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: Alternative Protein Roundup, Pork Edition

My quest for Brisbane-safe foods has brought us a variety of pork-based treats and dog food over the nearly two years I've been blogging here. We've already summed up the venison- and rabbit-based goodies, so this week it's time to take a look at an often-overlooked alternative protein. I'm not a huge ham or sausage fan, but I think we can all agree that bacon is awesome. I even chop it into tiny pieces and toss it with various training treats to make them extra-awesome.

Why Aren't There More Pork-Based Dog Foods?

Photo by Erin Koski

Chicken is by far the most common animal protein found in dog food, beef is the second most common, and lamb third in my own experience reading infinite ingredient labels. Pork is supposed to be a poor-man's meat, cheap and plentiful right? So why isn't everyone making dog food out of it?

The first reason I've heard for not feeding pork to dogs is trichinosis, or trichinellosis. This is a parasite transmitted through consumption of raw or undercooked meat of infected animals. The worms live in the muscles until the meat is eaten, then they are released to infect the new host. This used to be a major issue with pork in particular until laws passed in 1980, along with good food storage and handling practices like freezing pork for several weeks before cooking it. Today, trichinellosis is extremely rare, with around 20 cases reported annually in the United States according to the CDC. Most of these are not from consuming commercially-raised pork though, they are from eating raw or undercooked wild game meats.

The second reason I've heard for not feeding pork to dogs is because it supposedly causes pancreatitis. Given that Brisbane has eating tons of raw pork bones without developing it, I'm not terribly worried. The association mostly seems to be between dogs eating super-rich fat scraps and getting pancreatitis, and obviously pet food manufacturers are monitoring the fat and protein levels in their products. It mostly seems that some companies in the industry are leery of using pork just because of their customers' outdated or inaccurate information. This is actually a good thing though, because it means most dogs have never been fed pork, so it can be used as an alternative protein and part of an elimination diet.

Pork Dog Foods

It seems that some of the very best dog food companies use pork as an alternative protein. Primal offers pork-based versions of both their Nuggets and Pronto foods, and both of these use only pork and some veggies so they can be useful for helping sort out food sensitivities. Acana Singles Pork and Butternut Squash is the only kibble we've tried so far that only used pork protein.

Companies seem to be more likely to make canned foods out of pork, rather than kibble Wild Calling offers one that is just pork and vitamins to make it a complete diet. Fromm's Four Star Shredded Pork Entree is the most appetizing food we sell at work, if a dog won't eat that they won't eat anything. Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Diets only offers a canned pork food, but offers a kibble variety for each of their other proteins. Natural Balance offers a wild boar and brown rice canned food, but no boar kibble. We got a carton of Caru Real Pork Stew in our November BarkBox.

Pork Dog Treats

All our favorite pork-based dog treats were discovered via BarkBox. The Bixbi Essentials Pork Jerky arrived in the 2014 December box. Two years ago we got some PetSafe Indigo Smokehouse Strips in our March box, last year we got some Healthy Dogma Bacon Hearts in the March Box. The August Box brought us some Wagatha's Maple Bacon Biscuits. Surprisingly, our favorite pork-based chew, the bacon-flavored Dogswell Boundless, did not come in a subscription box. 

Food Friday: Alternative Protein Roundup, Venison Edition

Brisbane's Bark Blog is approaching its second birthday, and we're taking a look back at some of the unique and interesting goodies we've found for dogs with food allergies. Brisbane himself is allergic to poultry and eggs, and was recently diagnosed with corn, barley, and sweet potato allergies as well. Finding foods, treats, and chews for him is an ongoing project, and I'm always looking for new things to try.

Venison is a popular protein found in quite a few limited ingredient diets intended for dogs with food allergies. I assume it's also somewhat easy to get in places where people hunt. Here on the coast of southern California, nobody hunts. Well maybe a few people do, but nobody talks about it. Saying you go out and kill animals for sport sort of feels antisocial, unless those animals are fish. Guns aren't common either, and the people who do have them tend to keep them in lockers at shooting ranges. I have seen a number of raw feeders recommend asking friends that hunt for their freezerburned deer meat, which seems downright foreign when I know so many people that have never even tasted venison.

Photo by Erin Koski

Anyway, venison is a nice flavorful game meat that my dogs absolutely love. Like rabbit, it is a common alternative protein that does not seem to be a common allergen yet.

Venison Food

Stella & Chewy's makes both freeze-dried and frozen Simply Venison raw dog food. Primal also offer a frozen raw singe-protein venison food in their Primal Nuggets product line.  

In the non-raw food department, Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet Sweet Potato and Venison food was a common sight around my house until I figured out that Brisbane was allergic to sweet potatoes. We also tried the canned version back when the place I worked still carried it. Wysong gave me a coupon for free shipping, so I bought a bag of Epigen Venison, but Ru didn't like it. I'm not sure I would buy it again because it contained powdered barley grass and Briz has a barley allergy. Likewise, we'll be skipping the Party Animal Heavenly Venison canned food from now on because it contains sweet potatoes. 

So far, I think our favorite venison-based single-protein dog food has been the Canine Caviar Wilderness dog food. The canned version also went over well here. It's awfully high in calories for Brisbane, though. At the moment, we're working our way through the big bag of Pure Vita Venison and Red Lentils that the company handed out when my employers started carrying their products. Free dog food is my favorite kind of dog food. Ziwi Peak makes an air-dried venison, but it costs way more than their beef dog food so I've not been able to bring myself to buy it yet. I bet it smells horrible yet wonderful.

Venison Treats

So far I think our absolute favorite treat has been the Superior Farms Venison Crepe. It was basically a soft, delicious rawhide chew, but made out of a deer instead. We've had numerous Etta Says Deer Chews show up in our monthly subscription boxes, and they never last long. Less exciting are Natural Balance's LID Sweet Potato and Venison cookies. One of our favorite training treats so far has been the Merrick Venison Holiday Stew sausages.

What other deer-based, elk-based, or moose-based products are out there that we haven't tried yet?

Food Friday: Alternative Protein Roundup, Rabbit Edition

Brisbane's Bark Blog has been around for close to two years now, and in that time we've reviewed a lot of food and treats that use allergy-friendly alternative proteins like rabbit. Since Brisbane is allergic to poultry, I don't normally consider turkey and duck to be alternative proteins. I also know that beef is a common allergen, and that buffalo and bison may not be different enough for dogs with beef allergies. Lamb was considered alternative a couple of decades ago but has become increasingly more common since then. For the purpose of this blog post, I'm going to stick with the more exotic choices.

Rabbit is a high-protein, lean meat that, frankly, should be cheaper and easier to find in the grocery store. Those little buggers are everywhere, on the trail one even leaped into Brisbane's mouth. I bet giant bunny feedlots in the middle of California would smell way better than the legions of cows currently occupying that space.

This picture has nothing to do with this post.
Photo by Erin Koski

Rabbit Food

I think our favorite rabbit-based food is Stella & Chewy's Absolutely Rabbit, freeze-dried is always a winner around here. Wysong Archetype was also a winner until Brisbane's allergy test revealed his barley allergy. Raw is also quite popular, and Brisbane and Sisci both loved the Primal Nuggets we tried. The place where I work used to carry Wild Calling Hoppy's canned dog food, and that was what we tempted picky dogs with until our vendor stopped offering it. Instinct also offers a rabbit-based canned food. Our least favorite was Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet Potato and Rabbit, which is high in carbs while being low in protein and fat. Mostly it's just widely available and worth trying if you're not sure what your dog is allergic to and can't get something like Wysong Anergen 2 instead.

Rabbit Treats

In addition to rabbit-based diets, we've found a bunch of bunnymeat treats. Some are made almost entirely from rabbit meat, like Wysong's Dream Treats and Barkworthy's Rabbit BonBons. Others have some additional ingredients, like the Etta Says Crunchy Rabbit Chews that also contain rawhide. Zukes offers a couple of different rabbit-based versions of their semi-moist treats. Their Lil' Links Rabbit and Apple Recipe are still safe for Brisbane's ever-growing list of allergies, but their Mini Naturals are full of barley so those are now off the menu for us.

Have you found a rabbit-based product we haven't tried yet? Please share in the comments!

Food Friday: Natural Balance LID Venison and Sweet Potato Canned Formula

In preparation for Ru's upcoming dental next week, he has been sampling a variety of soft foods including Natural Balance LID Venison and Sweet Potato Canned Formula. This is a Limited Ingredient Diet intended for dogs with allergies and food intolerances. I have previously discussed the kibble version of this food, this is the canned variety.

The first thing I have to say about Natural Balance's LID canned foods is that they smell amazing. Most are sweet potato based and have a rich people-foody smell. They don't smell like something I think I would like to eat, but are definitely not as nauseating as some canned foods.

Unfortunately, the reason this food smells so inoffensive is because it is mostly made out of sweet potatoes and not-sweet potatoes. Though venison is the first ingredient on the label, some of the protein comes from plant sources so the overall meat content is less than impressive.

Dog Food Advisor rates Natural Balance's LID canned foods with three out of five stars, but this particular formula only merits two out of five stars. This is probably due to the relatively relatively low protein content. Most canned dog foods have quite a bit more protein, a bit more fat, and therefore a lot less carbohydrates.

I'm not thrilled with the "Limited Ingredient Diet" label on this food. Sure, it doesn't have as many different ingredients as Orijen Six Fish, but it does have more than I'd like to see in a food specifically marketed for dogs with sensitivities. In addition to venison and sweet potatoes, Venison and Sweet Potato Formula also contains white potatoes and salmon oil. I've known a number of dogs who had issues on potato-based foods, so this would not be my first choice for use in an elimination diet.

Since this would only be part of a temporary soft diet for Ru, it was something I was willing to try. Ru has not liked most of the canned foods I have offered him, even when they are warmed up. Unfortunately, he didn't like this one either. At least Brisbane enjoyed it.

Food Friday: Natural Balance LID Sweet Potato and Venison Formula

Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet Sweet Potato and Venison is a dry food that contains a single protein source and no grains. Like the company's Potato and Rabbit diet, this is a food with a specific purpose. Slightly lower than the Potato and Rabbit formula, the Sweet Potato and Venison diet rates a lowly 2 stars on Dog Food Advisor.

The reason for this rating is obvious if you know how Dog Food Advisor works. Ratings are given primarily based on the amount of meat to plant matter in a given food. Quality of ingredients and protein to fat ratio are also consideration,s with higher ratings given to richer and more meat-based diets.

Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison is described as a plant-based kibble containing a modest amount of meat, but I can see that just by looking at the bag. This product is not called Venison and Sweet Potato, it's Sweet Potato and Venison. Natural Balance is coming right out and telling you that this is a carbohydrate-based food with a bit of meat in it. I know it doesn't change the nutritional value of the food, but I appreciate their honesty.

As I've mentioned before, Natural Balance was purchased by Del Monte along with a number of other dog food brands. It has likely undergone a number of unannounced ingredient changes since then.

Like prescription diets, I think Natural Balance's LID foods have their uses. A dog with skin issues and allergies that does well on this food can be declared to be free of venison, sweet potato, potato, peas, flax, and anything else on the short ingredient list.

For Brisbane, who is allergic to chicken, turkey, duck, and eggs, this is a safe food. It's not something that I'd feed him long-term, but it's a nice fallback if he's having major issues.

Everyone at my house does fine on Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison, with no tummy upsets or increased itching. It's one of the foods I can switch to abruptly without problems, and it's pretty easy to find. This is really the bottom of the barrel as far as food I'm willing to feed Brisbane and Ru.

Have you used any Limited Ingredient Diets for your dogs?

Food Friday: Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet Potato and Rabbit

Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet Potato and Rabbit is a kibble intended for dogs with food allergies. This is a grain-free food suitable for all life stages, so it should be fine for puppies. It contains 21% minimum crude protein and 10% crude fat, and provides 350 kcal per cup. Dog Food Advisor gives it 2.5 stars.

(I meant to post this Food Friday last week but apparently missed hitting the actual "Publish" button. Oops.)

Once upon a time, Natural Balance was a pretty decent pet food company. Not the best, but a lot better than the average grocery store brands. A couple of years ago, Natural Balance was sold to Del Monte, makers of canned pineapple and also a whole bunch of grocery store brands of pet food and pet treats. Pretty much any time a decent pet food company gets sold to a giant corporation, that company's products go downhill. Formulas change suddenly, ingredient quality goes down, and the food becomes increasingly similar to other brands owned by the same company.

The Hype
Natural Balance is one of those brands that cashes in on our culture's current fascination with all things "natural". That's a pretty tough quality to define though, and kind of makes me want to market an "unnatural" dog food. There are also plenty of claims about omega atty acids added to help maintain a healthy skin and coat...but a good food should probably have those already.

Following the Trail
Prior to the Del Monte acquisition, Natural Balance pet foods were part of the massive, horrifying 2007 pet food recall that made me so very glad I was feeding my dog home-prepared raw food. It was also affected by the 2012 recall, along with numerous other brands. This is because Natural Balance dog food is made by Diamond Pet Foods in Diamond's facilities. They make a lot of foods for a lot of companies, including Canidae, Wellness, and Solid Gold.

This sort of setup, where the pet food brand is actually just a marketing company, always feels a bit shady to me.

The Good Stuff
This isn't a great food. It's plant-based and uses a fairly low amount of meat, hence the 2.5 out of 5 stars on Dog Food Advisor. Still, it does have a limited ingredient list and can be helpful as part of an elimination diet, and for dogs with tons of food allergies. I prefer to think of this as a stepping-stone food, one that is probably safe to feed while figuring out what a dog can eat without reacting. I like giving my dogs variety, so I include some Natural Balance products occasionally, but this is not a food I would choose to feed my dogs exclusively.

Have you used any Natural Balance foods?

Treat Tuesday: Natural Balance L.I.T. Venison Treats and Bixbi Daily Essentials Pork Jerky

What poultry-free, egg-free delights am I cramming into Kongs this week? We've got a bag of Natural Balance Small Breed Sweet Potato and Venison Formula treats, along with some Bixbi Daily Essentials Pork Jerky from our December BarkBox. (Our January BarkBox hasn't arrived yet, it always takes at least a week for our boxes to get here.)

The Natural Balance Small Breed Sweet Potato and Venison Formula treats are small biscuits that go well in Kongs. They contain venison, potatoes, and sweet potatoes so they work for many dogs with allergies. I am mildly annoyed that they are labeled as "Sweet Potato and Venison" though when the first ingredient is potato. These are potato biscuits.

Good For: Dropping into the bottoms of Kongs to prevent the peanut butter plug problem. Cookies for dogs on limited ingredient diets, particularly Natural Balance's venison LID food.

Not Good For: High value training treats. Dogs who can't eat potato.

How Much We Like Them: This is the second bag I've purchase, though the repeat buying may have a lot to do with the fact that these are locally available, cheap, and don't contain any of Brisbane's allergens.

The Bixbi Daily Essentials Pork Jerky is a stinky, meaty treat that is also dry. I had originally thought these were going to be semi-moist like people jerky, but instead they're hard and crispy. The pieces are scored in a grid on one side, allowing them to be conveniently broken into tiny pieces. These are made and sourced in the USA, so hopefully won't have the contamination issues that plague jerky treats from China.

Good For: High value training treats. Stuffing in Brisbane's Busy Buddy Biscuit Ball.

Not Good For: Shoving large pieces into Kongs, they don't dissolve with endless licking and I end up having to dig them out.

How Much We Like Them: The bag lasted about three days. I need to find someone local who carries these, or order more online.