It costs too much. Part 2

Ok, so it is possible to find commercial dog food cheaper than £2+ per kg. Especially if you buy in bulk.

Wagg for instance, costs just 62p per kg if you buy a large bag (17kg). But then if you read the ingredients, it's not so great.

Wheat, Meat Meal (min 10% Beef in Red Kibble), Wheatfeed, Digest, Poultry Fat, Linseed, Beet Pulp, Peas (min 4% in Pea Kibble), Maize, Lucerne, Minerals, Yeast (0.08%), Citrus Extract (0.04%), Yucca Extract (0.01%)
here

Wheat in some form or another is listed twice. Then you have "Digest", which to me sounds like some supplementy ingredient... that's good, right? Wrong. It's just a 'prettier' term for rendered animal parts which had no other use. THIS is what "digest" is. More on Digest here.
Every ingredient bar the minimum 10% beef in the red kibbles, and the yucca extract (which has some supposed benefit), is just rubbish. Nutritionall worthless. The Wheat and wheatmeal is just filler, and there to turn the meat 'soup' into biscuits. The Beet Pulp and poultry fat are included to try to make the product more palatable (like the 'digest'), the maize & peas are included also as cheap fillers*.

That is why it is so cheap.

But then, it is also possible to find raw meaty bones much cheaper too.

One person on a forum I frequent has managed to find a local supplier who can give her 14kg of chicken carcasses for just £2. Others have gone to local curry houses and halal suppliers, or local butchers, and been given beef and lamb bones for free. Other people have chosen hunt their own wild rabbit & pheasant etc, or make use of roadkill.

Personally, the latter options aren't my thing, but if you want (or need) to feed your dog for very little, or even free, it can be done. And when you compare the ingredients, and the health of your pet, most owners would agree that it is worth the extra effort - finding Butchers or abbattoirs etc willing to give freebies or cheap bones & offcuts etc, or driving into the countryside and collecting roadkill, for example.


So that covers the first part of the cost issue... but, let's not forget the wider picture here.

Dogs with skin problems and "allergies" is becoming more and more common.

Certain breeds are more likely to have allergies and skin problems, but the fact is that any dog could suffer from allergies and skin issues.


It's obvious it is a huge problem - just look at all the 'special diet' dog foods on the market!

But why is no one thinking logically about the cause of these allergies?

On the raw feeding forum I am a member of, there are Boxer dogs who had bad skin issues - now have been completely or almost completely 'cured', by switching to raw and removing all processed foods and grains from their diet.

There is a 6yr old Chi on there who had Pancreatitis, and was often ill. A month later and he is doing so well on raw, he is vocal and playful, he hasn't been ill once since the switch from commercial to raw.

Dogs cannot digest wheat or grains, and they are not designed to consume them and wouldn't in the wild, so it is no wonder that many dogs show symptoms of wheat intolerance or allergies (loose stools, dull coat, excessive moulting, sores or skin irritations, patchy fur, etc etc). Cooking meat also alters the meat, which can cause symptoms such as vomitting and/or diarrhoea, and all the symptoms listed above for wheat/grain allergy & intollerance.
It is so common for dogs to be 'diagnosed' as having an allergy to chicken or turkey, only to be completely fine if eating it raw. So many people have noted that their dog would vomit if it ate cooked chicken, but raw chicken never caused a problem.

Yet if you look at these "special diet" dog foods, it's hard to believe anyone OK'd this

"Hill's Science Plan Sensitive Stomach

Hill's Science Plan Sensitive Stomach Dog Food for dogs with sensitive digestive systems; contains easily-digestible carbohydrates and a unique mixture of natural fibres such as oat fibre."

Hmm... So still including grains, which are not easily digestible for a dog.

"Ground rice (min. 18% rice), ground corn, chicken and turkey meal (min. 20% chicken), corn gluten, whole dried egg (min. 13% of the egg), animal fat, digest, vegetable oil, flaxseed, oat hulls and bran, beet pulp, potassium chloride , sodium chloride, L-lysine hydrochloride, L-tryptophan. "

You still have corn in there (filler, not digestable), corn gluten (more corn filler), more digest, like in Wagg.


The sensitive skin bag is worse, as Ground rice and ground corn are first and second on the ingredients list, with the meat coming third. No percentages given with this product, but it's safe to assume <40% of the product is grain, with less than 30% being meat.

But, the prescription diets range is worse still.

Take this one, for dogs with digestive issues and very sensitive stomachs, or skin allergies
Ingredients: Dried potato, chicken liver hydrolysate, potato starch, vegetable oil, cellulose, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, potassium citrate, salt, DL-methionine, taurine, vitamins and trace elements. Contains EU approved antioxidant.

Right, so let's remove as much actual food as possible, and then because the only ingredient of any nutritional value in that lot is the chicken liver (which has been boiled up beyond all recognition) they have to add in vitamins, and ingredients like taurine and DL-methionine (which occur naturally in meat and organ meat - but this product doesn't contain enough meat for sufficient quantities to be present without supplemementing...) These added nutrients most likely are synthetic (lab made/extracted) and therefore not very bio available to the dog, compared to the naural, organically occuring versions found in fresh meat and fresh liver.

Or this one
Ingredients: Egg & Rice: Ground rice, dried whole egg, hydrolysed chicken (low molecular weight), vegetable oil, cellulose, animal fat, calcium carbonate, potassium citrate, dicalcium phosphate, fish oil, salt, potassium chloride, magnesium oxide, taurine, vitamins and trace elements.

Or this one
Ingredients: Maize starch, chicken liver hydrolysate, vegetable oil, cellulose, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, salt, DL-methionine, taurine, vitamins and trace elements.

Starting to see the problem yet?

If a vet prescribes a 'special' diet kibble or tinned meat like the ones above, I would question what is in it for him. Most vets sell HSP, and profit from their sale and prescription. If your dog has skin problems or digestive issues, try raw first. It'll cost less and stands a good chance of clearing up any problem, reducing your vet bills in the process.


Well just to lighten the mood, check this one out.

Yep, a dry kibble that claims to 'maintain oral health'.

It boasts:

• Clinically proven to help reduce the build-up of tartar, plaque and stain.
• Contains a special fibre matrix with aligned fibres that help the kibble engulf the tooth before it splits. This provides a gentle scraping action that helps reduce the build-up of plaque, tartar and stains.
• Helps to neutralise free radicals as it contains high level of antioxidants
  
  
  
  

  The second claim is pretty pressumptious or optimistic, given that many dogs swallow most of their kibbles whole. Very little chewing takes place.
  
  
  Ingredients: Ground maize, ground rice, chicken and turkey meal, cellulose powder, animal fat, pea bran meal, digest, dried whole egg, vegetable oil, potassium citrate, calcium sulphate, salt, calcium carbonate, taurine, L-tryptophan, vitamins and trace elements.
  
  
  Now maybe it's just me, but I can't see anything in that list of ingredients that hasn't been included in other HSP products, ones that do not boast any special powers in terms of Oral Health.
  
  Well, I suppose you could pay lots of money to feed that, or you could, you know, give your dog a bone.
  
  
  

Buster's teeth, aged 8 months. No dental work ever, just plenty of raw meaty bones.
They still look like that now, over a month later. They are bright white and don't have a spot of tarter on them.











*And it just helps that we have somewhat anthropomorphised our pets - we know that fruit and veg are good for humans, so most people assume that including those ingredients in our pet food must be a good thing for our pet.