This week we introduce you to Connie Marshall, owner of another local San Diego pet business, named 20 Dogs in a Bowl. Connie’s company is an online bakery that specializes in delicious, all natural dog treats, baked fresh to order and catered towards your dog’s health. This week Connie is sharing an article about commercial dog food, giving us some insight into why her business sells nothing but high quality products.

Commercial Dog Food-Nasty Little Secrets

by Connie Marshall, 20 Dogs in a Bowl

Do you feed your dog a popular, expensive and perfectly packaged commercial dog food? Pet food manufacturers tell us that makes us ideal dog owners. Perhaps they are right or maybe the adverts, promises and pictures of health are just a smokescreen of illusion?

As the Western world learns more about the way poor diet affects health it is time for dog lovers to realize that convenience foods also affect the health of our beloved canine friends.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates

And the great philosopher is right. Food has lost its place as medicine in all of our lives. Dog food has become pre-packaged, overcooked, processed and lacking in the goodness which the animal’s body needs. Our pet foods have become convenience food; ask yourself, do you really know what you are feeding your dog?

The main types of commercial dog food are tinned food and kibble.

Tinned food is convenient with a long shelf life. Why do you think it lasts so long? Tins of food are packed with salt, an obvious cheap preservative, which in excess will cause dehydration add strain to the dog’s heart and can even cause kidney disease. The dog needs a little natural salt but certainly not to this excess.

Concerning Kibble (dry dog food)

Meat is a hazy subject with pet food.  For instance because something is labelled as chicken doesn’t automatically render it organic chicken breast. The description ‘chicken’ can cover everything from wings, crushed beaks, bones and legs. None of which have any nutritional value to a dog. The same applies with any meat described unless the packaging is transparently clear.

Farm animals today are filled with antibiotics for growth and to treat the infections that occur with so many animals living together. This antibiotic and hormone treatment will sit in the animals body after death then, guess what, it gets processed into food.

If the above shocked you then buckle your belt because the most concerning facts are still to come. Meat meal is a huge ingredient, take a look at a few packs of kibble and you will certainly find it. In the United States meat meal that goes into dog food can be from any animal. This is referred to as 4D meat.

These animals are dead, diseased, dying, disabled. So the animal in that nicely packaged kibble could actually be road killed wildlife, farm animals that are diseased and full of failed medication or even euthanized unwanted domestic pets.  All are far more common than you may think.

Along with the meat a lot of kibble is bulked out with fillers which exist to stop the dog feeling hungry and cheapen the cost of manufacture. Common fillers are peanut shells, citrus pulp and wheat husks none of which hold any nutritional value, they are just conveniently inexpensive.

Then simply add colorings, flavorings and we are presented with an easy meal to put into our dogs bowl.

I’ll ask you again; do you feed your dog a popular, expensive and perfectly packaged commercial dog food?  If so maybe it’s time to look past the marketing and directly at the ingredients?

A good dog food will contain a direct and transparent pledge of natural, good quality contents such as fresh organic chicken breast or even freshly caught fish. Any food that promises high quality ingredients needs to tell you exactly what the ingredients are and not introduce a hazy food group which can leave you guessing.

Don’t fancy working through the huge list of elements in a commercial dog food? Then why not toss the packet in the bin and create your own canine culinary cuisine but that, my friends, is another topic altogether.