For some of us, the current climate allows us more time to spend with our precious ‘Hounds’, which is great news. More walkies and Zoomies perhaps?
We’ve had some really interesting conversations with quite a few of our customers this week and one thing in particular stood out and that is….choosing dog food is a very confusing.
Its a subject that most of us don’t really understand. When our girl Maisey was diagnosed with kidney failure, we had to start understanding, but the great news was that the understanding gave us two more years with her. Blessed!
This is the single most important thing you do for your dog, so now could be a great chance to learn what is good in dog food and what is not so good.
The thing is, manufacturers are allowed to use very broad terms for the description, content and ingredients of their food, and they do.
To help you understand a little better, we will be creating several posts to guide you through some information that you may find useful.
First of all if you see the words ‘Meat or Animal Derivatives’, start digging deeper! It really isn’t good. In fact it’s the worst thing you can read on a label. More on this another time.
In this email we thought we would look at the term widely used by many food manufacturers, and that is the word ‘MEAL’. Chicken Meal, Meat Meal etc.
So what is ‘MEAL’? To keep this short and not too gruesome, it’s parts of the animal that us HUMANS don’t use, cooked at a very high temperature (therefore far less nutritional) into a powder form, before being converted to kibble. Obviously it is not harmful to dogs, but it is an area where manufacturers cut a lot of costs, while still being able to legally describe their product in a seductive and misleading way.
Lets look at three different foods, what they consist of, how the manufacturers describe it, and the cost.
Food 1
Chicken Meal (14%),
Protein 17%
Label on the front says ‘Rich in tasty Chicken’.
Price per 12.5kg £22.00. 0.73p per day.
As you can see, what we read on the packaging can be very misleading. Food 1 is NOT actually ‘Rich in tasty chicken’
This food is Burgess Greyhound and Lurcher.
Food 2
Lamb meal (23.5%),
Protein: 20.0%
Label on the front says ‘This food is made with natural ingredients’
Price 15kg £47.99. £1.19 per day
Food 2 is made of natural ingredients, but is still ‘Meal’
This food is James Wellbeloved Lamb and Rice
Food 3
Fresh turkey (35%), Sweet potato (35%), Blue whiting fish (hydrolysed) (9.4%), Whole egg (8%),
Protein 23%
Label on the front says ‘Cold pressed, Meat Meal Free’ in large writing.
Price 12kg £65.99. £1.83 per day.
Food 3 is human grade top quality food.
This food is Tribal Adult Turkey.
More than ever many of us are budget conscious, and our investigations suggest that the pricing on food is quite accurate in that price DOES reflect the quality. Like most things in life, you spend a bit more, you get better quality.
Maybe now would be a good time to check the label on your food. You may need a magnifying glass or good eye sight. The manufacturers who don’t really want you to know the contents tend to make the print very small…….I wonder why? Whereas the manufacturers who use quality ingredients make it loud and clear what is in their product.
If you do change foods, remember to do it gradually over a period of at least 7 days, introducing the new food very slowly.
Based on price and quality, we highly recommend Tribal dog food. If you would like to try this human grade food, grab a 2.5kg bag, and we’ll give you 10% off your next large 12kg bag. We’ll also remind you when your food is running low, so you can order with 3 simple clicks of a mouse. See the Tribal Range here.
Food for thought eh? No pun intended.
Our next analysis on food will cover the Protein content. Here’s the thing, Protein QUALITY is way more important than the PERCENTAGE figure printed on the label. To be continued…….
Colin and Marie.
Totally Greyhound. www.totallygreyhound.com
