Abady Classic Granular

ORIGINAL: Edie

Charlie the consistency of that food is really odd.How do dogs "eat" it?It looks like they'de have to lick it up??

Sandra,it would be interesting to see an ingredient list from SD and purina when they first came out.I wonder if thats possible?

Oh ... that would be interesting, Edie.  I'd like to see it, too.

I thought the same thing.  i hve never seen food that looked like that either.

ORIGINAL: Edie  Charlie the consistency of that food is really odd.How do dogs "eat" it?It looks like they'de have to lick it up??

They just pick it up.  There is no chewing involved.  They have a kibble, I but never bought a bag.  Great for the older Yorkie with no teeth!

Abady claims high carbs (needed to make most kibbles become a kibble through processing) is the foundation of plaque build-up and can ultimately problems with tooth decay and loss.  Granular feed concept corresponds more with "nature" being carnivores naturally gulp their food where they cannot with a kibble forcing them to chew.
 
 

ORIGINAL: sandra_slayton

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful.  My dad had one English that was just like the white/blck markings between your dogs black back and head.  He almost looked grey  I had never seen a dog with so much black spots or black fur mixed in with the white so that he appeard almost grey.  I wonder if he had some of this in him.

Hi Sandra,
The dog you're describing your father had is known as a Blue Belton and they are beautiful setters!

Markings and ColorMarkings
White ground color with intermingling of darker hairs resulting in belton markings varying in degree from clear distinct flecking to roan shading, but flecked all over preferred. Head and ear patches acceptable, heavy patches of color on the body undesirable. Color-orange belton, blue belton (white with black markings), tricolor (blue belton with tan on muzzle, over the eyes and on the legs), lemon belton, liver belton.standard setter
 
[linkhttp://images.google.com/images?hl=en&ned=us&q=Blue%20Belton&sa=N&tab=wi]http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&ned=us&q=Blue%20Belton&sa=N&tab=wi[/link]
 
[linkhttp://www.bluebelton.com/]http://www.bluebelton.com/[/link]


Charlie

Thanks Charlie.  I never knew that.  DUH and I grew up with setters (and pointers).   All our setters were white with black except my very first one, Beauty who was white with a little gold (I like gold over oranger or whatever).  But Commander was the only one that was what you called Belton.  I sure wish i had a picture of him to post.  I do believe you would have found him beautiful.
 
 My Dad always had either liver or lemon pointers and his younger brother got the first one i ever saw with black markings and named her Maggie (it seems same names ran over and over in the faimly.  My Dad had had a Maggie, we had two Luckys, etc.)  Anway, one day i was in the front yard and my uncle pulls up and there sits Maggie on the front seat with him----and my aunt and their two kids are in the back seat.

Early dog food, which was a product of the meat packers and "knackers" was granular like the Abady (you can still find some European feeds in similiar form) - in the days before WWII when grain was expensive and mostly produced locally.  Canned food was mostly horsemeat, as cars replaced horses as the primary means of transportation between the world wars.  The other feeding choice available was a hard baked slightly sweet "biscuit" - a term borrowed from the inventor, who was British (biscuits are the equivalent term for "cookie" here).

Extrusion was a technology that developed in conjunction with the second world war and was applied widely to dog food by the Purina Company in the 1950s.  At that time, dog food moved from the animal feed store or the butcher's to the grocery store for the first time.  Convenience was the name of the game for the wealthy but largely servantless households of the baby boom years.

Purina was probably one of the first to add a complete profile of vitamins to their feeds, although several of the previous products of the prewar years also did this and claimed to be "health foods", curing dogs of everything from worms to cancer (sound familiar?).  Dogs therefore did indeed do well on these feeds, compared to pure canned horsefeed or wheat-based biscuits or table scraps.  At the same time, Hill's and other companies developed their first specialty diets for renal failure and dogs with heart disease.  These were valuable tools to make sure a client wasn't feeding pure horsemeat to a dog with renal failure or bacon fat and bread crumbs to a dog with congestive heart failure.

Following Purina's lead, the big mills began producing foods that used the bits and pieces of the food industry.  The public at this time was pretty, um, unsceptical when it came to advertising.  Well, they are now, but industry was more in lockstep at that time - differing voices were hard to find.  So if it was advertised in the magazines, the radio, or TV, they believed it.  "Smoking is actually healthy for you!"  "Your desk will protect you in case of nuclear attack!"  "Table scraps will kill your dog!"

Thus they persuaded the public that dog nutrition was an obscure science that only dog food companies and experts could fathom.  We'll never know what the result was when the foxes were in charge of the henhouse.  Labels weren't required to offer complete nutritional information on dog food until just the last couple of decades or so ago. 

We are aware of what was going on in other industries and in government during this time.  It's difficult for me to believe, as an historian, that pet food producers were bucking the trend of milking the public's credibility for maximum profit - maximizing profit while decreasing quality of product or service.

Well, just an historic perspective.

So if it was advertised in the magazines, the radio, or TV, they believed it. "Smoking is actually healthy for you!" "Your desk will protect you in case of nuclear attack!" "Table scraps will kill your dog!"

 
 
[sm=rotfl.gif]I had to laugh at this because just THIS MORNING on our Family page my one brother posted "If it was published it has to be true."  He was talking about how our grandmother would read those things like National Inquirer and totally believed what she read becuase she felt it could not be published if it was not true.  He lived with her for 2 years while going to jr. college and would tease her about buying those "rags."  I don't think they were quite as outlandish back then as now.  One about a year ago had my hubby almost rolling in the floor at the grocery store--a severed leg hopped along beside the ambulance as it took the poor guy who had lost it to the hospital.  Now i dont think she would have believed THAT ONE.
 
When we first got TV's back in mid 50's the ad for Dr. Pepper said to drink it at 10, 2 and 4 to pep you up.  And she drank them and drank 2 a day, not the 3 they said you should drink but did drink one around 10 and another around 4:00.  She died 4 months short of her 100th birthday.
 
And YES, back in the 50's we did have "air attack drills' and would get under our desks at school  These also doubled as a tornado drill.  I had not thought of that in years til you mentioned it. 

The way they list their ingredients is hilarious to me. 
Every inferior ingredient has a little description next to it that's supposed to make it better. 
I should sell dog food.  I could use dog poo, soil, roadkill and restaurant grease to manufacture it and make a killing in profits.  The labeling would make all the difference, though:
 
Ingredients:
Canine fecal material (a natural source of nutrients from organic raw fed stock), Organic soil (a healthy source of minerals and fiber from rich, organic Carolina farming land), Mixed grass-fed meats and organs, and Omega 6 fattyy acid rich oils for healthy skin and coat. 
 
 

actually, that food seems far better than most, certainly superior to purina or SD. Good protein levels.  The only question is, what exactly is in their chicken by-product meal? by-products can be super nutritious organs and unpopular dark meats, or half-rotted slaughterhouse garbage.

ORIGINAL: starsenchis

The way they list their ingredients is hilarious to me. 
Every inferior ingredient has a little description next to it that's supposed to make it better. 
I should sell dog food.  I could use dog poo, soil, roadkill and restaurant grease to manufacture it and make a killing in profits.  The labeling would make all the difference, though:

Ingredients:
Canine fecal material (a natural source of nutrients from organic raw fed stock), Organic soil (a healthy source of minerals and fiber from rich, organic Carolina farming land), Mixed grass-fed meats and organs, and Omega 6 fattyy acid rich oils for healthy skin and coat. 

 
So funny and so true!!!

ORIGINAL: mudpuppy

actually, that food seems far better than most, certainly superior to purina or SD. Good protein levels.  The only question is, what exactly is in their chicken by-product meal? by-products can be super nutritious organs and unpopular dark meats, or half-rotted slaughterhouse garbage.

 
70 bucks a 40-pound box, I'm sure it's not the feather-grade meal!

In regards to "Canine Fecal Matter", years ago when feeding those dry kibble feeds my dogs used to eat poop off the ground.  It was pretty nasty.  Then a friend at work, a former rottie breeder and obedience trainer, had mentioned people have theorized poop eating is caused by a lack of protein in the diet, the dog can smell the protein in the poop and then eat in a quest for what is missing in the diet.  Interesting to note, my dogs haven't eaten poop off the ground in about 5 years, corresponding with the switch to Abady Granular.
 

What is "unpopular dark meats"?  On our chickens, the  dark meat was thighs and drum sticks and there was almost a fight over them with the other 4 kids--i liked the liver, gizzard and wings.    I see nothing wrong with the dark meat--in fact I have several legs cooking in crock pot right now for my dogs to have the next few nights.  And since when dogs kill a chicken, they usually eat the guts first, even that wouldn't bother me if it were in their food.  As for the feet---I can buy them at my WalMart store (GROSS looking things).  I have read they have a high percent of glucosamine in them.  I sometimes wonder if maybe the by products are better for the dogs, mostly as they is what they tend to eat first when they kill.

What is "unpopular dark meats"?

I only eat the breast part when we have chicken or turkey,and the dogs get the dark meat,drumsticks etc. I only buy chicken breasts,never thighs,i just dont like the taste of dark meat.
At xmas and thanksgiving we never buy a whole turkey,only the buffet breast ones.

There are by-products,and then there are by-products.By-products such as fresh liver,heart kidney etc are good for our dogs,and each animal only possesses one or two of these things.By-products such as feathers,snouts,horns,entrails,hoofs etc etc are not so good,and who knows how much of the food is made up of these things??.I'm sorry to say sandra that i'm pretty sure purina and the like use the latter,you cant make a first class product and use first class ingredients and sell the product at such cheap prices as they do,although i think their prices are over inflated when you look at the ingredients.

The point is when  a product lists by-products you have no idea what it is you're feeding your pets,by not stating the actual source they can use whatever ingredients are most cheapest and plentiful at the time.If their ingredients are so great why do they not list them on their packaging,if they used nice ingredients they would be proud to list them,what dont they want the customer to know that they have to hide their ingredients under by-products?

ORIGINAL: Edie

I'm sorry to say sandra that i'm pretty sure purina and the like use the latter,you cant make a first class product and use first class ingredients and sell the product at such cheap prices as they do,although i think their prices are over inflated when you look at the ingredients.

 
I think you can relate cost to the output of the feed, factor in marketing.  Calories are units of energy.   If you#%92re feeding a kibble, check and see how many calories per cup?  If you have to double it to get to around 800 Cals per cup, you mind as well double the cost of your $35 bag of food.