Bil-Jac

It's got some suspicious ingredients- chicken by-products, which is the "garbage" left over after they take all the usuable parts-- mostly intestines, which aren't terribly nutritious. Also laden with sugar and corn, ingredients I prefer to avoid.

I don't like this food either.

I think it is one of the best foods out there.  They have a very unique manufacturing process which maintains the freshness of there ingredients, there by-products are organ meats only and it is highly nutritious as is corn, but the only way to really tell if it will work for your dog is to try it and see what type of results you get.

Do the byproducts comprise the bulk of the meat?  If so, and this is in fact organ meat, then this food would exceed the "average 5% per day" on organ meat.  I don't disagree that corn is ok, so long as it is not used as a substitute source of protein.

I have no problem with by-products, but this food contains absolutely *no* muscle meat at all, just organs.  Also, molasses is pretty far up in the ingredient list.  I would imagine this would cause a glucose level rollercoaster.  I'm sure it's quite tasty though.

I wouldn't feed it for the reasons stated above.

Bil jac probably is the tastiest food and although it is high in molasses I would worry more about the preservatives used in the kibble.  I know the manufacturers claim in such low amounts it won't do any harm, but they still are known carcinogens  If not for that, I would feed it in a heartbeat.

i fed bil-jac for the whole of my last dogs life.  then when i got this puppy i researched for good food.  i was very upset to read the ingred after learning what was good.  i paid a lot of money for a food i thought was good.  (last dog-golden ret-died age 11 of cancer)

I have no problem with by-products, but this food contains absolutely *no* muscle meat at all, just organs

It uses chicken a muscle meat, by products and eggs as its protien sources? There are numerouse myths on the internet about dog food nutrition, chicken meal is also a "by-product" of human food production, it is not chicken breast but rather, bone, cartlidge, skin and the left over trimmings, try the food and see what results you get.

[linkhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=15995166&dopt=Abstract]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=15995166&dopt=Abstract[/link]

My dogs have done wonderfully on Bil-Jac.  My mentor feeds it to the puppies and nursing mothers as well, and they all do great.  It is one of the best for picky eaters and its nice for older dogs because it crunches up so easily.  The only reason that I am not feeding it now is because my old work closed and Petco's prices are way too high on it.  Even with my discount, I would pay more than many other foods.  However, if I could get it at a decent price again, I would definitely use it. 
As with any food:  It is only as good as your dogs do on it!  If they do great, then it is a great food.  If they do poorly, then its not a good food...for you! 

I used this food under very intense performance conditions with several of my dogs for quite a few months and got the best results I've gotten for ANY food, including several super premiums like EVO, Solid Gold, Canidae, to name a few. I came to the conclusion that my extremely hard working dogs just do better with the carbs. Please note, I only feed half kibble and the other half is raw/homemade. But that's always been true.

It's not just organ meat. Chicken is the first ingredient. I gather from the way the ingredients are listed that it's basically most of the chicken - meat, organs, and "stuff" (frames, feet, heads, etc), which I would feed in whole form anyway if I didn't have a dog that is violently allergic to chicken (making it dangerous to even store whole chickens in freezer or fridge which he can access easily [8|]).

One thing I like is that the fat levels are very high but without added fat sources. This means I don't have to wonder where the fat came from, how it was stored or preserved, or whether it's pure. What a concept - raise the fat level by adding meat that has more fat. Wow - that's pretty holistic in the sense I feel is best for my dogs. Fat from a chicken seems a lot more natural than fat from a sunflower (though I do like sunflower oil too, don't get me wrong).

I was pretty turned off for a while by the corn, but then a lot of the other companies started adding four or five different grain sources to their formulas and suddenly it felt more important to me that this food had just plain, old, whole corn. I was getting tired of deciding that oats were good but millet and rice were not, and then having a favorite food reduce the oats and add millet or rice.

It was highly palatable and easy for puppies and my dog with a mouth deformity to eat.

Well, anyway, I don't use it anymore because I found a very similiar food that is locally milled, for one quarter the price (well, less actually). If I hadn't I'd certainly still be using it.

I have seen nothing but excellent results when feeding Bil Jac. Only food that keeps the weight on a couple of my show boys, and wonderful coats when on this food. Nursing Mom's do wonderful on it, and puppies. My handler has top ranked Sammy's in the nation, and hers have the best coats out there, all fed Bil Jac. We only feed the Frozen, and dry on the road.  The frozen has no preservatives. Most of my Pugs are on Nature's Logic, TO, and now a couple on Wellness Core, but two boys on the Bil Jac. As soon as I switched to any of the above foods, coats weren't as good, and these two boys lost weight. Probably will still feed it to my nursing Mom's. I see that most people that put down Bil Jac, have never really fed it, or haven't had litters of puppies and nursing Mom's to really see this food does give good results.

Bil-Jac was the ONLY food that jump-started Wolfie's appetite and got him at a good weight.  My rescue pup, Falon, was on Bil-Jac at the kennel she was staying at before I got her, and she looked fabulous.  I do not feed it to them atm, but would not hesitate to feed it in the future or recommend it to others experiencing simliar problems. 

I've never fed Bil-Jac long term, but both the dry and the frozen are excellent for puny appetites or picky eaters. It does contain chicken by-products and chicken, does not use a separate fat source, and has a unique cooking process. Definitely worth a try if it interests you.