raw is the best but can be a hassle.
timberwolf is the best kibble out there. period. its made to mimick a wild wolfs diet. its almost all meat protein. its expensive. but you get what you pay for because your dog will eat less. i feed natures variety. its got freeze dried raw sprayed on it and its made from all natural fruits and veggies.
dont buy crappy food. heres some info on premium kibble (not just premium because it says it on the bag, but because of whats in the bag, and raw
http://www.pitbullforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=18048
http://www.pitbullforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=23039
Pet Food Ratings
I have been asked to rate both dry and raw foods. The dry foods will be listed in order of quality with an explanation of why it rates where it does.
At the top of my list with 4 stars is raw or BARF. It’s the most appropriate for dogs to eat, easiest for them to digest, and though there are inherent risks, the safest as well.
For dry foods the first at 3 stars would be Timberwolf:
With a very high percentage of meat based protein it is quite expensive. But since the dogs don’t eat as much of it, it really ends up being a good buy. They also, as a general rule, don’t develop a lot of the usual issues they deal with when lower quality foods are fed. Their lowest protein formula starts with 50% meat based protein, their highest has 90% meat based protein. The more meat protein the less grain they use. There is a wide variety of formulas and 3 are true allergy formulas since they don’t use any form of rice, corn, wheat, or soy.
Number two with 2 1/2 stars would be Nature’s Variety:
They use a standard kibble but when it’s cooled from the extrusion process they coat it in dehydrated raw food. They call this “Bio-coating”. It ups the meat percentage quite a bit, though pound for pound it’s still less than the Timberwolf. They have recently added an allergy formula, Venison with pumpkin seed and sweet potato. The dogs do well with it.
Number 3 with 2 1/4 stars would be Merrick:
Merrick also coats the kibble in dehydrated meat. They have added freeze dried vegetables and chunks of dehydrated meat in with the kibble. It has an added component of making gravy when warm water is added with the kibble. It takes a couple of minutes for it to thicken up but the dogs love it.
Number 4 with 1 3/4 stars would be Wellness. The biggest thing with this food that made it stand out is it is baked. It crumbles very easily, and is suppose to be easily digested. They were one of the first to come out with an alternative allergy formula with something other than lamb and rice.
Number 5 with 1 1/2 stars would be Canidae:
This is a decent food, much better than a lot of the big names out there. My main complaint is that they use sunflower oil and, eventually, most dogs will have trouble with it. It’s a good middle of the road food for a lot of people coming off grocery store or big name foods. It shows them the benefits of feeding better quality.
Recent studies show that many commercial pet foods may contribute to pet disease because of their poor nutritional value. But, by reading and understanding the labels, you can decide what is best for your pet.
Did you know commercial pet food also can contain condemned parts of animals that are not fit for humans to eat? These foods may contain moldy or spoiled food that is full of carcinogens. Some pet commercial foods can contain dirt, rocks and even wood shavings.
And, just because the label says there are no preservatives, doesn't mean that its true. If the preservatives are in the food before the pet food manufacturer receives it, they can say it has no preservatives as long as they did not add it.
Try to avoid ingredients called BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytolulene). These are both known to cause liver and kidney disease.
Also be aware of ingredients that have been listed more than once. For example, manufacturers can hide the fact that the main ingredient is sugar, if they split it by calling it high fructose and also corn syrup.
The main thing is to make sure that the first four ingredients that are listed in your pets food are meat products and not grains. Pets are carnivores and get their nutrition from meat. Most grains have little or no nutritional value and your cat or dog cannot digest them very well.
You can read more about the ingredients in dog foods by clicking here.... Click me...
Quality Foods Should Contain:
Superior sources of protein, either whole fresh meats or single source meat meal (ex. chicken meal rather than poultry meal)
A whole-meat source as one of the first two ingredients.
Whole, unprocessed grains, vegetables, and other foods. Nutrients and enzymes are more likely to be found in unprocessed foods.
Quality foods should contain a MINIMUM of the following:
Food fragments - lower-cost by-products of another food manufacturing process, such as brewer's rice and wheat bran...Manufacturers usually include at least one fragment to help lower costs. Beware any food that includes several fragments.
Meat by-products (not handled as carefully as whole meat) - any food that contains meat by-products as the MAJOR protein source indicates a low-quality product.
HIGH-QUALITY FOODS SHOULD NOT CONTAIN:
Fats or proteins named generically (ex. animal fat/poultry fat instead of beef fat/ lamb meal)
Artificial preservatives (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin)
Artificial colors.
Sweeteners (corn syrup, sucrose, ammoniated glycyrrhizin) to improve unappealing food
Propylene glycol - a toxic substance when consumed in large amounts; added to some "chewy" foods to keep them moist.
B.A.R.F.
One of the best and natural diets for your dog is B.A.R.F. (Bones and Raw Food) You can find out more on this diet by clicking here... Click me!!! (Information collected by Jane Johnson.)
Healing Our World: Weekly Comment
By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
Food Even a Dog Shouldn't Eat - Killing Our Pets with Every Meal
Each year, Americans spend $10 billion on pet food for our beloved companion animals, animals we treat like members of our families and whom we love as our closest friends. Yet 95 percent of the food fed to these treasured creatures is made up of materials that are unfit for human consumption and contain little nutritional value.
As a result, "man's best friend" has skin disorders, arthritis, obesity, heart disease and a variety of cancers. Without speech, our animal companions cannot tell us of the insidious, often life threatening ill health they experience.
A large percentage of commercial pet food is made up of meat by-products, a toxic brew containing diseased and contaminated meat from slaughterhouses, animal heads, toenails, chicken feathers, feet and beaks. It also includes dead animals picked up from the nation's roads, rancid kitchen grease and frying oil from the nation's kitchens, and millions of pounds of dead animals from the country's animal hospitals and shelters.
Meat Packing Plant (Photo courtesy Sterling Industries)
The meat industry produces a tremendous amount of waste. Half of every cow and one-third of every pig butchered is wasted. Add to that the millions of tons of dead animals each year and you have an incredible waste problem.
In the United States alone, rendering is a $2.4 billion industry with 286 rendering plants disposing of over 100 million pounds of dead animals, meat wastes and fat EVERY DAY.
A few years ago, Baltimore reporter Van Smith visited a rendering plant in his city and found that the large vats that collect and filter the animals prior to cooking contained a vast array of animals including dead dogs, cats, raccoons, opossums, deer, foxes, snakes, a baby circus elephant and the remains of a police department horse. This one rendering plant alone processes 1,824 dead animals every month. Every year this one plant turns 150 million pounds of decaying, diseased and drug filled flesh and kitchen grease into 80 million pounds of meat and bone meal, tallow and yellow grease. This nutritionally dead, often toxic material provides the base for most pet foods and is found in a vast array of products used by humans as well.
Shredding before boiling at the rendering plant (Photo courtesy Fan Separator Company)
This meat and bone meal is used to augment the feed of poultry, pigs, cattle and sheep destined for human consumption.
The deceptive product label names to watch out for that indicate the presence of this deadly soup include meat meal, meat by-products, poultry meal, poultry by-products, fish meal, fish oil, yellow grease, tallow, beef fat, chicken fat and fatty acids.
Fatty acids can be found in lipstick, inks and waxes and other rendering products such as tallow and grease go into soaps, candles, tires, many drugs and gummy candies. The health conscious consumer should avoid all these ingredients in human and pet foods.
Downed dairy cow waiting to be picked up by the rendering plant (Photo courtesy Farm Sanctuary)
Many toxic chemicals make their way into the rendered products. In addition to the unused meat from the livestock slaughtering process, dead, dying, diseased and disabled animals are also included. These animals are known as "4D meat" in the trade. Along with the meat comes disease, antibiotics and other drugs used during the animals' lives, pesticides, cattle ID tags and surgical needles.
Unsold supermarket meats, still in their plastic and Styrofoam wrappings, go into the mix as well as the plastic bags they are delivered in.
The millions of dead dogs and cats from veterinarians and animals shelters go into the rendering pots, including their flea collars containing toxic pesticides, ID tags and a variety of powerful drugs.
The city of Los Angeles sends 200 tons of euthanized cats and dogs to West Coast Rendering plant every month. This is just from the city's animal shelters and does not include animals from private veterinarians.
Euthanized dogs (Photo by Barbara Ward)
A common drug found in the rendering brew is phenobarbital, commonly used to euthanize sick animals. The American Journal of Veterinary Research did a study in 1985 that showed there was virtually no degradation of this drug during the typical rendering process and that measurable quantities of it remain present in the rendered material used for pet foods and for feeding cattle destined for human consumption.
The grains in pet food bear little resemblance to the nutrient rich cereals we assume are present. Pet food grain consists of the leftovers after the grain has been processed for humans. It also contains moldy grain that has been declared unfit for human consumption. Some of the mold is toxic and potentially deadly.
The preservatives added to pet foods, and human foods, are highly toxic. Sodium nitrite, a coloring agent and preservative, ethoxyquin, an insecticide, BHA and BHT have all been linked to cancer. Your dog could be consuming as much as 26 pounds of preservatives each year if it is fed these foods.
The state of ill health that these non-foods generate is responsible for a host of health problems and can cause a hypersensitivity to flea and insect bites. Many flea allergies would go away in animals if their diets were changed.
8,000 gallon fat boiler ((Photo courtesy National Bi-Products)
The pet food industry is unregulated by government bodies. An organization called the Association of American Feed Control Officials sets the standards. Its membership includes a few state agency representatives, but it is mostly run by commercial pet food industry workers.
Don't be fooled by pet food sold at a veterinarian's office. Depending upon the brand, this food can contain most of the same ingredients as commercial pet foods sold in supermarkets. The corporations that own these brands are simply very clever with their advertisement and product placements and begin courting vets during their training with free food, lectures and even clothing.
Fortunately, there are alternatives and some are presented below, but you will need to pay more. Rather than paying 15 cents a pound for toxic commercial pet food, you may need to spend a dollar a pound. But the thousands of dollars you could save in treating your pet's food-caused illnesses could more than make this up.
As always, larger issues loom. We must cast off the comfortable assumptions we have lived with all our lives, discover the truth and act on it. Change your pet's food today. And change your own, while you are at it!
And don't forget the water - if you wouldn't drink tap water, why are you giving it to your pet?
I hear a voice,
the cry of a wounded animal,
Someone shoots an arrow at the moon;
A small bird has fallen from the nest.
People must be awakened,
Witness must be given,
So that life can be guarded.
-- W.S. Rendra
hope this helps. its sad that you cant even get correct info from vets these days on food. the commercial companies like science diet give them free food and all kinds of stuff, and im sure its hard to turn down for the vets, they ARE a business. you dont HAVE to go 100 percent raw. you can feed a quality kibble too.
heres links to the top food makers sites,,
http://timberwolforganics.com/
WHY TIMBERWOLF ORGANICS WAS CREATED
With all of the hundreds of dog foods on the market some of you must be wondering, "Why make another dog food?" That is a fair question, at least before examining it in further detail. Most breeders, trainers, kennel operators and even the average pet owner would admit to going from one dog food to another, trying this diet and then that diet, never completely happy with any of them. One food may give good results for a while but then the condition of the dogs fade to mediocrity or worse after only several months. Also, pets fed most "natural" foods produce large stool volume, do not maintain weight, have poor coat quality, yet have a shiny coat and usually display less allergy symptoms. Dogs fed well known commercial super premium foods seem to produce good coat growth, maintain weight, produce little stool volume etc., and yet have a little less shine to their coats. However, they seem to display more dermatologic distress and the foods have less expensive ingredients and are not naturally preserved. Below, we shall try to examine why this may be.
If one were to talk to one hundred people and ask them what is the best way to make a dog food they will probably get one hundred different answers. My own experience with selling and using dog food showed me that certain combinations seemed to work better than others. For example when I first started in this business I started off selling a well known natural dog food that uses millet as it's staple grain. I liked the idea of using multiple grains versus one or two and the use of flax and fish for the omega 3s. However, many complaints were lodged of dogs losing weight on this food. Many quickly realized that by putting their dogs on this companies' puppy food they looked much better.
I also noticed that years ago more breeders used the original formula of a dog food with a hard to pronounce name (at least until they were bought out by a large multinational company) for their puppies than anything else. There were some rumors of it causing a red tinge to the coat, but a lot of breeders swore by it. It was one of the first companies to market a super premium pet food and included high levels of chicken by-product meal and fish meal in its formula. The breeders then switched back to whatever food they liked because they thought it was too high in protein, but they swore by it for their puppies.
I was then interested in a company and its theories that made carnivore specific pet foods in a granular form made with a high amount of animal based protein that receives a lot of praise from a loyal customer base. But, here again they used corn (not that there is anything wrong with corn but a lot of consumers do not like it) and their prices were about two dollars per pound, out of range for most consumers.
I also raw fed and had my butcher mix beef, heart, thymus, pancreas, tripe, bone dust and liver. I would mix this with oatmeal, kelp, wheat germ, herbs, romaine and red leaf lettuce, blackberries and such. I had good results with this but wanted to create a formula as close to this ideal as possible but without the problems (parasites, salmonella, missing vitamins or minerals etc).
The common denominator was that foods that contained a lot of animal based protein, or a performance or puppy versions of some dog foods seemed to get better results than maintenance or "lite" versions, or most commercial grain based foods.
Let us investigate this further. Most commercial dog foods, because of cost considerations are made predominately from wheat flour, corn meal or white rice. Another reason for this is that refined flours are high in starch. In the extrusion process, the starches are gelatinized so that they may be digested. The greater the gelatinization the greater the digestibility. All things being equal the more starch the greater the overall digestibility of the kibble. As with most things in this world, that depends. This only applies to the grains or flours in a formula. We have made our food a little differently. We use high levels of a high quality low ash chicken meal that is already very digestible as are the fats and oils. A high level of starch in a formula does bind the kibble together nicely, but contributes little in the way of nutrition.
With that said, what refined flours contribute to a formula nutritionally are mostly just carbohydrates. They are lacking in vitamins and minerals, amino acids and essential fatty acids. Whole grains have many times the vitamins and minerals but are still not as concentrated as animal based foods. An herbivore, with its multiple compartment stomach specially designed to extract nutrients from plant matter, eats grasses, grains and seeds and the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are then concentrated in its flesh and organs.
Chicken meal, fish meal, lamb meal etc., are high in amino acids, essential fatty acids, calcium, potassium, magnesium, manganese and vitamins. In fact, we add no extra calcium to our formulas as our ingredients supply enough necessary. Fats and oils supply essential fatty acids as well as some vitamins. Refined flours supply only carbohydrates.
We use only a small amount of grains and we use only whole grains which include the germ and bran where the vitamins/minerals are most concentrated and are run twice through a high speed hammer mill right before going into the extruder for freshness.
Some other "natural" foods use whole grains as well and spend a lot to advertise that fact. The problem is that their formulas are comprised of a high percentage of grains just as most commercial foods have a high percentage of flours. However, the WHOLE grains contain a high level of fiber and other components that are hard to digest, thereby causing large stool volume, making it hard for dogs to maintain weight, making the dogs coat growth mediocre and other problems. We still feel that by using whole grains we are providing salubrious benefits to your pet, yet because they comprise a small percentage of the total formula, you avoid the above mentioned problems as well.
Not only must there be enough vitamins and minerals, but the amount of balanced nutrients must be correct. For example, the higher the level of omega 6 essential fatty acids, the higher the level of vitamin E. The higher the fat, the higher the protein. Copper and manganese, copper and zinc, zinc and magnesium, zinc and vitamin E, as well as other nutrients, must all be present in the correct ratios.
The other part of the equation is the packaging, the use of quality expensive ingredients and/or probiotics and digestive enzymes, and the use herbs, seeds and unrefined oils.
There are a number of unique foods on the market which use high levels of animal based protein or use foil barrier packaging, or have innovative ingredients such as fruits, vegetables, probiotics or seeds, but which also seem to be lacking in some manner. No one has brought everything together. Why not combine all of the best properties and eliminate the weaknesses? Why not make a formula that was carnivore specific with high levels of animal based amino acids but also include multiple grains, fruits, vegetables, seeds and herbs? Why not have probiotics and barrier bags but eliminate corn, soy and refined flours? Why not make a food with expensive high quality ingredients but that goes against the grain (no pun intended) of the industry in the way it is made? Finally, why not make a formula with all of these traits included but make it concentrated and nutrient dense so that you feed less?
We feel that with the Timberwolf Organics formulas, that has been accomplished.
Think of the Timberwolf Organics foods as carnivore specific ultra concentrated performance formulas but with herbs, seaweeds, seeds, multiple grains and gourmet unrefined oils and packaged in barrier bags.
Sincerely,
Mark Heyward
Some of you have probably heard numerous claims about pet foods using "human grade", "antibiotic and hormone free" "meat based" etc. and do not know what to believe anymore. Below I will try to address some of the claims that are really half true and that could be construed as being misleading.
First let us say that federal labeling law precludes pet food manufacturers from including "misleading" statements on their bag. For example: Some say that they use only antibiotic and hormone free chicken, lamb etc. That is not exactly true. It is against federal law for chicken to be labeled as hormone free. That's because growers may not use hormones on chickens. To label your chicken as hormone free would imply that your chickens are the only ones that are hormone free when in fact they all are! What happens with other animals used for human consumption is that they must test free of hormones, antibiotics or pesticides before slaughter. It usually takes three to five days to clear their systems of any chemicals. Those animals that are earmarked for slaughter are kept free of chemicals for several days and then butchered. When I think of "antibiotic and hormone free" I think of an animal that has been raised chemical free, not just for a few days. A play on words perhaps but borderlines on fraud. Ask if it is Certified Organic, "pasture grazed only" or imported from a country that restricts the use of chemicals if that is what you want. Of course you will pay a lot more.
Another one is: "Our meat comes from USDA inspected plants".
All slaughter houses that process for human consumption must be USDA inspected.
One natural dog food company claims: "Digest is the full guts including the manure".
Not true. It is made from whatever it is named for (chicken digest, liver digest etc.) and is digested by enzymatic activity and then dried. We do not use digest in our formulas but there is nothing wrong with it.
A natural food supplement maker that lists molasses as the second ingredient claims: "We use molasses because it is a nutrient not a sugar.
Molasses contains many nutrients and is technically not a sugar but it contains 60% sugars by weight and 20% water. Maybe it is not thought of as a sugar in Fufu Land but most of the world uses it as a sweetener. Dogs love sugar and it’s added mostly for palatability. If sugar must be used to help preserve a product, then molasses would of course be better than sucrose or dextrose, but only if it’s necessary.
The same supplement maker also claims: "Our product contains natural enzymes and probiotics that are naturally present in food".
Even if that were true, because you are only adding 1 teaspoon of supplement, it would only contain enough enzymes to assist in digesting that one teaspoon. If you ask them what the enzyme levels are they will not tell you. That is because they are so low they cannot be measured. If you want to replace the enzymes lost in the food due to processing you must add enough to assist in digesting the full amount of food you are feeding. However, this is expensive to do.
My favorite is "Made with only 100% human grade ingredients."
One quick way to determine if this is not true (other than cost) is if the food contains any "meals". Guess what? There is no such thing as human grade chicken meal or lamb meal. I don’t know of any restaurant where you can say, "Waiter, may I have some beef meal to go with my baked potato?" Or "May I have my chicken meal on a bun please?" The meat starts out as human grade because remember it’s from an inspected plant, but does not receive an inspection sticker because it’s not intended for human consumption so cannot be labeled as human grade. There are different grades (classifications) of meals however and are graded (classified) by protein content, ash content and price. Some are of very high quality. For example, our lamb meal is imported from New Zealand and is a special low ash high protein (8% ash, 70% protein) lamb meal that we have classified and most of the bone is filtered out (all lamb, chicken, beef meals contain a lot of bone because it’s made from what is left over from cutting away steaks or boneless chicken breast for example). It’s the most expensive and probably the best lamb meal in the country as it’s made from the organs and contains a lot of blood, which gives it a very complete amino acid profile. Is it human grade? Come on class, I'm listening? Most lamb meals are high in ash and are low (50%) in protein. We searched six different suppliers before finding the current suppliers for chicken meal and for lamb meal.
So you say "Fine. What about dog foods that list meat?"
Good question! Oh what clever readers you are! First, only a handful of mills have the equipment to add meat. Some companies may list meat but actually use meal. Of those that actually can add meat it’s not quite what you would expect. It’s usually mechanically de boned and mixed with water to make a slurry that is pumped into the extruder. The most you can use in a formula is limited to about 30% but can be as little as 3%. What starts out as chicken with 78% moisture is now perhaps 90% moisture cooked down to 10%. That 30% you started out with is now about 3.3% or less dry matter. To get the protein up you must now add corn gluten meal or another protein source. Corn gluten meal is a good protein source, it’s high in the sulfur containing amino acids, but a lot of people (myself included) prefer an animal based protein which means you must add animal meals which means it is not 100% human grade.
"What about the other ingredients?" you ask.
The brown rice I get in looks just like the brown rice on your supermarket shelf, it’s clean and looks indistinguishable. The only difference is that it doesn’t have an FDA tag on it. Our oats are of exceptional quality. Higher in linoleic and alpha linoleic acid than locally grown oats because of the cold (probably grown organically as well) and they’re the same oats that are supplied to food processors. Growers don’t have separate fields for dogs and people. The point I’m trying to make is that I have trouble believing that a company would pay five times as much for the same ingredient just to get that FDA sticker. Let me give you an example: I buy a chicken fat from a company that supplies soup manufacturers etc. If I buy a tanker of fat it doesn’t have to have an FDA tag and my price is $.11 per pound. If I buy less it must have an FDA tag and the price goes to $.58 per pound. Same product. That chicken fat is apparently human grade but I cannot call it that. A lot of my ingredients are human grade, some even certified organic but at the end of the day I cannot make the claim 100% human grade because it ‘s not, but neither can any other company (unless maybe they are charging $2 - $5 per pound).
Another example is that if a truck load (40,000 lbs) of frozen whole broilers were purchased for $.50 per pound, and if a custom chicken meal were produced, it would be exorbitant in cost. Chicken meal is made from chicken meat (usually mechanically de boned) that is put into a vat and is brought to the proper temperature and pH and then enzymes are added. The meat is broken down into a liquid and either spray dried or roller dried into a fine powder. Now go back to the truck load of chickens at $.50 per pound. It takes several pounds of chickens to make one pound of chicken meal. So let us say 7 pounds times .50 equals $3.50 plus the rendering charge. Let us assume $4.00 per pound okay? I am using about 50% chicken meal so $4.00/2 is $2.00+ per pound of dog food my cost. Just for ingredients. Not including herbs, oils, probiotics etc. Does any of this make sense to some of you?
One natural dog food company uses poultry meal but lists on their ingredient label chicken meal, turkey meal. AAFCO allows listing animal meals by particular animal if you know what animal was used in making it. If the meal is made from more than one animal or a composite you may list all the animals used in making it. What they mean however is "chicken/turkey" meal for poultry or if you know the exact percentages than you may list them where they should appear in order of weight on the label but not chicken meal, turkey meal as the first two ingredients. Chicken meal and turkey meal gives the impression that the food is meat based when in fact it is not.
One question you can ask a dog food company to determine if it’s meat based or grain based is "what percentage of your formula is animal meals?" or "what’s the percentage of protein that is animal based?" or "how many pounds of animal meals are used per ton of your formula?" They probably will not tell you or say, "That is proprietary." We use 48 to 52% chicken, lamb or fish meals by weight or 900 to 1100 pounds per ton! Put another way 91% of our protein is animal based. That is meal not meat. If someone tells you they use 1000 pounds of meat per ton that is equal to only 200 pounds of chicken meal or ten percent. Another way is to look at the calcium content. Chicken, lamb and meat meals are usually 4 - 5% calcium (Special "classified" low ash meals with lower levels of calcium can be used but are up to 3 times as expensive), so if a company claims to be using 50% animal meals by weight and their calcium is only 1.2% then you know something
somewhere does not add up. Or maybe they are using "new" math. The only reason we disclose this is that it’s VERY expensive and not many other companies will do this and those that do will have to raise their prices. Of course someone may tell you they use a high amount but if so the kibble should be very dark. Our Lamb, Barley and Apples kibble is almost black.
Now that you have read this page, at least you'll know what is in the food. If I decide to put in goat's eyes, tongue of wren and pickled fish pan fried in roasted sesame oil you'll know it. None of my formulas contain 4D animals, simple (read white) carbohydrates, dextrose or other sugars for palatability enhancement, soy, BHT, BHA or Ethoxyquin. We personally have sold and used a lot of specialty and super premium foods and have seen more positive results and heard more positive feedback with this food than any other. I invite you to go to testimonials page and read some of the testimonials. I hope I have answered some of your questions, but don't take my word. Call the FDA or AAFCO or some feed ingredient suppliers and see what they say.
Sincerely,
Mark Heyward
natures variety
How does Nature's Variety put
raw food benefits into a kibble?
* Freeze Dried Meats
* Enzymes
* Probiotics
* Amino Acids
* Essential Fatty Acids
Nature’s Variety recommends a high level of meat protein in a pet’s diet – including fresh meat such as Nature’s Variety Prairie Brand Raw Complete Diets. But what about kibble? Now, we’ve pioneered a unique and revolutionary concept called Bio-Coating.
All Nature’s Variety Prairie Brand Kibble Diets are now coated with our freeze dried diets. Each kibble is coated with a special freeze dried raw food blend which provides microbials necessary for optimum nutrient absorption. This freeze dried food is made available in its natural, nutritious state – ready to release its health enhancing benefits when consumed by your pet. For more information on this revolutionary kibble, visit our canine and feline diet pages
Nature Does It Best!
Raw Food Benefits
Heat processing, which is standard in the pet food industry, changes or destroys many important nutrients. In fact, some nutrients now recognized as essential have only been identified in the last few years. Doesn’t it make sense to stay as close to food’s natural state as possible?
Many pet owners have been convinced that so-called corrective diets (a special regimen for allergy, digestive troubles, obesity, etc.) are the best way to improve health problems. They may help certain symptoms simply by providing a change, but may not treat underlying causes. By feeding your pet a diet rich in raw foods, you’re letting nature provide the best - naturally balanced - nutrition.
Some of the Benefits of Raw Foods
# minerals better assimilated
# vitamins more bioavailable
# beneficial antioxidants present
# amino acids more bioavailable
# natural digestive enzymes still present
# probiotics spared
# amino acids such as taurine are not destroyed
# Some of the Negative Effects of Heat Processing loss of up to 100% of certain vitamins
# loss of up to 60% of certain amino acids
# enzymes destroyed
# probiotics destroyed
# loss of up to 10% of certain fatty acids
# fats can become toxic or rancid
# oxidation of cholesterol
Raw Frozen Diets
Feed your pet the way nature intended.
Organic Chicken
Chicken+Turkey
Beef
Lamb
Venison
Rabbit
Nature's Variety Raw Frozen Diets are a convenient, complete, and natural way to feed your pet the way nature intended. Wholesome raw meat provides the greatest source for bio-available nutrients, including unaltered proteins, enzymes, and amino acids. Made in a USDA inspected processing plant, these natural diets are 95% meat and 5% fruits and vegetables. Raw Frozen Diets are easy to feed! Diets are available in convenient 8 oz patties and 1 oz medallions.
Natural, Wholesome Ingredients
Each diet is 95% meat, organs, and bones, from USDA inspected plants. Together, these quality meats, organs, and bones are rich in Vitamins A, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, C, D, E, K, Biotin; Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, protein, fats, zinc, manganese, selenium, iron, calcium, phosphorus, sulphur, copper, and the essential amino acids. Also, 5% of each Nature’s Variety Raw Diet contains human edible fruits, vegetables, and cold processed Norwegian Virgin Salmon Oil. All diets contain over 50 trace minerals from montmorillonite clay, which also sequesters toxins.
Pet owners have reported the benefits of better skin and coats, better weight control, fewer allergy symptoms, less backyard clean-up and better overall health due to the feeding of our wholesome and balanced diets.
Raw Diets are also available in Freeze Dried form for convenience in handling. Find out more about Freeze Dried Diets.
Nature Does It Best!
Heat processing, which is standard in the pet food industry, changes or destroys many important nutrients. Doesn’t it make sense to stay as close to food’s natural state as possible?
Many pet owners have been convinced that so-called corrective diets (a special regimen for allergy, digestive troubles, obesity, etc.) are the best way to improve health problems. They may help certain symptoms simply by providing a change, but may not be treating the underlying causes. By feeding your pet a diet rich in raw or fresh foods, you’re letting nature provide the best, naturally balanced nutrition.
Nature's Variety believes many commercially available diets targeted at life stages or special needs (e.g., puppy, senior, large breed, weight control) are in effect formulation corrections designed to overcome nutritional deficiencies inherent in largely grain based diets. These nutritional deficiencies arise from least-cost manufacturing practices that utilize large amounts of low cost grain by-products such as glutens. Glutens are generally included in kibble diets as a low cost option to increase the protein content of the food without adding more meat. For this reason Nature's Variety offers a nutritionally dense kibble formula that is appropriate for all life stages based on high meat protein content and whole grains.
Rotation
Nature's Variety Prairie Brand Dry Kibble Diets are designed to be rotated freely for variety and optimal nutrition. A growing body of scientific research recommends feeding variety, including fresh food. To rotate Nature's Variety Dry Kibble Diets, just change proteins each time (or every other time) a new product is purchased from your store. To learn more about rotation, click here.
Natural, Wholesome Ingredients
Meat protein is the first ingredient in each formula. Meat proteins make up over 40% of the ingredients in each production batch of Nature’s Variety. Most dry kibble diets are 25 to 30% meat or meat and bone products with some formulations even containing less than 10% or even no meat products. Nature's Variety Dry Kibble Diets are formulated to meet the needs of all life stages.
The grains present in these diets are only whole grains; never inferior grain fractions. All Nature's Variety products are naturally preserved with vitamins and herbal extracts, and sealed in oxygen limiting packaging.
Nature's Variety Dry Kibble provides over 50 trace minerals with a colloidal silicate called montmorillonite. Pet owners report that feeding Nature's Variety diets containing wholesome ingredients have helped produce better skin and coats, optimum weight control, and overall better health.
hope this helps.