Post
by whiterock » Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:46 pm
Sounds like you've been reading dogfoodanalysis.com. Some of things they harp on are either misguided or blown out of context.
For example......your comments about "splitting," about the 7th & 8th ingredients being corn or corn derivatives as being something that understates the amount of corn in the ration is really missing the point from a couple of angles. First: the first three ingredients on the list typically comprise approx 75% of most rations. Another rule of thumb that is helpful is......the minerals are about a half cup of volume in a big bag of most rations. What's above the minerals is cups & pounds of product; what's below the minerals are tablespoons & teaspoons of product. By the time you get to 7th or 8th on the list, you are usually at or very near the minerals (more true in rations like Pro Plan; less true in holistic rations), and you are also probably talking about in the ingredient list in question about a pound or three of material, not enough to radically reorder #7 up to #3, for example. Third: splitting rations makes nutritional sense when balancing rations. Whole grain corn (or any other grain) brings a certain proportion of micronutrients to the table. Sometimes, you can't make a ration balance like you want to with a whole ingredient. So you back off of the whole grain and replace with one or more constituent parts of that whole grain so that the (in this case, corn) portion of the ration has a slightly different ratio of calcium, iron, phosphorus, etc.....than the whole grain itself. No compromise there. Just another way to get a ration balanced properly. FInally: Corn ain't the worst thing you can put in a petfood. Yes, it is harder to digest than most other gains, but it also brings more energy to the table....an important consideration for working dogs. If your dog is working hours per day, days on end in cold temps, you might find corn to be useful. If not, you might find other ingredients that would do a better job for you. And if you are field trialing in springtime on corn rations, your dogs WILL come to water sooner and more frequently than dogs on chicken/rice rations. Corn is a high energy food. It burns hot. Make that work for you, not against you.
Which brings us to a concept that is far more important than the well intentioned but often misguided stuff we hear about petfood ingredients: It's not the ingredient....it's how the ingredient is used. People are correct to note that if corn comprises two of the first three ingredients, the ration is likely a budget ration rather than a quality ration. That doesn't mean corn is a bad ingredient. it means it is an ingredient that can be used improperly, and often is.....to lower cost.
Grain Free Rations: Prime premise of GF rats are: 1) allergies, 2) dogs are carnivores. They are hot products now. Understand what you are getting with them. You are losing grains, picking up potatoes or peas. Carb load in some cases can be higher in GF rations than regular Chix/Rice rations. And what do you think is easier to digest? rice or peas? Both are fully digestible. Rice digests very fully, very quickly. Not just the percentage but the speed of the digestion is an important factor in selecting a hunting ration.
Well...... Allergies, statistically speaking, are 80% about the meat, not the carb. If you are feeding a chix/rice, chix/corn type rat and see allergy, try Lamb & Rice. If that doesn't fix it, go to a holistic single source protein (duck, salmon, etc....) Frankly, most dogs that have the allergies are eating rats that do not have proteinated minerals, digestive enzymes, natural preservatives, etc.... Upgrading to those types of rations in most cases make allergy problems disappear. (nearly all grain free rats on the mkt have those things.....there are lots of plain chix/rice rats that have all those additives, too, at far less cost than most GF rats.) For those dog allergies that persist, we have holistic single source protein solutions.
Carnivore: dogs WERE carnivores. In the 10,000 years ago or so since we domesticated them, they have become well adapted to eating what falls off our table. If you don't think that significant kind of genetic change can happen, just compare a Chihuahua to a Wolf and see what is possible if breeders set their minds to it. "dogs don't eat grains" sounds very intuitively appealing. In fact, dogs lived on soup bones & bread rind alone for centuries before we figured out the printing press. If this is what's urging you toward GF rats, I'd urge you to find another rationale.
I work for a manufacturer who offers a GF ration. I also own dozen+ bird dogs. I like our grain free for my dogs for a couple of reasons. I like our holistic food a bit better. It is more useful for most of the year. I usually feed plain ol' Adult food because it is a little cheaper than GF, lots cheaper than holistic, and it gets the job done. (although I am still trialing the GF food as a hunting ration.)
GF is hot right now. I do not think it will surpass holistic foods as a market segment. Holistic foods (full of grains/fruits/veggies) are a better deal than GF for most dogs, although in most cases they will not have enough energy for most hunting dogs during season.
I will admit that I admire London Guns just because they are London Guns, but I wouldn't fall in love with Grain Free just because it is Grain Free.
, not sure. Perhaps females are programmed to carry extra fat, makes perfect sense from an evolutionary standpoint. 
She is one of the most intelligent and knowledgeable people I know.