ronross
Posted : 1/21/2007 2:38:32 PM
ORIGINAL: jamcony
What is your opinion of this food?
Ingredients: Organic Chicken, Chicken Meal, Organic Ground Brown Rice, Organic Ground Oats, Organic Ground Barley, Lamb Meal, Organic Chicken Hydrolysate, Organic Peas, Organic Flaxseed Meal, Tomato Pomace, Chicken Fat (Stabilized with Mixed Tocopherols), Natural Flavors, Monocalcium Phosphate, Organic Sunflower Oil, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Organic Dried Tomatoes, Organic Cranberries, Organic Carrots, Organic Spinach, Organic Kelp, Dried Chicory Root, Turmeric, Garlic, Niacin Supplement, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Sulfate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Sodium Selenite, Rosemary Extract, Dried Yeast Fermentation Solubles. Metabolizable Energy ........................ 350 kcal/cup Guaranteed Analysis
This is "By Nature Organics Chicken Forumula." Mega-feed company Blue Seal (www.blueseal.com) has three super-premium lines that you won't find on their website, cf. Diamond and Chicken Soup: Brightlife, By Nature, and By Nature Organics. All three seem to be fine foods, albeit somewhat expensive, although I think the competition for shelf space is so fierce in the pet store channel these days that they are having a hard time getting them out there. I buy almost all my commercial food from petfooddirect.com and they have sent me samples of By Nature Organics twice. This is a 1lb bag that retails for $3. First I got a sample of cat kibble for free and recently they sent me the subject food for free with a very nice brochure for By Nature and By Nature Organics.
PFD seems committed to getting these lines off the ground. After I fed the Organic kibble to my kibble cat I liked it enough to buy two more 3.5lb bags. But how could I resist? PFD was offering them *two* for $6.99. This offer is not available at the moment.
However, you can buy *two* 6lb bags of the By Nature Natural Active Formula Adult Dry Dog Food from PFD for $6.99!
http://tinyurl.com/yoqppb) I think this is a very solid food and unbeatable at the special price. It lacks the panache of Nature's Variety and TImberwolf but based on WDJ ingredient criteria it holds up well.
When it comes to kibble, I think organic is a hype. Kibble is essentially grain, unfortunately, and when you add the extra cost of organic meat protein, it just makes for more grain in the formula. I think By Nature's regular line which is on sale at PFD probably has more meat than the Organic formula.
But here's the interesting thing to me. Blue Seal, like Diamond, makes every level of quality for sale in every distribution channel. They make products that match a price point for differing retail outlets people are comfortable with, be they feed stores or pet boutiques. All of them are "100% complete and balanced," just as all of Purina's lines are but what a variation in price and quality!
I think the lesson is that big buyers of nutritional raw materials could pretty much make any food they like. Anyone who feeds a seven year old dog kibbles and bits seems as unthinking to me as someone who eats flintstone vitamins as an adult. But companies like Purina are not morally evil because they market cheaply made foods available at convenience stores. We buy them because they are easily found and we don't want to know too much about feeding our pets.
Like Cadillac, they have their version of the Escalade, a truck with a nicer interior: e.g. Pro Plan, Chicken Soup, By Nature Organics, etc. but they're still kibbles, loaded with grain and as they approach $1.50/lb plus poor value compared to fresh "human" food from the supermarket.
I used to think I knew what I was doing when I bought dog food but since Dylan got giardia, *nothing* has agreed with him lately (TWO, Cal Nat, Natural Bal Ultra). Following the great dane lady's protocol with Panacur he seems better, but I was so upset about him eating (he lost a *lot* of weight on the giardia) and pooping that, just in case I had to go back to my vet, I'd try a "sensitive stomach" formula from Hills, Purina, etc. which she recommended. He's eating Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach now and getting better but I don't give the food much credit. The Panacur has killed the bug for now. Still I'm afraid to feed him any other kibble for a while and I've got unopened bags of Canidae lamb and Cal Nat chicken, not to mention the free sample of the subject food I just got. [
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And this was a dog that happily ate Innova, Nature's Variety, Canidae, Wysong, Timberwolf Organics, Natural Balance, etc. etc. until he got the bug. So as long as his poop has form I'm no longer so much of a snob.
That said, if you are interested in the subject food, check out the special on By Nature at PFD. It's a lot of food for the money.
Ron