Nutrition and Canidae Dog Food

With the recent recalls for foods containing gluten, I’ve made my nutritional research a priority. I’ve read about dog nutrition and what brands to recommend to my puppy customers. I’ve spoke to my veterinarian, read and researched various diets, including RAW diets, and nothing seemed to make more sense than what I already recommended. It wasn’t until recently when I read 2 articles that were congruent, both scoring beneficial brands of dog foods, and I began searching for a more holistic dog food with quality ingredients.

I knew from previous research that a dog’s diet should contain mainly protein and carbohydrates, with added vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. In looking at a dog food, read the first 3 ingredients, which should contain quality proteins and carbohydrates. Corn, wheat, gluten, and soy are generally inferior sources of protein. They are often difficult to digest and to use by the body. They can also cause GI problems. Meat and bone meal can contain an unknown quantity of bone, which is an inferior protein, as well as by-products. Preservatives can be harmful, as well as artificial dyes. Look for powerful health promoting ingredients such as probiotics, antioxidants, chelated minerals, and vegetables.

With this information I found that several foods had been scored by starting with 10 points and deducting 1 point for each unfavorable ingredient or lack of health- promoting ingredients. The scoring for brands that I recommended was as follows: Science Diet: 4, Iams: 5, and Eukanuba: 4. This shocked me as I recommend these premium foods and yet they only scored 4-5 out of 10! The article was published by a holistic food company, so I thought they had published results in their favor to boost their own sales. I continued searching.

Another article scored multiple brands of foods on a scale of 100.
How to grade your dog's food: Start with a grade of 100: 1) For every listing of "by-product", subtract 10 points 2) For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points 3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points 4) For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, subtract 5 points 5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewerâs rice", "rice flour" are all the same grain), subtract 5 points 6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points 7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points 8 ) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points 9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points 10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2 points 11) If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points 12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points 13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isnât allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points 14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isnât allergic to beef), subtract 1 point 15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point Extra Credit: 1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points 2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or nutritionist, add 5 points 3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points 4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points 5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points 6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points 7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2 points 8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points 9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points 10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point 11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point 12) For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source, but "chicken" and "" as 2 different sources), add 1 point 13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point 14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free, add 1 point
94-100+ = A 86-93 = B 78-85 = C 70-77 = D <70>Alpo Prime Cuts / Score 81 C Canidae / Score 112 A+ Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+ Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A Diamond Performance / Score 85 C Eukanuba Adult / Score 81 C Eukanuba Puppy / Score 79 C Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D Innova Dog / Score 114 A+ Innova Evo / Score 114 A+ Innova Large Breed Puppy / Score 122 A+ Nature’s Recipe / Score 100 A Nature’s Recipe Healthy Skin Venison and Rice / Score 116 A+ Nature’s Variety Raw Instinct / Score 122 A+ Nutra Nuggets Super Premium Lamb Meal and Rice / Score 81 C Nutrience Junior Medium Breed Puppy / Score 101 A+ Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B Nutro Max Adult / Score 93 B Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice / Score 98 A Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B Nutro Natural Choice Puppy Wheat Free / Score 86 B Nutro Natural Choice Senior / Score 95 A Nutro Ultra Adult / Score 104 A+ Purina Benful / Score 17 F Purina Dog / Score 62 F Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F Purina One Large Breed Puppy / Score 62 F Royal Canin Boxer / Score 103 A+ Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+ Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+ Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F
(partial list, less common brands ommitted)

Although Diamonds Naturals scored in the 90’s, I had previously fed their Maintenance (scored 64) and puppy formula. The recalls associated with gluten, and poor beneficial scoring has led me to search for a food that I felt was reasonably priced but offered the most nutritional value. Wheat and corn are often culprits in allergies, and since Cairns are prone to allergies, I’ve sought a food that would be least likely to be a culprit. I’ve been the most impressed with Canidae dog food which scores A+ 112. The Life Stages formula is appropriate for puppies, adults, working, and seniors. Its ingredients are human grade with essential vitamins and minerals and mixed tocopherols as natural preservatives. Its holistic and herbal formula has 4 meat meals in the first 7 ingredients: chicken, turkey, lamb, and fish. The other 2 ingredients in the first 7 are brown rice and white rice. If your dog is sensitive to different meats they also offer single meat formulas. What I like in the life stages formula is that it contains 10 skin and coat conditioners, balanced Omega 6 and 3 Fatty Acids and is also contains guaranteed digestive enzymes.

The next recommendation that I make is whatever you feed your dog, make it convenient. I’ve searched to find that Canidae is only offered through boutiques and select stores. So I’ve solved that issue for my Cairn customers as well! Our online boutique Designer Dog Avenue.com will not only carry the food to be ordered online and shipped to your door, but we will be offering a program to offer a 10 % discount for customers who sign up for scheduled delivery on a continuous basis! We’ll offer Designer Dog Avenue coupons, and discounts for our upcoming Designer Dog Avenue line of gourmet dog treats and training treats. The program will be value added while being the most convenient, high quality nutrition available! It’s taken a lot to convince me to change my feeding program, but I’m so excited about Canidae and am glad to share with my friends at Crooked Creek Cairn Terriers and Designer Dog Avenue!!

Stay tuned in the following 1-3 weeks as the programs mentioned are launched. Please email traci@designerdogavenue.com to sign up for more information upon availability.