Working a brick and mortar store and cannot believe how confused the marketing departments of major dog food companies have made a good number of customers who come in. Getting your dog on a good food is not based on TV ads, Coupons, Fancy packaging or slogans, or even price. Just learn how to read the bag. You do it for yourself and kids - do it for your pet! You'll feel better and so will your dog or cat.
Like us (Or how we are supposed to do) - our pets eat for energy. Energy to run, to wag, play, wrestle, and most importantly - this is where the Rocket Science comes in so don't let me lose you - break down food intake into amino acids that are utilized at the cellular level to make sure there is enough energy to keep your dog healthy. Our pets use the energy from proteins and fats in their foods to make sure that their blood, muscle, bones, brains, organs, and skin & coat stay healthy after they have broken down the food into the essential amino acids, glucose, minerals, and enzymes to make sure the cells in their bodies work efficiently.
Whoa - big words and pocket protector rocket science - this is for the regular person not the one who has a degree in pet nutrition (or thinks has) so lets try to keep this simple - YOUR PET EATS FOR ENERGY!!!
1. energy - most pet foods of any value will express on the bag near the feeding requirements what the calories/cup are for that particular food. It is what tells you the concentration of energy and how many cups per day you should feed your animal. This is what you can use to figure how much per day your animal will cost to feed. As a general rule - as your calories go up - like more protein and fat in the grain free foods - you will pay more per pound and thus more for the bag. But you feed less so it almost evens out!
Let us do some math! - Using the calorie requirement table posted from the Animal Medical Center of Chicago found online a 50 lb. dog - Neutered Adult - healthy and active would need 1166 calories/day.
Food # 1 - 468 cal/cup 2.49 cups/day 0.34 Cost/Cup 0.85 Cost/day Omega 6 = 3.7 %
Food # 2 - 379 cal/cup 3.08 cups/day 0.27 Cost/Cup 0.83 Cost/day Omega 6 = 2.1 %
Food # 3 - 442 cal/cup 2.64 cups/day 0.48 Cost/Cup 1.27 Cost/day Omega 6 = 3.5%
Food # 4 - 336 cal/cup 3.47 cups/day 0.30 Cost/Cup 1.04 Cost/day Omega 6 = 2.2 %
The retails on these foods are approximately - 1. $47.97, 2. $42.24, 3. $58.00, and 4. $42.54 for big bags.
What this tells us is that retail cost must be compared to daily cost to feed by getting an idea of how many cups per day to feed as compared to cost of the cups and price and size of the bag. It also tells us that a higher price food does not mean better performance - compare 1 to 3. Food 1 is a 35 lb. bag and food 4 is a 35 lb. bag and though food 1 is $ 5.43 more it cost .19 cents less per day to feed and runs circles around it in terms of skin & coat performance.
The numbers for this chart have been taken from company websites and bags and comparison online and local shopping.
2. Essential Fatty Acids - Omega 6 and Omega 3. "Essential" simply means that your animal has to get these from food intake. They cannot make these on their own internally so they need to get them from outside - like from their food! Without complicating the issue with advanced science terms I explain it to people this way:
- OMEGA 6 (LINOLEIC ACID) IS YOUR SKIN & COAT fatty acid. It is the outside - the skin, moisture, hair gloss, shedding, hair growth, etc. that you can see in your pet. The higher the number the better the skin and coat! (There has been some argument against too high levels but not in any pet food you can buy)
Where you get it - several ingredients but Primarily From the TYPE OF FAT in the food.
Most Common in Pet Foods:
1. Lowest levels - Animal Fat - Lard - Beef Tallow - you get the point - *10% Linoleic Acid (Omega 6)
This is what you find in t most less expensive foods because it's cheap - Generally under 2% in the foods.
2. Good levels - Chicken or Poultry Fat - double up - *18 to 23 % Linoleic Acid (Omega 6) You find this in your better foods along with higher amounts of fat so you would have mostly around 2.5 % - Very Good!
3. Best levels - Seed Oils like Sunflower or Safflower which have *65.7 and *74.62 % Linoleic Acid respectively. (Another common fat is Canola Oil which does not make the cut as a seed oil at *21% Linoleic Acid)
MINIMUM LEVELS ON YOUR FOOD I AM CONVINCED - AT LEAST 2%! OVER 3.5% WOW!
- OMEGA 3 (LINOLENIC ACID) - WORKS FROM THE INSIDE! It helps reduce inflammation, cardiac problems, cancer, arthritis, auto immune disease, and decreases cholesterol. It also helps keep eyes healthy.
It is said you cannot get to much omega 3 so this is why it is readily available off the shelf with products like Salmon Oil.
Where do you get it - Flax seed, pumpkin seed, soybean oil (*51 % Omega 6 too), evening primrose oil, canola oil, and of course Fish Oil.
ALL FOODS HAVE BOTH OMEGA 6 AND OMEGA 3 ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS - IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THEY BE IN A GOOD RATIO! There have been studies showing acceptable levels from 3:1 up to 10:1 but I have seen it out side these parameters. The going rate that seems to be present in most of the high performing foods and some have argued as ideal range from 5:1 to 7:1 -Omega 6:Omega 3.
Types of Fats and Calories per cup - Two of my most important factors when deciding what is a good value. There are many more as we dive into ingredients, allergies, high performance, raw, freeze dried, cans, etc. But we'll tackle those as we go along. With over 10 years in the pet food industry - THAT'S HOW I SEE IT!
Thanks for listening - Pet Food Peddler
