Dog Food Rating Tool – Explained
July 28th, 2010
First of all, I’m happy to report that after getting a big, fat F from the K9Cuisine.com Dog Food Rating Tool for the food I’ve been feeding my dogs for years … I found a new food, made by the same company, that earns an A+. I even had Anthony Holloway (CEO of K9Cuisine.com) double-check my Dog Food Rating Tool test and results, just to be sure.
I ended up going with a grain-free salmon & sweet potato formula that includes vegetables, probiotics, and all kinds of other nifty things. My big dog Ginko (a lab + greyhound mix) LOVES sweet potatoes, as noted in this recent video taste test of a frozen dessert for dogs.
Choosing a Dog Food
The process of picking a new dog food raised some questions for me and for local dog food advisers I asked. For example, the lovely man who runs the feed store in the nearest town to my rural community gave me a big lecture about bias in the pet food marketplace.
He talked about meeting the people behind certain foods, including the PhD nutritionist types. He balked profusely when I told him one reason I wanted to switch was because of the corn gluten in the food I’d been feeding. To him, that’s not a big deal. He pointed out that he has something like 600 families who feed their dogs what I’d been feeding, and that all the dogs do great. (Still … he was really happy to hear the new food he helped me pick scored an A+.)
It is really hard to know up from down sometimes, when everyone has such different opinions on the matter of what to feed our canine pals.
So, if I have questions about how the Dog Food Rating Tool works, I figured you probably do too.
I asked Anthony to answer a few questions about how the Dog Food Rating Tool was developed and what rules underlie the programming that generates our dog food grades. Here are his answers.
Dog Food Rating Tool Q&A
Q: Within the rating tool algorithm, how are key ingredients ranked or weighted? Do proteins matter more than carbs, for example?
A: In general the algorithm is more about subtraction than addition. What I mean by that is we are more concerned with what we do not want in the food than we are about formulating the perfect food. There is heavy bias against ingredients we feel should not be in dog food. We are also looking for foods that have high meat content. While some grains are OK we do not want to see the ingredients too heavy on the grain side.
We start with a 100 point score and start subtracting points for bad ingredients, by-products, non-named proteins, non-specified meals, grain splitting, low meat content, non-desirable grains, and glutens. There are also some bonus items that add to the score. The bonus items are relatively minor.
Q: Upon what did you base the tool’s grades? For example, did you look at “best practices” in the pet food options and use that as the measuring stick for good, better, best?
A: As we researched optimum characteristics of “premium dog food,” we found that while there is a ton of great information out there much of it is conflicting- drawing varying conclusions.
The biggest problem I found was that while there is a lot of information out there, there was nothing offering specific direction for taking action. Our goal was to bring all the components together in one place and present it in way that was easy to understand. We strive to provide tangible information to be used in making buying decisions.
In our research, we also found that many ingredients in pet food were included simply as a filler, to lower the manufacturing cost. We categorized and prioritized these negative components and assigned them points. Foods containing these ingredients are penalized as we subtract for these negative ingredients.
Q: Which “good” ingredients bump grades/scores up?
Ingredients that improve the food’s rating score include fruits, vegetables, brown rice, millet, oats, barley, rye, glucosamine, chemical free, hormone free, and probiotics. The single biggest boost for food scores is derived from higher quantity and quality of meat ingredients.
Q: Which “bad” ingredients sink grades/scores down?
A: The bad ingredients have a more substantial effect on the score. They include corn, wheat, soy, glutens, by-products, non-specified proteins, non-specified meals, non-specified fats, artificial colors, sweaters, salt, chemical preservatives.
Q: Which ingredients give a food “extra credit”?
A: This is pretty much the same as the ingredients that bump the score up. The ingredients I would consider a bonus are chemical free, hormone free, fruits, vegetables, glucosamine, fish oils, & probiotics.
Q: Is this set up as a pass/fail system? Or are B and C grades possible with the tool?
(I only ask because my old food got an F and the new food got an A+, so I’m just wondering if anything in-between is possible.)
A: The algorithm is not pass/fail. It is possible to get any grade. I think what you are seeing in your own foods is the heavy bias against certain negative ingredients. For example it is difficult for a food to get a decent grade if it contains glutens. It is possible for a food to have a major negative and still get a passing grade but it would have to be almost perfect in every other category. That is generally not the case. In fact foods that fail generally have multiple undesirable aspects.
Q: What grade do you considering passing?
A: At K9 Cuisine we only offer foods that get a B or better. A food that gets a C is considered an average. If budget is a consideration a C rated food would be acceptable. However, there are many foods that are very affordable and get a B grade or better.
Q: If someone cannot afford an organic or super-premium food, are there 1-2 ingredients you’d recommend they avoid in other less expensive brands?
A: I would always avoid by-products and glutens. Next I would avoid corn, wheat and soy.
It is possible to feed a very good food and not break the budget. It takes a bit of work but it is possible. Many times foods that fail are also very expensive so there is not always a correlation between cost and quality.
Q: Some people are a bit confused over the concept of meal-based ingredients? Can you explain that? Are all meals “bad”?
A: I believe certain meals are an excellent source of concentrated meat protein. However they must be named meals. For example poultry meal is bad and chicken meal is good. There is a recurring theme here. We are trying to avoid by-products in dog food. When an ingredient uses a non-specified generic ingredient like “poultry” meal that meal contains by-products. When a food uses a specified ingredient like chicken meal the meal is made from the meat of the chicken. There is a slight exception. Fish meals are generic and they do not specify the type of fish.
Tags: dog food, Dog Food Dish Blog, dog food ingredients, dog food rating tool, K9Cuisine.com, online tool, premium dog food, premium ingredients
Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition | 1 Comment »
July 7th, 2010
K9Cuisine.com, the sponsor of this and other blogs, developed an online Dog Food Rating Tool. Have you taken the test yet? It’s VERY enlightening.
Be sure to have your dog food label right in front of you before you start because the tool asks some detailed questions that can only be found on the dog food label.
K9Cuisine Dog Food Rating Tool
You’ll find a total of 31 questions. Below each one is a little info box that explains why that particular question is important, when it comes to evaluating the ingredients of your dog’s food.
Please go take the test when you have time and report back your results.
My Own Failing Grade
I’m mortified to tell you that the dog food I feed my two canine pals scored an F.
Yep, an F.
Truth be told, it kind of hurt my feelings because I like to think I’m a pretty savvy consumer and a well-informed guide in this maze that is the world of dog food. The first ingredient is chicken, real chicken, and the grains (which my dogs have no issues with) are rice and oatmeal. Good, yes?
BUT, what did the food in, it seems, are the inclusion of these icky things such as:
- Corn gluten meal
- Chicken & fish meal
- Flaxseed, as just seed, not flax oil or ground flax
- Salt
What this Dog Food Rating Tool taught me is that just a handful of less-than-ideal ingredients can sink a food’s quality.
I still think an F is pretty harsh since only 5 of the 40 or so ingredients come from the “bad” category. That’s an 87.5%, which in my life has always been a solid B, not an F.
So, the other lesson I learned from this Dog Food Rating Tool is that what’s missing from the ingredient list is just as important as what’s there. Perhaps that’s what really killed my grade.
So, there you have it. I’m no savant when it comes to dog food. I’m just a girl, trying to do her best, like the rest of you.
Tags: dog food, Dog Food Dish Blog, dog food rating tool, K9Cuisine.com, online tool, premium dog food, premium ingredients
Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition | 22 Comments »
March 31st, 2010
Blame it on my liberal arts education, but I find having historical or societal context fascinating. A while back, I tackled the history of dog toys for one of the American Kennel Club’s magazines. Today, I’m in the mood for a little dog food history. So, let’s fire up the WayBack Machine and see what we can find.
As far as we know, prior to the creation of commercial pet foods, dogs and cats pretty much lived on table scraps and things they could scavenge or catch on their own.
The First Dog Food
But, in 1860 an American living in London, named James Spratt, devised something he thought better than the dog biscuits fed to the canine’s aboard the ship he took across the Atlantic. It sold well to huntsmen in the United Kingdom, so Spratt expanded into the United States about 10 years later. (In the 1950s, General Mills bought what was Spratt’s company.)
Dog Food for A New Century
Industrialization had really taken hold in society, and by the early 1900s, more companies got into the dog food game. In fact, Milk-Bone launched in 1907 in New York City by F.H. Bennett. (The kinds of biscuits we now feed as treats were sold back then as a complete dog food.)
The 1920s saw the introduction of canned Ken-L-Ration, which was ground up horse meat, and later a dry food. About the same time Gaines Dog Meal got started. It was the first food that ground up a bunch of ingredients into food sold in 100-pound bags (and later as semi-moist Gaines Burger).
How War Made Dry Dog Food King
Because the government classified pet foods as “non-essential,” the tin used for cans went into the WWII effort. Goodbye wet food. Hello dry. 
In fact, by 1946, dry food dominated with 85% of the market. (Today, dry food still outsells canned in America — based on dollars spent — about $7.5 billion to $1.8 billon per year in 2008.)
Dog Food in Grocery Stores Controversy
Early dog foods were sold beside livestock rations in rural feed stores, but as our culture became more urban, the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco), which bought Milk-Bone in 1931, made its entree into grocery stores.
And, it caused a ruckus.
Seriously.
Since dog food was made almost entirely from byproducts, it really creeped people out to think it would be on shelves in close proximity to their own food.
Take a minute to think about that and what it means in the context of how we think about dog food today.
Go ahead … I’ll wait, while humming The Girl from Ipanema.
Dog Food Convenience Wins
It didn’t take long for the convenience and economy of buying dog food at the grocery store to overcome any sanitation fears.
So, that’s how we got from there to here.
Pondering the Narrative Arc
I would argue that dogs’ lives, in general, improved with the introduction of commercial pet foods. And, yet, in some ways, we’ve come full circle with many consumers (and even modern-minded manufacturers) looking derisively at the ingredients of so-called “grocery store brands.”
Some may no longer fuss about having dog food near people food, but there are plenty who’d NEVER feed a byproduct-laden dog food to their canine pals.
Tags: dog food, Dog Food Dish Blog, dog food history, history, industrialization, K9Cuisine.com
Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition | 22 Comments »
10 Dietary Supplements Your Veterinarian Needs to Know You’re Giving to Your Pet
March 10th, 2010
As a follow up to last week’s post about the vitamin and mineral needs of dogs, I want to talk about 10 dietary supplements your veterinarian needs to know you give to your pet.
The reasons it’s important range from possible drug interactions to downright poisoning risk. The bottom line, I think my veterinary friends and colleagues would agree, is that your pet’s doctors really need and want to know everything you’re doing in the name of your dog or cat’s health. Everything.
In some cases, they merely need to know. In others, they just might try to talk you out of it.
So, I tapped into a resource from the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. And, according to Narda G. Robinson, DO, DVM, MS, FAAMA, Director, CSU Center for Comparative and Integrative Pain Medicine, here are the top 10 supplements your veterinarian needs to know that you give:
1. Chinese herbs
“The problems with Chinese herbs are many, and can include toxic contaminants, undisclosed pharmaceuticals and adulterants such as strychnine and aconite, and plants that interfere with bleeding,” Robinson explains. “There may be interactions with chemotherapy drugs, anesthetics, or anti-seizure drugs. If someone has prescribed the Chinese herbs, encourage people to find out from that person the facts about these products, and not to settle for vague descriptions such as ‘moving Qi’ or ‘extinguishing Liver Wind.’”
2. Willow, feverfew, meadowsweet, or other herbs that may contain salicylates
“These supplements/herbs can have potential additive effects with anti-inflammatory medications and interference with clotting,” Robinson says.
3. Calming herbs such as valerian, hops, skullcap, kava kava, and passionflower
These too may be additive with anesthetics during surgery.
4. St. John’s Wort
It may cause other medications to be less effective through herb-drug interactions.
5. Pennyroyal oil
This oil is often used in “natural” flea products, but it can be toxic/deadly.
6. Organ or glandular extracts
“These may contain active hormones or transmissible diseases such as mad cow from bovine products,” Robinson says.
7. Vitamins and especially minerals
As covered last week, certain vitamins and some minerals are much more likely to reach toxic levels than others. Plus, says Robinson, such supplements “may upset the body balance of these levels.”
8. Colloidal silver
“It can be absorbed by the brain, kidney, and almost every organ and cause serious problems,” Robinson explains.
9. Chaparral and comfrey
These can cause serious liver damage.
10. Any herbal products with secret ingredients that may contain harmful, undisclosed agents.
Enough said.
Even obsessive dog food label readers can fall into the trap of thinking natural products, herbal supplements and other holistic solutions to pet health issues are benign. That’s not necessarily the case.
Personally, I have tried some of these supplements (and others) to help my fearful border collie cope with a world she finds oh-so scary, but I did it under the guidance and supervision of a holistic/alternative veterinarian, who provided me detailed information that I gave to my regular veterinarian.
How about you? Do you have any stories (good or bad) to share about dietary supplements you give your pets?
(I filed this post under “Dog Food Debates” since I suspect there may be some strong feelings. We’ll see. Won’t we?)
Tags: dog, Dog Food Dish Blog, dog nutrition, dog supplements
Posted in Dog Food Basics, Dog Food Debates, K9 Nutrition | 15 Comments »
February 17th, 2010
Protein in dog food typically comes from an animal source. In other words, “meat.” At some point, we’ll explore the Dog Food Debate over how much protein is enough or too much. For now, however, let’s just look at protein as a primary dog food ingredient.
Dog Food History
The use of animal byproducts as a protein source in pet food began during early industrialization. Someone, somewhere decided that anything deemed unusable for human consumption might be OK for our furry friends.
Over the years, I’ve heard some funny (and crass) phrases to describe these leftover body parts or fragments thereof. Since we aim to be a family-friendly spot for dog food information, suffice it to say we simply refer to such things at my house as “pieces parts.”
Protein Quality Matters
The K9Cuisine.com team believes that the protein level is not as important as the kind of protein used in dog food. That’s why the use of byproducts automatically disqualifies a food from the site.
Honestly, a lot of a poor quality protein cannot be as good for your pet as less of a good quality (and biologically usable) protein. The better the protein source, actually, the less a dog truly needs. And, all that unusable stuff left behind by icky proteins can be tough on a dog’s kidneys.
Since the goal of dog nutrition is to support — not challenge — a dog’s basic biological processes, starting with a good quality protein is key.
What constitutes protein quality is an interesting science. Proteins can be measured through “chemical scores” and “biological values.” Chemical scores basically compare one protein to another used as a reference point. Typically, that’s an egg. So, if an egg scores 100 on a 100-point scale, then other proteins earn scores compared to eggs. It’s much more complicated than I can get into here, but the score ends up being based on just a few “limiting” amino acids, rather than all that may be provided by the tested protein.
Ranking proteins based on “biological value” isn’t perfect either since it defines how much (%) of absorbed protein gets retained. However, it does not take into account digestibility.
Name That Protein
Check pet food labels, which we know can be confusing, for an actual “named protein.”
What do we mean by that? Well, the label should call the protein by its real name: chicken, beef, lamb, etc.
Calling it merely “meat,” or worse “meaty” in an advertising application, means very little. Remember all those cafeteria jokes about “mystery meat”? It’s a bit like that.
Protein Science
Just as carbohydrates are classified, based on their complexity, so are proteins.
Essentially, proteins get built in nature when amino acids team up from the hundreds of options. Yet, we find just 20 amino acids in most proteins. Once combined, they get classified like this:
- Peptide (two amino acids)
- Dipeptide (three amino acids)
- Polypeptide (more than three)
Your dog’s body breaks these peptides down into either:
- Usable basic amino acids from the bonded ones consumed
- Precursors that can be synthesized into what the dog needs
Dogs need essential amino acids in their diet because they simply cannot make them themselves through any biological process. Nonessential amino acids are the ones that dogs can make for themselves, if provided with building blocks through their food. Some amino acids are conditionally essential, meaning that certain diseases or other health issues make them more important.
Dog Food Protein Enhancements
To combat any deficiencies in protein sources used in dog food, manufacturers sometimes balance the amino acid profile by using several sources (called “protein complementation”). Some use “amino acid fortification,” which essentially means they add any missing amino acids.
Questions – Proteins in Dog Food
As always, I’m happy to hear any questions you have about protein in dog food so that I can research the issue and get you answers … or at least open up a discussion.
Tags: byproducts, dog, dog food, Dog Food Dish Blog, dog nutrition, K9Cuisine Dog Food Dish Blog, protein
Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition | 4 Comments »
Carbohydrates: Dog Food Basics
February 10th, 2010
Carbohydrates (carbs) in dog food come from the energy contained inside plants. Remember learning about photosynthesis back in school? Well, that’s were carbohydrates are born. When plants turn sunlight energy into chemical energy, they store the energy as what we could call “sugar.”
Carb Classification
Basically, carbs fall into one of four categories:
1) Monosaccarides: also called “simple sugars.” Famous ones include glucose and fructose.
2) Disaccarides: basically two monosaccarides lumped together. Regular table sugar is a combo of glucose and fructose.
(Quick trivia tangent … lactose found in mammal milk links glucose and galatose together. It’s the ONLY carb of animal origin.)
3) Oligosaccarides: a big clump of 3-10 monosaccarides. They can be harder to digest, causing gas.
Oddly enough, though, those that contain fructose (fructooligosaccarides) tend to do good things in a dog’s intestines, including better stool quality and reduced odors.
4) Polysaccarides: the big boys made up of thousands of monosaccarides. That’s why they’re often called “complex carbohydrates.” Typically, they are either what we would deem “starches” or “dietary fiber.”
Dog Food Carbohydrates
In the dog food world, cereal grains like corn, wheat, sorghum, barley and rice most often provide this carb/starch component.
Dogs of various digestive temperaments have varying success with these carbs. Some do OK. Others suffer terrible food-related allergies.
Since K9Cuisine.com serves so many canine families with such allergy issues, the use of corn, wheat and soy are automatic disqualifiers. None of the foods sold on the site include these ingredients.
In last week’s blog post, Dog Food Basics we covered the metabolic role of carbs in a dog’s diet, including a “protein sparing effect,” where protein can be used in cell repair rather than for energy needs. Some may argue against having any carbs in a dog’s diet, but they do many things inside the canine body.
In addition, these starches function as binders in dog food. They kind of hold everything together. To fill both dietary and functional needs, some dog food makers have gone to potato or even pea starch as a carbohydrate source in their foods.
Questions – Carbohydrates in Dog Food
I’m happy to field any questions you have about carbs in dog food so that I can research the issue and get you the answers you need. Let me know. Won’t you?
Tags: carbohydrates, dog, dog food, Dog Food Dish Blog, dog nutrition, K9Cuisine Dog Food Dish Blog
Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition | 3 Comments »
February 3rd, 2010
Dog food typically combines carbohydrates, fats and proteins, along with vitamins and minerals. Each element plays a starring role inside the canine body, where all kinds of important processes take place. We’ll open up the discussion to Dog Food Debates later, but for now, let’s simply look at how these nutritional elements work from a purely physiological standpoint.
Dog Food Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates provide a key source of dog food energy that in addition to other bodily functions has a “protein-sparing effect.” That means carbs free up the body to use protein in tissue repair and growth, rather than the protein getting burnt up to meet a dog’s energy needs.
Carbs also:
- Supply energy that keeps dogs warm
- Provide a steady supply of glucose needed for the central nervous system to do its thing
- Convert to glycogen, which can be used as an emergency energy source for the heart
- Hook up with proteins and fats to form body tissue structures
- Supply “carbon skeletons” for the formation of nonessential amino acids
- Are required for the synthesis of other essential compounds
Dog Food Fats
Fats make food taste better. Trust me. Your dog understands that.
Palatability aside … Fats can provide a main form of energy storage in the body. In excess, of course, that’s not ideal, but in normal amounts, fat storage insulates the body from heat loss and protects major organs.
Dietary fats in dog food also supply essential fatty acids (EFAs) as well as carry fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K).
In addition, fats serve metabolic and structural roles, including:
- Insulating nerve fibers
- Helping to transmit nerve impulses
- Contributing structural components to cell membranes
- Transporting other nutrients across these membranes
Dog Food Proteins
In broad terms, dogs require protein because it supplies essential amino acids that form, fix and replenish bodily proteins that truly hold everything together. That means hair, skin, nails, tendons, ligaments and cartilage.
Beyond structural support, proteins do many other things:
- Some key proteins regulate muscle action.
- Some catalyze metabolic actions.
- Some are downright essential to nutrient digestion.
- Many hormones are protein based.
- Protein in the plasma helps maintain a dog’s Ph balance.
And, if that wasn’t enough, proteins work inside a dog’s immune system to generate antibodies that combat potential disease.
Inside your canine friend (and inside you, too) body proteins undergo a constant renewal and decline process, which requires a regular supply of dietary protein.
While you might be thinking, “Hey, protein is king!” know this … water is the single most important nutrient for survival. (Someday soon, we’ll talk all about it.)
Tags: carbohydrates, dog, dog food, Dog Food Dish Blog, dog nutrition, fats, K9Cuisine Dog Food Dish Blog, proteins
Posted in Dog Food Basics, K9 Nutrition | 4 Comments »
A professional writer based in Colorado, Roxanne Hawn doesn't just love dogs. She deep-down requires them in life. Something inside her genes, perhaps? That's why it's such a joy to write about all things canine. Roxanne began writing about pets in 1995, when she worked for the American Animal Hospital Association and later for the American Humane Association. During this period in her career, Roxanne served on the board of directors for the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy (a coalition of animal welfare groups). Roxanne also volunteered for many years at an animal shelter, where she witnessed firsthand what happens when the human-animal bond breaks or never forms.
