Do you feel as big as a walrus?

Is your New Year's Resolution to lose weight? Well, if he can do it, so can you!



YOU CAN DO IT!

Dog Food Month--What's In that Bag?

I want to feed my dog the healthiest diet possible. But knowing what is best for Kelly isn't always easy. I mean, perhaps homemade food, or other options, are healthiest (we'll explore this in later posts) but is commercial kibble really BAD? And what exactly is in that food?

Most commercial dog foods include a form of animal protein (such as meat or chicken), vegetable protein (such as corn), cereal and grains, and fat. Among the labels I read, I found Chicken, Lamb, Beef, Liver, Potatoes, Carrots, Brown Rice, Dehydrated Eggs, Corn, Corn Syrup, Wheat Flour, Wheat Bran, and Whey. But...there are some other ingredients that don't sound quite as familiar.

Here, from the (AAFCO) Association of American Feed Control Officials are definitions of some other common dog food ingredients:

* Animal Digest-- material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and undecomposed animal tissue.

* Chicken Meal –chicken which has been ground or otherwise reduced in particle size.

* Corn Gluten - that part of the commercial shelled corn that remains after the extraction of the larger portion of the starch, gluten, and term by the processes employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup.

* Meat By-Products - the non rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low-temperature fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hooves.

* Lamb Bone Meal - (steamed) dried and ground product sterilized by undecomposed bones with steam under pressure. Grease, gelatin and meat fiber may or may not be removed.

* Soybean Hulls- consist primarily of the outer covering of the soybean.

So, what did I learn by investigating dog food labels?

1. To select a higher quality dog food, look for whole chicken or other lean protein source listed first in the ingredients. (The first product is the largest amount.)

2. Choose food that is low in fat.

3. Make sure the food is certified by the AAFCO.

4. Know what your dog is allergic to and read the labels to make sure that product isn't included.

What about you? Do you feed your dog commercial kibble? Is convenience the main factor in choosing this type of food? Tell us what you think.

* Join us FRIDAY as we explore Natural and organic dog food.
* Free dog food and treats contest at the end of the month. To enter contest, just leave a comment or tweet about these posts.

Healthy New You!

One of my goals this new year is to focus more on healthier, whole foods. Less processed stuff. To know what I'm putting in my body. And that goes for feeding my dog too. There are many advocates supporting making your own dog food. I've read about raw diets. But for me, I think I'll continue to buy the best, healthiest commercial pet food I can afford. And then, supplement with other healthy foods. And I will keep researching and keep an open mind. Here are some of the foods I already feed Kelly, on occasion:
Rice
Green beans
Baby Carrots
Cheese (maybe this is not in the "healthy" category, but I use low-fat cheese in small amounts as rare treats, and she loves it.)

As I've been reading about this topic, I was surprised to learn about some other fruits, vegetables and grains that are considered healthy for dogs. Some might even help prevent cancer. In Animal Wellness magazine I read about a beautiful Golden, Shawnee, 14 years old, who was thriving on whole food raw and cooked diet. Here are some other foods that are healthy for your pet:
Apples-- vitamin C and antioxidants.
Blueberries-- contain resveratrol, a natural compound with anti-cancer properties
Pumpkin-- helpful to the digestive tract
Chickpea flour--potassium, iron, folate, copper and magnesium