Again, I must emphasize, this is my personal opinion. What I say here is derived from my own research and most importantly, common sense. Think about what wild dogs (wolves, coyotes, etc.) eat. It's not peas and carrots, is it? No, it's meat and plenty of it. Dogs need a lot of good quality protein. They also need partially digested carbohydrates. Where does the wild canine get this? From the stomach of the animal it took down. Dogs can't digest vegetables or grains unless they are partially digested first. They don't have a long intestinal tract like we do. Their's is short. It doesn't have the ability to digest vegetable matter. So, in making dog food that is convenient for us to feed, it's important to come as close as we can to what their natural diet should be.

Let's start with the most important ingredient, protein. The quality of the protein is very important. The best source of quality protein is eggs. I've never seen a dog food where the first ingredient was eggs. It must be too costly to use them. The next best is fish. I've also never seen a dog food where fish is the number one ingredient. We know fish is expensive. Next down the list is pork with poultry, either turkey or chicken, being very close to it. Foods with this as the main ingredient are common because they are cost effective. Pork is a bit better at 94% digestable versus 91% for poultry. Next down the list of quality is beef and it is quite a bit lower. On the bottom, the meat with the lowest protein quality, is lamb. So, why do so many people feed lamb based feeds to their dogs? It started awhile back when a few people had dogs with allergies against beef and probably poultry based foods. They tried lamb and it worked for them. They told their friends and so on. This caused the demand to rise for lamb based feeds. The dog food companies want to make money, so they made it. The only dogs that really benefited by eating lamb were the ones with allergies to other meats, probably less than 1% of the population. The rest are losing protein quality for no good reason. I'm not talking about the percent of protein in the food (even though lamb based foods have less), I'm talking quality of the protein. Also, many breeders have believed that older dogs should have less protein to avoid kidney problems. That's been proven false. Older dogs need just as must protein as the younger ones. It is protein that repairs and keep the vital organs working properly. Throw those senior formulas out. Keep the protein level in the mid to upper 20's% range using a pork or poultry based food. Good food should contain more than one meat protein source. I'm currently feeding Eagle Pack because it has 4 meat proteins in it with pork being the main ingredient. After corn and rice, there's chicken, fish, and eggs, all meat meals, not bi-products.

Next are the carbohydrates and such. Remember what I said, dogs aren't people. Don't try to feed them as such. The rest of the ingredients should be grains and carbohydrates. There's no way of knowing how these ingredients were prepared. We can only see what they are by reading the bag. If you see foods with stuff like peas and carrots in it, it's only to benefit the health food peoples eyes, not the dog. Yes, dogs need grains and roughage, but not that much. Think about what is in the animal's stomach that the wolves took down. Not peas and carrots, that's for sure. It is roughage, grasses, and grains. So, dog food manufacturers must come as close to this as possible with the products that are readily available like corn, rice, and a few other things. As I said, we have no way of knowing how they prepared these ingredients so the dog can digest it. The most logical way to figure how digestible it is, is to read how much to feed for a given weight. Let's use 50 lbs. as a reference as most bags have that as a break point. A really cheap food may require as much as 6-7 cups a day for a 50 lb dog whereas the very best food will only require 2 cups a day. This means that your dog needs to eat that much to get all the nutrition it needs. I've talked with people who use low quality food where their dog needs about six cups a day. I tell them about good food that only requires about three cups and they say their dog only eats about three cups. I say, no wonder all your past dogs have had problems in there senior years, it was from lack of nutrition. So, look for the food that you need to feed the least of and who's first ingredient is pork or poultry meal, chicken or turkey.

One thing I've always avoided in the past is beet pulp. As I understood it, it's nothing more than a stool hardener that can absord many times its own weight in water. And it's true, if enough of it is used in the food, it is a stool hardener. Some cheap formulas do need a stool hardener because the food is so poor. But, if only a very small amount is used, it simply keeps the intestinal walls clean so the food can be readily absorbed. In the case of Eagle Pack, it's also used to feed the yogurt type enzymes that's in the food to keep the digestive system in peak performance.

The last thing I'd like to mention is preservatives. Ethoxyquin is controversial. Some say it reduces fertility. I don't believe there's proof either way, but I avoid it. BHT and BHA have never (at least I've never heard) been linked to any problems and is quite safe in my opinion. Some breeders think they can cause problems. Preserving with vitamin E (which is also made from a chemical) has a real hazard. Vitamin E can deplete over time. Very high amounts are used to avoid total depletion in a reasonable amount of time. Should enough deplete to lose it's ability to preserve, the food can become rancid. This possibility doesn't bother me (I used to feed a food preserved with vitamin E) because I go through food fast enough to use it up in time. Today, most foods that are "naturally preserved" use more than one type of preservative for safety. Eagle uses mixed tocopherols, citric acid, and rosemary extract. Yes, I now feed Eagle Pack because of the four meat proteins. It also has corn and rice.One grain can't provide everything just like one protein can't either. So, when you go to buy your next bag of dog food, read the labels and compare. Don't just assume that because it has a major brand name on it that it's good. See what's in it and how much it takes to feed a given weight. Remember, digestability of the food tells it's quality. The less you need to feed, the better the food. That's why I feed Eagle Pack Original Formula. Another great food is Gereen, if you can find it. It's only sold by breeders and most breeders can't afford nor do they have the storage space to order the 3 tons that's required. But, if you can find it, buy it, it's great food.