roothy
Posted : 10/29/2009 8:34:50 PM
Well, at least you work for Petco, not Petsmart. There is NO food in there that I would feed my dogs, but at least Petco has Wellness, Nat Balance, etc. Sure wish you had my favorite (California Natural) or second favorite (Taste of the Wild), but lots of places don't have those, so no big deal! Anyway, the best site I've found on dog food is dogfoodproject.com. In plain English, the author explains how to identify better products. It's not terribly long, and very no-nonsense and objective, so it's a good read. My neighbor is a human nutritionist, and she was feeding her dogs table food before one got sick and the vet suggested she feed (of course) Science Diet. She mentioned Yoda wasn't doing well on SD, and didn't like it, so I gave her the dog food guide on dogfoodproject.com to read. It really opened her eyes, and she told me it was an excellent primer on dog nutrition. (She should know, since she works for the Food and Drug Admin. as a nutritionist! She has since selected Cal Nat and is very happy with it.)
I doubt you'll get any really heavy duty questions at the seminar. Most people don't know much about dog food. I've been reading a TON of stuff about canine nutrition, food, allergies, etc. because of my allergic dog, but it has taken me months of reading to get to where I am today - and that is light years ahead of most people, I suspect.
I know corn gets bashed a lot, but in reality, I agree that corn is not really BAD - it's just not adding much of anything good - and if your dog is allergic to grains, it's awful! I see it kind of like me eating fries and a frosty from Wendy's - some redeeming quality, but mostly just making me fat!
I have not fed tripe, so I haven't a clue about it. However, one of my clients feeds it, along with a lot of other stuff (beef, pork, etc. - got quite a rotation going for her hunting dogs). She feeds a whole can, just like she does the beef, etc.
No, Petsmart doesn't sell Solid Gold, Wellness or NB. I'm not kidding when I say they literally have nothing I'd feed my two dogs! They have a huge store and lots of brands, but it's all SD, Euk, Royal Canin,Nutro,etc.- ick! Oh well, I should be nicer............
So, pointers? Well, some people think the better foods are too expensive, but someone on a dogster.com forum computed how much it would cost to feed bad vs good food, and the differnce was minimal because you feed less of a better food. Even I was amazed! Also, with good food there's less poop, since the dog actually uses more of the food and doesn't just eliminate it.....And, if you feed your dog good food, you just might see him live longer than if he eats crap....and you might have lower vet bills because he's going to be more healthy....
The prebiotics in Euk? Well, it took me a while to understand the difference between prebiotics, probiotics, and digestive enzymes, but that might be worth boning up on......although I'm not totally convinced yet that all dogs need all those things...but I could be wrong!
So many dogs, especially the little ones, seem to have allergies - I would let people know that some foods are better than others for that (like NB) and that if you suspect food allergies, you should switch to a protein that the dog hasn't eaten before. A lot of people don't understand how allergies work - i.e., that you aren't born with them, you develop them after being exposed to them.
Sorry I've rambled, but just wanted to give you some ideas! Email me if you want clarification!