Food

Be honest: The main reason that many of you are reading this right now - the reason that many of you have subscribed to...

What follows is a list of foods that meet all of our selection criteria. Whether or not you have seen them before, or can get them, may depend on where you live and where you shop – although, remember, many of these products are increasingly available through online pet supply retailers.

How many of you feed canned food to your dog every day? Or maybe I should ask, how many of you feed only canned food to your dog every day? While we'd like our annual canned dog food review to be of use to owners who feed any amount of canned food to their dogs, it should be most relevant to people who rely solely on canned products to provide complete and balanced nutrition" to their dogs

When we review dog foods, we generally ask the makers of those that meet our selection criteria some questions. This year, we asked this: Do you have a complete nutrient analysis for each of your products? And if so

When WDJ first reviewed dog food, back in 1998, there was but a handful of companies making what we considered good foods. Seriously, I stretched to find five companies that had products that contained only good-quality ingredients - and more importantly, didn't contain unnamed animal fats and meat by-products. And just about every question I asked a pet food company was answered with, "I'm sorry that's proprietary information!"

The long-term goal of this column is to teach interested dog owners how to formulate safe and wholesome complete and balanced" home-prepared diets for their dogs. We will eventually cover raw and cooked diets

I will occasionally use a bowl, but increasingly my dogs' meals are experiences! One option is a kibble-dispensing ball for each dog, with a closed baby-gate between them to prevent my Cocker Spaniel from stealing the Shepherd-mix's ball when she's done with hers.

Like us, our dogs need both physical exercise and mental stimulation. As a trainer, I see many clients who focus on physical exercise, but don't always consider the benefits of mental stimulation—what I call brain-work. One easy way to add in a bit of brain-work is to get rid of your dog's food bowl and replace it with other fun feeding options. I'm always so excited to share with my clients how fun and effective it can be to ditch the dish! Yes, that's right: Throw that traditional food bowl into the trash and get going with creative feeding.

Three of the most knowledgeable and experienced advocates of well-formulated raw diets for dogs have joined forces to explain how to evaluate commercial raw diets. We described them in the inaugural installment of this column last month: Dr. Karen Becker, a leading holistic veterinarian; Steve Brown, one of the founders of this industry; and Mary Straus, one of the most dedicated canine nutrition researchers and writers. This month, we've asked them to address the state of the commercial raw diet industry, starting with diets that are labeled as complete and balanced" or "AAFCO-compliant" (formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials).Their executive summary? More and more dog owners and veterinarians are learning that well-formulated raw diets are the best food for most dogs most of the time – but the commercial raw dog food industry has problems. They are disappointed with the apparent lack of basic nutritional knowledge demonstrated by many companies – as evidenced by the formulation of their products – despite the manufacturers' good intentions.They hasten to add

Pet food manufacturers are fond of saying that their operations are highly regulated. It's true that regulations are in place that, in theory, protect consumers' dogs against poorly formulated products – but it's also true that there is little surveillance and enforcement of the regulations. Rarely (and usually only in response to complaints) do regulators test to see if a food meets the guaranteed analysis for macronutrients on its label, and even more rarely, if it meets the standards for vitamins and minerals. So it's largely up to the market to look after itself.

DVM

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