AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles

yes I tried a very gradual switch with Acana and used honest kitchen perfect form but stopped as I thought it was just masking his diarrhea and as soon as I stopped he would go back to having it again. Shouldn’t a very gradual transition not require any digestive enzymes or pumpkin? I was feeding him 2 cups ideal balance and 1/4 cup acana and he had very loose stools. With the hills ideal balance he was fine on it right away. Is it possible that he just requires a food that has a higher percentage of grains? I am looking into simply nourish as it has good ratings on this website.

I chose the science diet because that is what the breeder had him on when I got him and he did fine on that so that is what I went back to but I tried Fromm Gold Holistic Large Breed Puppy Dry Dog Food, and Horizon Complete LB Puppy. I bought a sample bag of the Acana chicken and burbank potato but that gives him very loose stools like the others. I really want to have him on a good food but am not sure if trying so many new foods is better than just keeping him on the ideal balance. I saw that it gets 3.5 stars from dogfoodadvisor.

I originally had my lab puppy on orijen lb puppy but his stomach could not handle grain free. The only food I could find that his stomach can handle is science diet ideal balance puppy but I do not really want to keep him on this brand. I know acana has the chicken and potato formula that is labeled adult/all life stages. Should I try and switch my 6month old puppy to the acana or stick with ideal balance until he is older?

Not that I disagree with you, except that it isn’t two different recalls. It’s one recall that was expanded TWO more times. That is the way recalls work.

Hi Meagan –

A food that’s labeled as “All Life Stages” or “Growth and Maintenance” has met the AAFCO’s more stringent nutrient requirements for growth and is, therefore, acceptable to feed to any age of dog. Fromm Classics would be acceptable to feed to a puppy, however, it’s pretty low in protein (23%) – hardly over the minimum requirement for growth (22%). If you go with a food this low in protein I’d suggest adding a high quality canned food topper to boost the protein levels.

Mike would growth and maintenance be ok for a puppy? That is what Fromm Classics states.

Yeah, gotcha. I had this idea that somehow PMI was more reputable, but I still wasn’t totally confident. I appreciate your opinion.

Yuck!

I did a search and the only thing that came up was Alpo prime cuts. Blah.

Purina Prime (turkey Is it good quality

I”m trying to find a dog food for my two dogs. I have a year and a half lab/american bull dog mix who is an extremely difficult eater. She does not do well with chicken based foods. I also have a 19 week old husky. They were on Purina but I noticed that my older dog was having a hard time going to the bathroom where as the puppy had horrible gas and stool. I switched to the exclusive brand and they have been on it for a few weeks but it’s been giving them runny and soft stool. Are there any not so expensive brands that are good that I can try? And how long should my puppy be on puppy food?

No, puppy food is good for all life stages. Puppy food is usually made to higher standards than adult food.

It’s only rated one star because it is made of corn, corn by-products and soy. There is virtually no meat in this food and what there is slaughter house waste. In addition, this food contains 4 artificial food colors, and menadione sodium bisulfite complex, all of which are proven to potentially cause negative health effects.

i buy my dogs dads bite size and was wondering why i havent seen any recalls or anything bad from this food has there been and why is it only rated one star?

respectfully Aimee

I haven’t a clue of which “systemalists you speak of.

“Considering my dog was raised on raw cornstarch I know things don’t have to be processed to be well used.”

What is raw cornstarch????  Honestly Aimee, you must have the world’s smartest dog if it goes and picks his corn on the cob, shucks it, removes from the cob, and then does the following to it;

The corn is steeped for 30 to 48 hours, which ferments it slightly. The germ is separated from the endosperm and those two components are ground separately (still soaked). Next the starch is removed from each by washing. The starch is separated from the corn steep liquor, the cereal germ, the fibers and the corn gluten mostly in hydrocyclones and centrifuges, and then dried. (The residue from every stage is used in animal feed and to make corn oil or other applications.) This process is called wet milling. Finally, the starch may be modified for specific purposes.[3]

Aimee, not trying to confuse.

I’m not calling a coyote an omnivore. I’m just saying that they can and do have a more omnivorous diet than wolves. I have no problem calling a coyote a facultative carnivore.

But I do have a problem calling a wolf or even a dog a facultative carnivore. While wolves and dogs are able to process to limited extent some rotting fruits like apples and berries on their own, I think left to their own devices, they would have a great deal of difficulty processing things like raw potatoes, sweet or not, other tubers, carrots, corn, grains and alfalfa, brassica like broccoli and cabbage, leafy greens, shrubbery, lichens etc. In the absence of humans to grind and pulverize, cook, etc. IMO, dogs would be forced to revert back to more wolfish ways or perish. So I would have a real problem calling dogs facultative carnivores. Maybe in enough time, with humans by their sides preparing their plant material, and with natural selection doing it’s thing, dogs will more the way you wish.

I brought the article up because it does strengthen your argument, but I didn’t read it exactly the way you did. I read it as of the dogs tested, they had between 2X and 14X the copies of a gene for pancreatic amylase production vs the wolves tested;

“The change is at least partly the consequence of dogs having multiple copies of a gene for amylase, an enzyme made by the pancreas that is involved in the first step of starch digestion. Wolves have two copies; dogs have four to 30.”"As it happens, amylase “gene duplication” is also a feature of human evolution. Humans carry more copies of the amylase gene than their primate ancestors. People also produce the enzyme in saliva, which allows the first steps of digestion to occur while food is still in the mouth. That, in turn, rewards chewing and increases the palatability of food.”"In dogs, however, the increased amylase activity occurs only in the pancreas. The enzyme isn’t at work in their mouths, probably because the food doesn’t stay there long enough. Dogs may be able to eat human food, but they still wolf it down.”

Hello Aimee,

I said previously that i would tend to agree with you more if we were talking foxes or coyotes. They do obviously have an omnivorous diet. Coyotes and foxes are adaptable survivors. They have been able to adapt and survive massive human hunting, urban spread, etc., against the odds. They still survive in great numbers throughout their original range. Wolves have not been so lucky. they have not been able to adapt near as well to a more agricultural surroundings, and life near humans. They have been wiped out through much of their original range.Was the kid’s exercise put out there as a jibe? hehe.Likewise, I have very much enjoyed our chatHere is the skull of a dog with periodontal disease just for the heck of it;http://www.skullsunlimited.com/record_variant.php?id=4774

Aimee,

these are what i would call carnivore specializations n wolves

1) Obtaining the food-Cardiovascular system designed for endurance. Jaw structure designed for biting, gripping. Specialized vision system to aid proficient hunting by detecting motion. Heightened smelling and hearing for tracking prey. Social pack animals for the purpose of cooperative hunting.

2) Eating the food-jaws hinged to move in vertical plane only. dentition designed for tearing, ripping, shredding.

3) Digesting the food-Very large elastic stomach (about 60% of the total digestive system) to enable engorgement of a kill. Strong stomach acids and enzymes for digesting meat-carbs/starches do not even really begin to be digested until reaching the small intestine.

As I feel that dogs are not so far removed from wolves in adaptations, I maintain that dogs are still mostly carnivorous by design, whereas they have become a bit more omniverous by intervention. That’s about as much as I can give up, sorry. I just can’t quite feel comfortable calling a dog an omnivore. Aimee, I think we’ll probably just have to agree to disagree!

Wow Aimee,

I’m beginning to feel like a single dog separated from the pack and trying to take on a Polar Bear, hehe.

I would think you would have to concede that dogs, without human intervention, have a great deal of trouble digesting most plant matter. By human intervention, I mean grinding, pulverizing, cooking, freezing, separating, treating, adding enzymes, etc.

In your previous posts, you seem to believe that dogs ancestors were more omnivorous and time and environment has adapted then to become more carnivorous. I see it just EXACTLY the opposite.

If we were to completely disregard all the herbivores, it seems to me that you would classify 99.9% of all the remaining species as omnivores. Which was a point I brought up earlier in the thread.

hehe, and i am sorry I missed yours. ( well maybe not too sorry after reading Kateicy’s post today with this link, so I’ve softened my thinking somewhat). Very good article I think.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/learning-to-love-cereal-was-key-to-the-evolution-of-dogs/2013/01/23/30c47500-6510-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html

No, i don’t believe real omnivores have any specializations one way or the other.

I still don’t think that dogs are so far removed from their ancestors that they don’t retain much of the wolves carnivorous specializations. Dogs (feral) left to fend for themselves will still often form packs and hunt  prey (and scavenge as neccesary for survival). A dog can still quickly digest animal matter, whereas plant matter and carbohydrates, especially raw, can be a real challenge. No doubt they have adapted somewhat to living with humans. I’d have to think about more.

Polar bears eat an almost absolute carnivorous diet, so I wouldn’t call them an omnivore. Perhaps brown and black bears have evolved more to a omnivorous diet.

So I agree that dogs certainly have some flexiiblity in their requirements, but not very much without human intervention. To me, a dog is still basically a carnivore.

Sandy, 

I had no idea you could do that, tried it and thanks, very helpful.

Hello Aimee,

As usual, you bring excellent and interesting points to the discussion.

Nevertheless, I would tend to agree with you more if dogs were more closely related to coyotes or foxes rather than wolves.

Regardless of any taxonomic classifications (dogs and wolves are classified as carnivores), I prefer to think in terms of these definitions;

1) A Herbivore is an animal that has specializations/adaptations for eating plant matter.
2) A Carnivore has specializations/adaptations for eating animal matter.
3) An Omnivore has no specializations for eating either plant or animal.

Which begs my next question;

Do you believe that dogs (or wolves) have no carnivore specializations?

P.S. I really wish there was a way to move the entire discussion to the proper place. I find the topic fascinating, especially when discussing with you.

i have a question to ask being dads dog food is only rated one star is it good for dogs and why is it every dog food has corn and corn gluten in it which is bad for dogs so what kind of food is safe and doesnt have these things in it?

I think that’s what I did.  It just took me all day long to think to try to find it that way:-}  One of these days I’ll learn…

I’ve been looking for this post all day because I couldn’t remember which thread we were on and it finally occured to me after 9:00PM that I could look at my posting history to find the thread.  I,ve been trying to remember that I wanted to come back here and reply to this post because I wanted to say that this argument for dogs being omnivores is the best one you have come up with yet and I enjoyed reading it very much.  Even when I don’t agree with you, I love to learn from you, and I respect you.  Who knows, with a little more time to ponder, I may come to agree with you, but I still know my dogs have done best eating like carnivores and I’ve fed both ways, mostly for omnivores. 

 Hi Pattyvaughn,

Yes dogs do lack all of those things….. so do bears which are omnivores.

These pics hopefully will illustrate what I mean by flattened molars in dogs vs pointy ,molars in cats. 

Oh boy, this conversation we should have took to the forums.

Would it be more right to say a dog is a carnivore with some omnivorous tendencies, or a dog is an omnivore with some carnivorous tendencies?

I don’t have any argument with that, my argument is that you’re calling a dog an omnivore, when they are primarily carnivorous by design.

But Aimee if you want to call dogs omnivores with a dietary slant, you just as well call ALL animals omnivores with dietary slants one way or the other, don’t you think? What is a carnivore then? Or maybe there should be a reclassification for dogs to a cornivore? Bad joke I know.

Would you call a deer, an omnivore with a plant based dietary slant? They are known to occaisonally root through gut piles for fat, possibly even bone tidbits. Some have been reported to eat eggs out of nests, and it’s well documented that they sometimes even eat the wings and legs off birds, especially males that need more calcium. Even so, I wouldn’t call them omnivores with a plant based dietary slant.

Speaking of deer, many animals considered herbivores or primarily herbivores will chew on shed deer antlers for the mineral content. Shed antlers never last long in the wild.

Antelope will occaisonally eat lizards and rodents. The same with squirrels.

Some parts of the world, especially where phosphorous is deficient in soils, cows have been known to chew on animal bones and carcasses to satisfy that craving for phosphorous and/or protein, even though they sometimes die from botulism, or other disease they weren’t really able to or meant to cope with. And what about the bugs they eat along with the mouthful of grass?

 Toni I think you meant obligate carnivore not “obligatory”.

Seriously?  Dogs are not omnivores.  They lack salivary amylase to start the breakdown of starch in the chewing process, oh wait, they lack the teeth to chew plant matter at all.  They also don’t produce cellulase, which is necessary to break down plant cell walls.  They can survive on the plant material in kibble because of how it is processed, not because dogs were made to eat plants.  Remember how scientist, doctors, and nutritionists are always telling us to stay away from processed foods because they are unhealthy for you?  Kibble is about the most processed food in the world.  Dogs are carnivores and made to eat meat.

 Dogs are omnivorous, and can do alright for a while as vegetarians, but should have meat in their diet. Cats on the other hand are obligatory carnivores which means, “they MUST eat MEAT.” They should be restricted in their carb intake, and fed as close to pure protein as possible. This is not routinely done, and it is probably why we see so many sick cats.

I read a lot about that and wondered why our three dogs never experienced any problems.   They had been eating California Natural Lamb and Rice for over five years at the time that Proctor and Greedy bought Naturapet.  I recently very slowly transitioned them to grain free chicken and rice and haven’t seen any problems.  My long term goal is to feed my dogs regular food. I’m currently reading “Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs” The Definitive Guide to Homemade Meals by Lew Olson, PhD.  We should all feed homemade and put the greedy corporations out of business.

Dogs have no carb requirement at all.  People have been feeding low to no carb diets to dogs for many years and they thrive on it.  Yes, they can survive on a vegetarian diet, but I can survive on a diet of candy bars.  That doesn’t mean that is what I should eat or that I’d be particularly healthy on it.

Is anyone concerned about the fact that dogs are primarily omnivorous, and must have a carb:protein ratio of 2 or 3 to one? They can even do well on a vegetarian diet (tho might get a bit gassy).

my dog’s eat blue basics. has any one heard of calcium build up, from this food?

Yes, I’m aware of how to calculate the carbohydrate content of food.

What I’m saying is calories in a food are comprised of three components: protein, fat, and carbohydrates. A food has to have a high protein and fat content in order to have a low carbohydrate content. Moisture and ash levels are fairly similar from kibble to kibble so for comparative purposes it’s quickest to compare protein and fat levels.

John –

The following foods have the highest level of protein that I know of for dry foods (could have missed a food, but I think this list is pretty accurate):

Wysong Epigen 60%

EVO 42-52%

Premium Edge Healthy Weight I 44%

Artemis Fresh Mix Maximal 42%

Pinnacle Peak Protein 42%

Nature’s Variety Instinct 35-42%

Solid Gold Barking at the Moon 41%

Wysong Optimal Performance 40%

Orijen 38-40%

I agree with Storm’s Mom that checking out raw and canned foods will increase your options. All dry foods are going to be fairly carb heavy – even the higher protein ones. 

Generally the higher the protein level the lower the carb level, although fat levels need to be considered as well. Protein, fat, and carb percentages comprise 100% of a food so, for example, if two foods have the same exact protein content the food with the higher level of fat will have less carbs.

I really appreciate this site, but I have found 1 flaw with it.  I wish there was a way that you could search the dogfoods by what your looking for.  I have been hunting for almost a full day trying to find a “low carb” high protien food. If anyone has a suggestion please let me know.

Try Canadian Naturals…..

 jim – What  are the leading dog foods are you looking for?  Can you name a few brands?  Hills Science Diet?  Iams?  Blue? Taste of the Wild?  Pedigree?  Old Roy?  Purina Dog Chow?  Royal Canin?  Diamond?  Canidae?  Purina Pro Plan? Purina One?  Kirklands?  Benniful?

Why no reviews of the leading dog foods? And why do all the same stores show up when I search for dealers?

I have used solid gold product for 20 years and I have been well satisfied with them. I have a 4 month old shih tzu and she is on the small breed teeny bit solid gold and doing well.  good luck  thanks P. Hall

Am using Blue Buffalo seinor as I took two bags of TOTW that was on the recall list. I have 4 dogs and all four had diharria . My yard is double fenced to keep out other animals and since the dogs did not want to eat the TOTW food I knew that something was wrong. Yesterday On HLN I saw that TOTW had also been recalled, both bage that I had was on the list.
  My male shelty had bloody diharriah for a week. My vet, yes people, I have over four hundred dollars in vet bills because of this mess and I most certanly did take my dogs to their vet.
  I even added cooked boneless, skinless chicken breast and white rice to the dry food to get them to eat it. I feel blessed now that I kniow what it was that I did not loose any of my dogs. I am 66 years old and they are like my children. I really am tempted to start feeding them what I can cook if this recall continues to grow. God Bless our Fur Babies.

Your web page confuse the customer specially with the AFFCO information. I suggest to you to to AFFCO web page, below some findings:
Does AAFCO certify products?

No.  AAFCO has no regulatory authority to regulate feeds (and pet foods).  AAFCO also does not authorize, certify, test or otherwise approve animal feed. Only the individual states have the authority to approve animal feed to be distributed in their state under the authority of their state feed law. All of the states except Alaska have a commercial feed law. While each state (except for Alaska) has their own feed law and regulations, the labeling requirements of most states are similar and closely resemble AAFCO’s model regulations; however, some state laws can be very dated and others may be more up-to-date. For this reason, many companies find it easier to label their products according to the AAFCO models rather than try to comply with all of the different versions of the feed laws and regulations adopted by the states. If you follow the AAFCO Model Pet Food Regulations, you will probably meet all the states’ requirements”

I have a 2mo old yorkie and I have started him on Innova, I have a shih-poo as well. Yorkie was eating shih-poo’s Iams and I was told not to buy Iams for him, start him on the Innova. My question is what food would be best for my yorkie?

Thanks,
Elizabeth

Hi Massweet,

The answer to your question may be found in my article, “Still Think Your Dog’s Food Is 100% China Free?“.

Hope this helps.