy one very small item.

The Food

I'm not sure about the new food line, but I believe that the original Drs. Foster and Smith kibble is co packed by CJ Foods. There is no indication that DFS owns any kind of production facility, so this is actually a pet food marketing company, and someone else makes the product. I'm not sure who currently makes their canned foods, but it's almost certainly one of a handful of major co packers.

This is a grain-free food with chicken, chicken broth, and chicken liver as the first ingredients. It also contains potatoes, peas, green beans, red peppers, and eggs. The inclusion of egg as a second protein source means this isn't an allergy-friendly food, but none of the foods in this line are intended to be limited-ingredient except the healthy skin and coat kibble. That one is pea-based and uses hydrolyzed salmon, and actually looks like a food I'd recommend for an elimination diet.

Though not as appealing as last week's can of PureVita, the DFS wet food isn't bad. I can see the peas, potatoes, carrots, and red peppers. Admittedly, the red peppers are an unusual addition. I'm not used to seeing those on ingredient lists and I'm curious why they were included. Nutrition-wise, this isn't the best food, at 8% protein and 5.5% fat it's got to have a lot of carbs. Dog Food Advisor has not reviewed this food yet, but I'm guessing it would rate 4 out of 5 stars.

The Verdict

Ru's willingness to eat a given wet food seems to be closely correlated with how appetizing I find it as a human. He likes this one a lot, and eats it willingly. The availability of it at Petco also makes it a convenient choice, as their hours are conducive to forgetting to buy another can of chihuahua food until the last possible minute. The uncertainty about who really produces the food would make me hesitant to feed this exclusively, but I am definitely going to add it to Ru's canned food rotation. It's Finicky Chihuahua Approved!

Food Friday: PureVita Beef Stew

PureVita's Beef Stew is a grain-free canned dog food that looks an awful lot like people food. The meat is shredded rather than ground, and the peas and carrots are easy to spot. This is a single protein food, there's no eggs or chicken broth in there. It does, however, contain potato starch, sweet potato, and tomato paste.

The Company

I've written about PureVita and parent company Tuffy's Pet Foods before. Unlike Diamond, who failed to modernize their old conveyor belt production line until serious contamination forced recalls, Tuffy's is all about high-tech pet food processing. They opened a new production plant in 2014, with vacuum tubes instead of conveyor belts, making the system much easier to clean.

I'm less familiar with Tuffy's cannery, but the company is so invested in production quality that it's hard to imagine it's anything but awesome. I really appreciate that this company has large production facilities in the US, employing tons of people. I've heard they are a good company to work for, too!

The Food

There aren't many canned dog food that I find appealing. Usually they range from "meh" to "horrific". This stuff though, actually kinda looks like something I might eat. The vegetables and shreds of beef are visible. It also takes up the entire inside of the can, there's no big air bubble or tons of watery gravy.

This is a single-protein food with a very short list of ingredients, so it's a good choice for dogs with allergies. This is a beef and sweet potato food, with potato, tomato, peas, and carrots. It's also an all-life-stages food, so it's totally appropriate for puppies.

The Verdict

Ru had some urinary issues recently, and I decided to switch him to canned food exclusively. I got him some adorable little ceramic dishes with plastic airtight lids, so at dinnertime I just nuke his dinner for 20-30 seconds, and then stick it back in the fridge when he's done. How do I make sure there aren't any burning hot spots? I stir it with a baby spoon that changes color if it touches something above a certain temperature. Perfect slightly-warmed dog food every time. (Refrigerated canned food makes him shiver really bad.)

Ru is definitely my pickiest eater. The girls will eat pretty much any kibble, and definitely anything canned. Meanwhile, Ru has been known to skip meals. He really likes the canned Pure Vita a lot, I don't think I've seen him eat that much canned food at a time before. They also make a chicken version and a turkey version, and we are definitely going to try those soon.

Food Friday: Purina Beyond Purees

Purina Beyond Purees are nutrition-packed little pouches of goop that you can squeeze onto your dog's food to add flavor, appeal, and nutriceuticals that may or may not do anything. You know those little applesauce pouches for little kids that are suddenly everywhere? This is the dog version Complete with fruits and vegetables.

The Company

It's easy, as a dog nerd, to jump on the Purina hate bandwagon. This is the epitome of a giant faceless corporation. However, it's worth noting that they've been around for longer than pretty much everyone else. They also pour a ton of funding and manpower into research, but those resources don't necessarily go toward products like Beneful or Puppy Chow. 

As a gigantic corporation, Purina makes a ton of different feed for a ton of different animals. Unlike the small, personal companies inspired by the founders' pets, Purina isn't out to make the best dog food they possibly can. The truth is that the vast majority of dog owners cannot afford the best dog food. Many cannot even afford kinda decent dog food. Like it or not, low-income households still need to be able to feed their pets. 

Not all Purina dog foods are cheap crap though, just the cheap crappy ones. They actually pour a whole lot of research into the ProPlan product line, and I know a surprising number of dog professionals that feed it because it just works so well. Not that it's right for every dog, but ProPlan seems to be the one food that breaks the crap ingredients rule. Only Purina knows why.

Beyond is Purina's entry into the world of dog owners that actually read ingredient labels. They know that a growing number of us judge a pet food largely by the list of ingredients, rather than falling for more overt marketing tactics. To this end, Purina has introduced a line of foods that are not made from byproducts and leftovers and magic.

The Food

Beyond Purees come in four different flavors, two that are supposed to support the immune system, and one each for skin and coat and for digestion. I highly doubt any of them do anything other than taste good to your dog. They are all made from oatmeal and brown rice with some fruit and vegetables and meat in there. These are definitely not complete diets, they are toppers intended to compliment a dry kibble. 

The Verdict

Godzilla will eat anything, but Zip liked the Beyond Puree. She isn't always eager to finish her kibble, so I frequently add a spoonful of canned food, a splash of broth, or a squirt of something tasty. Pet food toppers are definitely a growing part of the pet food industry.

Food Friday: Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete

Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete is a grain-inclusive adult dog food with the highest fat content I've found so far. This is a chicken, rice, and barley-based food intended for hard-working dogs that need plenty of energy to get the job done. It's a favorite of owners of working dogs around here, as it packs a lot of nutrition without a lot of carbohydrates.

The Company

I've written about Diamond Pet Foods before. They are still crawling back from a series of recalls in 2012 caused by contamination. Their production plant was in overall poor repair, and the inability to properly clean the equipment lead to salmonella that made both pets and their people sick. 

Happily, it appears that Diamond learned their lesson, cleaned up their act, and invested in their production facility. They co pack for a bunch of different brands, and the lack of recalls seems to indicate that the quality assurance programs they implemented are working now. There are still plenty of concerned pet owners that won't feed anything made by Diamond, but it's tough to disregard everything when they produce so many decent, affordable foods.

The Food

Grain-inclusive isn't usually my jam, but Extreme Athlete offers something I haven't found in any other food. This stuff packs a whopping 32% protein and 25% fat. Compare that to Purina ProPlan Sport, another "active dog" food, at 26/16, or Diamond's own High-Energy kibble at 24/20, or Orijen Tundra at 40/18. Humans burn carbohydrates when we are active, but dogs burn fat. 

Godzilla and Zip work on the sheep ranch with me, and often their jobs involve sprinting for quite a while, zooming after sheep and running wide around the flock. Most of the shepherds I know feed Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete because it has the highest fat content out there. 

The Verdict

My dogs will happily eat this food, including Ru who is not an extreme athlete unless snuggling counts as a sport. It rates 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Dog Food Advisor website, though the Diamond Naturals grain-inclusive foods were all judged together so it's tough to tell where Extreme Athlete lost a star. It's a high-fat, high-protein, nutritionally dense food, which I think is more important than feeding a grain-free food that's mostly made from carbohydrates like peas and potatoes. Both Godzilla and Zip do great on it, they're basically furry body-builders. So muscley!

Food Friday: OC Raw Dog Freeze Dried Food

OC Raw Dog is a dog food company located in southern California, a bit south of me. They offer frozen raw dog food in a variety of forms and recipes. With limited ingredients, novel proteins, and all USA-sourced ingredients except lamb from New Zealand, this company has a lot to offer. I brought a couple of samples of their new freeze dried food home from SuperZoo.

The Company

OC Raw Dog is a small business run by passionate dog lovers. I know this because I met them at SuperZoo, and they are sincerely enthusiastic about their product. Those gorgeous mastiffs on their website? They bred those. This is the food they made for their dogs, and sent home with their puppies. OC Raw Dog is the result of a fanbase that wanted more and more of that homemade raw dog food.

Despite their products starting out as homemade dog food, OC Raw Dog has gone the distance, and their food meets AAFCO standards for complete and balanced nutrition. They strongly encourage rotational feeding, and keep their fruit and veggie mix consistent between recipes. I really appreciate the thought they've put into their foods, with consideration given to caloric density, and protein/fat ratios.

There have been a couple of recalls of OC Raw Dog frozen products due to contamination, both in 2015. Nothing has been detected since, so hopefully they've resolved whatever issue they had with production.

The Food

OC Raw Dog is an allergy dog owners dream! Each recipe contains carrots, apples, broccoli, spinach,

acorn squash, beets, parsley, blueberries, and then meat, bone, and organs from a single protein source. They don't just throw chicken fat in to save money, the beef recipe is made with beef bone, beef meat, and beef organs. Cod liver oil and olive oil are added to a few recipes to boost the fat content. They offer rabbit, goat, and fish recipes that are a good fit for many dogs with multiple food allergies.

This company produces frozen raw dog food in a variety of shapes to fit various needs. They offer small "meaty rox" nuggets that are easy to measure for little dogs, not unlike Primal Pronto. They make slider patties and full-size patties as well. I was unable to find freeze-dried foods on their website, so these may not be available yet, but the samples I received were in both patty and nugget form.

The Verdict

Of course, all three of my dogs absolutely love this food. It rates five out of five stars on the Dog Food Advisor website, and I would happily feed it to my dogs on a regular basis if anyone near me sold it.

Food Friday: Bravo Homestyle Complete Freeze Dried Dinners

I brought home all three flavors of Bravo's Homestyle Complete Dinners from SuperZoo. These are freeze dried raw meals that are complete and balanced. Add warm water and let them sit for a few minutes, and you have a highly appetizing dog food. It's all the benefits of raw without the mess, and it doesn't need to take up your entire freezer, either.

The Company

I've written extensively about the Bravo company, and I love the way they continue to expand their product lines without compromising their core values. While they've always made grain-free frozen raw dog food, they've been able to expand into canned food because they don't demonize cooked food. Raw food is great because it's great, not because cooking is evil. The company does come out strongly against grain in dog food, but unlike some companies, they don't also sell grain-inclusive dog food.

The Food

At first glance, Homestyle Complete dinners look like cubes of freeze dried meat with a few green beans and cranberries mixed in. On closer inspection, some of those cubes are actually made from sweet potato and chickpeas. The smell is rather pleasant, this stuff doesn't smell like nasty frozen raw food. 

Actually feeding this stuff is mildly annoying, because it takes 15 minutes to rehydrate. You're supposed to add equal amounts feed and warm water, and then the food is supposed to soak up all the water. I always ended up with a little unabsorbed broth left over, and the dogs loved that part.

The big vegetables are interesting. I expected them to come out looking pretty much like they went in, but they must be cooked or something beforehand because the dogs digested them just fine.

The Verdict

I was very surprised that Ru ate the green beans. He loved this food, probably because it was rehydrated with warm water. Cold food makes him even colder than he already is. Godzilla and Zip loved the Homestyle Complete as well. It doesn't come in huge bags for feeding larger dogs, but it works well as a kibble topper after it's been soaked.

Food Friday: Renew Gold Balance Dog Food

Zip and I won this bag of Renew Gold Balance dog food at the Crusty Classic disc competition. This is the first thing I've ever won at any kind of dog competition, so I think it's pretty cool. I was also excited to get a bag of food from a brand I'd never heard of before. I have done a ridiculous amount of research on dog foods and various brands, and somehow I had never run across Renew.

The Company

Renew is a company based in Northern California, so they are semi-local to me. They apparently started out as a horse supplement company, as the website states that they introduced stabilized rice bran to the equine industry. That's rice bran that has been treated so it won't go rancid, I know several people that feed it to their horses. 

The company currently makes horse supplements, horse treats, chicken food, and dog food. Admittedly, this sets off some alarm bells for me. It might be all the grain-free propaganda I've soaked up over the years, but the idea of having a grain company making dog food feels a little weird. I mean, isn't most of it going to end up being grain?

My other small qualm with this company is that they heavily promote their food as being GMO-free. I like genetically modified foods because I understand how science works. While I understand that the primary point of making and advertising food as being GMO-free, I feel that it promotes anti-science thinking. My dogs are GMOs, there's no reason I can't feed them foods that have been modified to be resistant to pests and diseases.

The Food

This dog food is advertised as not smelling like dog food, and they're absolutely right. It smells like coconut oil. I'm not sure how I feel about this, as my gut reaction is that dog food should be meat-based and therefore smell meaty. The first two ingredients are meat meals, pork and chicken. The next three ingredients are grains though, rice, barley, and oats. The sixth ingredient is coconut oil, which means this stuff has a lot of coconut oil in it. That explains the smell. 

The Verdict

As dog foods go, this one isn't bad. It's a nice mid-range food that would likely get 4 stars on the Dog Food Advisor website had it been reviewed there. It doesn't contain any wheat, corn, or soy products, and while the protein content is padded a little with pea protein, that ingredient is pretty far down the list. Obviously it's a good enough food that I'm reviewing it here, and I'm also feeding it to my dogs right now because a free 30-lb bag of decent dog food is nothing to sneeze at.

I'm not sure the dogs appreciate the coconutty-ness of Renew Gold Balance. Ru and Zip will only eat it if I add some canned food or other topper. Zip and Godzilla have lost a bit of weight since we started this food, mostly because working dogs need a very high-fat diet and this is more of an average-fat food. We'll be finishing the bag, but I don't think I'll be buying any more of this.

Food Friday: We Reviewed Over 2,000 Brands of...Stuff

Earlier this week I received an email from the folks behind "We Reviewed Over 2,000 Brands of dog Food, Only 134 Made the Cut". They have a whole lot of marketing sunk into their page on Reviews.com, and wanted to know if I was interested in sharing their results with you readers. I kind of figured that the whole thing would have very little substance, and I was right. Though they claim to have built a list of over 11,000 people, from veterinarians to university researchers, they somehow managed to miss some glaring issues with their study.

That's Not Dog Food.

So let's start with their headline: "We Reviewed Over 2,000 Brands of Dog Food". The review includes a list of just some of the brands that didn't make the cut. 

Can you spot the brands that don't even make dog food? Fruitables makes a variety of dog treats, along with dietary supplements that include canned pumpkin puree. Nummy Tum-Tum also makes canned pumpkin puree.

The Himalayan Dog Treat Company is also on this list. They don't make dog food either. How many more of those "Over 2000 Brands of Dog Food" don't actually make dog food?

What About Freeze Dried? What About Air Dried?

Early in the report, there is a list of dog food types. It lists pros and cons of each type, but fails to mention freeze dried or air dried foods. Freeze dried raw foods share some properties with both raw foods and dehydrated foods. They aren't perishable, but they usually need to be handled like raw meat. Likewise, air dried foods share some properties with dry food and with dehydrated food.

Ignoring these two types of food just feels like lazy reporting to me. It's another way to tell that the Reviews.com researchers weren't particularly paying attention when they "exhaustively researched" all those dog foods.

Unsubstantiated Claims

I'm pretty sure a lot of this "research" involved reading marketing claims and accepting them at face value. The folks at Reviews.com then went a step further and made a completely unsubstantiated claim that nutriceuticals work for joint pain. This is actually a lawsuit-worthy claim when made by a dog food company. They can say that glucosamine and chondroitin help support healthy joints, but there is not enough evidence for them to state outright that they alleviate joint pain because THEY DON'T. The evidence that glucosamine and chondroitin work is minimal, and tends to disappear in larger and better-designed studies.

Falling for Marketing Tactics

Another example of taking marketing terms at face value is the statement that unhealthy grains and "fillers" should be avoided. As Linda P. Case, author of Dog Food Logic, so helpfully pointed out in her book, there is no such thing as a "filler". Dogs need nondigestible fiber to adequately process their food, just like humans do. Some dog foods certainly contain undesirable amounts of nondigestible fiber, but they do need some in there. 

No matter how fancy your dog food is, there is some nondigestible fiber in there. Calling some types of fiber "fillers" is misleading when the bulk of the issue is the amount, not the ingredient.

Behold, the Magic of Beet Pulp

I'm not really sure why they are demonizing beet pulp in this report. They seem to be lumping it in with sugar when it's actually another source of nondigestible dietary fiber. It's actually a source of fermentable dietary fiber that has been shown to increase nutrient absorption in the digestive tract. Yay science!

Surprise! That's a Grain!

Finally, at the end of the report, Reviews.com gives their list of foods that made it through their decision funnel. Please note number 2 on the list, which states that they removed products containing grain. 

This seems odd to me, as dogs are indeed omnivores that can digest grains, no matter what the crazy raw feeders tell you. Some dogs actually do better on grain-inclusive foods, so it seems weird to cut those out entirely. This mostly just makes people feel guilty when their dog can't have a solid bowel movement on grain-free food.

A quick glance at their list of foods that did make the cut shows that someone fucked up somewhere though, because AvoDerm's chicken and rice formulas are on the list. Did you know that rice is a grain? Apparently the Reviews.com team of exhaustive researchers didn't. Also included are Eagle Pack's canned foods, which contain barley. Did you know that barley is also a grain? How about Fromm's Four-Star Nutritionals, some of which contain rice, barley, and OATS! Oats are also a grain. 

So...yeah. You can go ahead and dismiss "We Reviewed Over 2,000 Brands of Dog Food" as the clickbait that it is. There is nothing new here, just incredibly lazy research and repetition (and embellishment!) of empty marketing claims. Frankly, I find it embarrassing.

Food Friday: Lotus Oven-Baked Dry Dog Food

The Lotus pet food company is unique and wonderful, from the way they manufacture their food, to the custom artwork they commission for their packaging. Their dry dog food is oven-baked rather than extruded like most kibble, making it a bit different in texture. This is a particularly neat company that is very transparent about their sourcing and manufacturing.

Lotus

I've blogged about the Lotus company before. They were started by independent pet store owners who were tired of introducing a new brand of food to the their customers, only to have to pull it from the shelves when the company sold out to a giant faceless corporation. For that reason, I am confident that Lotus will never sell out.

One of the reasons I love Lotus is that the don't seem to mention "GMO" anywhere on their site. Yay for science! My dogs are genetically modified (especially Ru!) so I don't see why their food can't be modified too. GMOs are safe, vaccines work, everything is a chemical.

The Food

As much as I love the company and their canned foods, I have to say I'm not in love with their kibble for my current dogs. The protein content in their dry food ranges from 18-27, that's not very much. fat content ranges from 8-14. That means these are basically plant-based foods with a lot of carbohydrates. The Dog Food Advisor website gives the dry Lotus foods a collective rating of four stars based on their low meat content. The ingredients are great, they're just not in the right proportion.

Bottom Line

My dogs like this food and will eat it happily. However, it would not be a good long-term choice for any if them. Godzilla and Zip are both working dogs that require large amounts of protein and fat. Ru is a tiny dog that needs a nutritionally dense food to maintain his body weight. I might choose Lotus for a dog that needed a low-protein diet.

Food Friday: Grandma Mae's Country Naturals

I was given a sample bag of Grain Free Venison Meal Recipe kibble at the Grandma Mae's Country Naturals booth at SuperZoo. This is an allergy-friendly food with a limited ingredient list. IT is specifically recommended for picky eaters and sensitive stomachs. Developed by a group of independent pet store owners looking for a brand that wouldn't sell out to a giant faceless corporation, Grandma Mae's is all about genuine high-quality ingredients.

Grandma Mae's Country Naturals

This pet food company is unique because it is owner by independent pet store retailers. The company was started by a group of pet store owners that kept having the same issues with their favorite brands selling out to large corporations. This happens like clockwork, a rally good family-owned food company will sell their brand to a giant faceless corporation. The new owners claim that nothing will change, but after a while the bags get smaller, the price goes up, and a lot of pets that formerly did well on the food start to have issues. 

Bringing in a new brand is tough for a retailer. Not everyone cheerfully embraces the new and unknown like I do, and many people don't even notice the other products when they get their usual bran off the self. Properly introducing a product to existing customers so that it sells well, and training staff to be able to answer questions about that product, takes time. It sucks to have to start that whole process over when an old fahvorite sells out, so Grandma Mae's Country Naturals was formed. It's owner by the retailers, who are committed to making a good food that will never be in danger of becoming a business conquest.

At least, that's what the Grandma Mae's website claims. It's a little thin on names, places, and other identifying information. I would think that if I was one of the store owners involved in developing this brand, I would want my name plastered all over the website. Instead we get a nice little story with zero indicators that it is actually about real people. That's just my thoughts on it.

Venison Meal Recipe

This is a food that Brisbane would have been able to eat, with his many allergies. They've skipped the fresh meats that make the ingredient list sound good without adding much substance, so the first ingredient is actually venison meal. It also contains peas, lentils, chickpeas, and tapioca. Sunflower oil, fish oil, and some pork meal are really all that's in there aside from some veggies. 

I like the size and shape of this kibble, it consists of tiny squares. This makes it toy-breed-friendly. Like most high-end foods, it contains probiotics and prebiotics and chelated minerals. The Dog Food Advisor website rates this food 4.5 out of 5 stars. This is a 25/13.5 protein/fat food, so it's a bit lower-energy than Godzilla and Zip need. However, it may be a good choice for an older dog that can't handle the outrageous amount of protein in some super high quality foods.

The Verdict

All three dogs ate this food happily and without hesitation. This is a little unusual for Ru. The protein and fat ratio isn't too bad for His Tinyness. Unfortunately, nobody in my state currently carries Grandma Mae's Country Naturals.

Food Friday: Grandma Lucy's Artisan Chicken Freeze-Dried Dog Food

I got this media packet from the Grandma Lucy's booth at SuperZoo, but the sample of food inside was actually Artisan Chicken and not their Pureformance blend. This company specializes in grain-free freeze-dried pet foods with short ingredient lists. I've seen it a couple of times in independent pet stores, and I'm pleased to finally try it.

The Company

Grandma Lucy's makes all their food in their own facility in southern California, where I currently live. Yay for local food! They have a whole history of the company on their website, with pictures of their dog Lucy, who inspired the company. They even shared how the massive pet food recalls of 2007 resulted in them adding complete diets to their product line. Yay for real people behind the business! They develop a direct relationship with all of their ingredient suppliers to ensure quality. Yay for reliable sourcing! My only scruple is that they proudly state that their food is GMO-free. Boo for anti-science.

The Food

Ok, the first thing I want to point out about this food is that it is freeze-dried, but in powder form. That's unique so far here on The Dog Geek. The powder-form dog foods we've tried, Honest Kitchen, Spot Farms, and WellyChef, are all dehydrated. The freeze-dried foods we've tried, Stella&Chewy's, Nutrisca, and Wysong Archetype, all come in chunks. Grandma Lucy's comes with a few big chunks just to show off the lovely meat, but most of it is sort of flakey powder.

The second thing I want to share is that I have a digestive disorder that makes eating interesting, and one of the few foods I don't have issues with is mashed potatoes. While I greatly prefer, you know, actual potatoes, I'm willing to settle for instant potato flakes. The reason I'm telling you this is because Grandma Lucy's Artisan Chicken dog food set off the "Woohoo! Mashed potatoes!" part of my primitive lizard brain as soon as I poured water on it. Yes, it's a potato-based food, I just didn't realize quite how potatoey until that moment. Clearly Grandma Lucy's has done a smashing job of maintaining the fresh tasty goodness of their ingredients.

Dog Food Advisor awards this particular recipe four out of five stars, it's a plant-based food with a good ratio of protein and fat to carbs. The entire Artisan line of foods rates 4.5 stars on average, while Grandma Lucy's Pureformance foods rate five out of five across the board. The Artisan product line is more affordable, and plenty of dogs do well on potato-based foods. Pureformance uses Chickpeas as the primary carbohydrate source, and the new Valor food line uses quinoa, which is surprisingly not a grain.

The Verdict

Sisci Godzilla ate the Artisan Chicken food immediately. Zip also enjoyed it. Ru wouldn't touch it. He's not a big fan of chicken though, so I'd like to try some other Grandma Lucy foods with him. They have some great alternative protein sources, like goat, venison, and rabbit. I need to find someone that sells the smaller bags though, I've only ever seen huge expensive bags in stores, and I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment.

Have you tried Grandma Lucy's food yet? How about their treats?

Food Friday: Open Farm Dog Food

I first learned about the Open Farm company at SuperZoo, and now I think it might be my most favoritest company ever. Open Farm is all about ethically-sourced ingredients, and transparency for the customer. Like, a really ridiculous amount of transparency. There's been a lot of focus recently on the sourcing of vitamins and minerals that go into pet food, and how many dog food companies buy pre-mixed nutrients without knowing themselves where all the ingredients originated. Some companies use multiple suppliers, so a given ingredient could have come from more than one place. It's too much to ask them to keep track of which ingredients when into which bag of food...right?

The Company

I'll be honest, I'm a big fan of genetically modified food for a lot of science-based reasons. The fact that Open Farm proudly touts its non-GMO ingredients bugs me a lot. I understand it's mostly just a marketing thing, but every company that falls for it just normalizes the fear of perfectly safe food.

Otherwise, Open Farm is the most amazing pet food company ever. Seriously. They take transparency to an entirely new level. See, each bag has a lot code printed on it, along with the best-by date. You can go to the Open Farm website and type in your code, and instantly get a list of where every single ingredient came from. From humanely farmed turkey in Pennsylvania, to Niacin supplement from Switzerland. It's not just "Not From China (probably, at least that we know about)" like nearly every other pet food company out there. 

But that's not all! Open Farm also uses only farm animal products that are third party certified as being humanely raised. That means the chickens, turkeys, and pigs were raised in a comfortable environment with minimal stress, and plenty of space to move around. Prior to being humanely slaughtered for food, these animals were cared for to standards that covered not only their physical needs, but their mental and social needs as well. Humane Farm Animal Care standards include enough dark time for birds to get real sleep, toys and rooting material to keep pigs busy, and housing that prevents social animals from feeling isolated.

The Food

I think my favorite thing about Open Farm is their commitment to sustainable fisheries. I have a background in biology, and I'm quite alarmed at the state of the world's fisheries. Open Farm wanted to make a fish-based food from sustainably-harvested species, so they started working with the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program. This program helps identify species that are abundant and can be caught in a manner that minimizes environmental impact. As a result, different batches of Open Farm's whitefish pet foods may be made from different species of whitefish. What kind was your bag made from? Check the best by date and product code, the type of whitefish used is printed in the same place.

All of Open Farm's dry dog food recipes rate 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Dog Food Advisor website. The foods have a 30/14 protein/fat ratio, which means plenty of protein but not a whole lot of fat. The carb content is a little higher than I'd prefer. I'm pleased to see that the fish recipe is allergy-friendly, Brisbane would have been able to eat this one despite his poultry/egg/sweet potato allergies. The kibbles are also pretty little, so these are nice foods for little tiny dogs.

The Verdict

Maybe it's because I feed a lot of high-protein, high-fat foods, but my dogs really weren't that into any of the Open Farm kibbles. Ru is extremely picky, and he wouldn't touch it. Sisci Godzilla was willing to eat a few bites, but I had to top it with Caru Stew to get her to finish the bowl. These seem to be worthwhile foods to try for dogs with tummy issues, and I would recommend them over super-dense foods like Orijen for senior dogs unused to that much protein.