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 It mostly seems that some companies in the industry are leery of using pork just because of their customers' outdated or inaccurate information.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: Fromm Canned Shredded Pork Entree

Fromm's canned Shredded Pork Entree is the only Fromm dog food that Brisbane can eat. He's allergic to chicken, turkey, duck, and eggs. Most of Fromm's foods are poultry-based, and they put egg in every single dry food they make.

Fromm's Four Star food line contains a wide variety of proteins, and the company has straight up stated that they do not and have no intention of ever producing allergy-friendly dog foods. The Four Star Nutritionals canned foods are their only limited-ingredient foods, and there are only two varieties, the other being chicken. They used to make a beef variety but have discontinued it due to supply issues.

Fromm is basically the oldest dog food company out there. The Purina brand is of a similar vintage, but has not been privately owned by the same company for the entirety of its existence. Fromm has never had a recall, and does a massive amount of rigorous testing to ensure their products are safe, healthy, and live up to their labels.

Thanks, Fromm.

The place I work recently started carrying Fromm foods, and we had a company representative come and extoll the virtues of from for us one evening. Previously I had spoken to a Fromm nutritionist about their egg-filled food, and was told "we only make foods for normal dogs". Still, I was pretty happy when we got these Shredded Pork Entree cans into the store because I really wanted to try a Fromm food. Despite careful opening, the easy-open ring peeled off the can so I ended up having to open it with a can opener. This made me feel just a tiny bit less charitable toward the company.

The food really is quite nice. It smells pretty good and has visible carrots and peas. This is an "all life stages" food and theoretically I could feed it to my dogs every day forever. That would get pretty expensive, though. The Fromm rep at work recommended putting it on top of kibble rather than feeding it as a complete meal.

My dogs liked it, even little Ru who doesn't like anything. I appreciate the moisture content found in wet foods and would like to feed them more often to help Ru's urinary tract health. I don't think this would be my first choice, though. For all the wonderfulness of Fromm, their Four Star Nutritionals canned foods only get four out of five stars.

Food Friday: Acana Singles Pork and Butternut Squash

Acana Singles are single-source protein, low-glycemic kibbles designed for dogs with food allergies. Like most grain-free dog foods, it features a very high meat content. It also features multiple legume ingredients which boost the protein level without adding a lot of simple carbohydrates.

I like Acana's foods a whole lot. They use as many fresh, local ingredients as possible, and cook the food in its own juices rather than adding water. The kibbles are dark and heavy and dense. The food smells meaty yet pleasant. Ru will actually eat it.

One thing I would like to point out about this food is that it is called Pork and Butternut Squash even though the squash is actually in sixth place in the ingredient list. Notably, it sits behind two different types of lentils. So this is actually a pork and lentil food.

Dog Food Advisor also makes note of this fact, and this food loses a star from its rating for its deceptively large legume content. The review for Acana Singles notes that the company uses ingredient splitting to make the meat ingredients appear higher on the list. The Pork and Butternut Squash food lists red lentils, green lentils, green peas, yellow peas, and garbanzo beans individually. If these were all just listed as "legumes", they might be the first thing on the list.

Acana Singles Pork and Butternut Squash only earns a four-star rating at Dog Food Advisor, but it's still pretty awesome. In building the database for my Dog Food Wizard, I noticed that Acana Singles are some of the only kibbles that don't have a litany of vitamin and mineral supplements at the end of their ingredient lists. They only add zinc proteinate, everything else comes from the food ingredients, and they still meet AAFCO standards for "all life stages" (meaning puppy) food.

I love that Acana Singles use a single protein source in each recipe, but I sort of have trouble calling them "Limited Ingredient Diets" simply because they use so many different types of carbohydrates. I've communicated with a number of different owners of dogs with weird food allergies, and some have found via elimination diets that their dogs have very specific intolerances. Some dogs can't have lentils, some can't have peas, some can't have garbanzo beans.

I think that a truly limited ingredient food should use a single protein and a single carbohydrate. This system works best for elimination diets and narrowing down possible food intolerances. The name "Acana Singles" is a little deceptive, and I was honestly a little surprised to see so many different carbohydrate sources in the ingredients.

Have you tried any of the Acana Singles foods for your dog yet?

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.