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Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,731
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: New owner of a Papillon!

@furbabylover   Thank you.  I got my bachellor's degree in Animal Sciences 40 years ago, but the nutrition courses I took focused on feeding cows, pigs, sheep, horses and even chickens can be applied to dogs and cats as well.  I learned to read the ingredient label on a sack of horse feed  after visiting the on campus feed mill the first time.  The man who ran that mill showed us all the machinery and how things got bagged up and sewn shut and all, and then gave us all a sample of a feed sack label and asked us what was in the food.  Most of us did pretty good until we got down to the bottom and found the term "mill run".  Nobody knew what that meant.  So the man took a broom and swept up the dust, stray kernels of grain, mud that had fallen off our boots, mouse or rat or bird droppings, everything that was laying on the floor, into a pile, pointed to it and told us "THAT is mill run.  If you wouldn't eat it yourself, do you want your livestock to eat it?"  There was a resounding NO from all of us students, and after that we were told "Now you know why you need to learn how to read a feed label."  So when I tell people to make sure that what they are feeding their dogs and cats does not contain "meat meal" or "meat and bone meal", it's because I know what those ingredients contain!  (You don't want to know, it's bad!)

 

Another thing I learned about reading labels is that everything should be evaluated as a percentage of the ration on a dry matter basis.  You know how some foods make a big deal out of "our food contains real meat, not meat meal!"?  Well, that makes me not want to buy it!  If they list a meat ingredient at the top of the list, that meat is a fairly high percentage of plain old water!  Meat meal is dry weight, so if it's at the top of the list, that means it can be compared to the ground barley or oats or potato flour or any other ingredient on an equal basis.  Whole meat, full of water, cannot, so using it is actually cheapening the food and making it less nutritious to the carnivore who is eating it.  A large company name behind a pet food may or may not be any guarantee of quality, but you can get a good idea if you just read the label.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,602
Registered: ‎03-21-2010

Re: New owner of a Papillon!

@aprilonmain These dogs are very smart.  On the dog intelligence list, they are ranked 8th!  Ranking of intelligence was based on how quickly they learn.  Number 1 & 2 are Border Collie and the poodle. But because they are smart, you don't want them to get bored.  So try to be active with the dog.  It'll help the dog & you.

Valued Contributor
Posts: 792
Registered: ‎08-24-2011

Re: New owner of a Papillon!

@CamilleP  I really appreciate your commitment to knowledge, and your awareness of the fluid nature of nutrition as we learn more and more. My wonderful vet, who could have sold me any of the big brand name dog foods in her practice, told me to go to Tractor Supply and buy their "4 Health" brand dog food, specifically the salmon and potato formula for my Maltese. She told me she feeds it to her 7 dogs because of the simple, clean ingredient deck, and the fact that it is not expensive. It has improved my baby's health tremendously. For variety, I feed him Dr. Mercola's Dehydrated Raw Grass Fed Beef Entree, which he likes, too. I hope you will continue to post here because it is so important to offer enlightened ideas to people who may have UNenlightened vets. Thanks again!