Bil-Jac

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 think that 5% level is only a concern if you feeding mostly liver. Chicken by-products as used in dog foods are mostly intestines, which is probably the least nutritious part of the chicken.
certainly bil-jac is superior to many of the dog foods out there.

Hmmmm, you could be right mudpuppy.  I've been wrong before.  However, for some reason that 5% is sticking in this old brain as total organ consumption.

My last dog ate Bil Jac the first 8 months of his life.  He gained so much weight that the vet had us put him on Adult food at that point.  He just blew up!  He loved the food but for some dogs it does put weight on them.  We battled the bulge with him for his whole life after that.  This time I want to keep my pup lean so I stayed away from considering it.  I also HATE the guy in our area who promotes the food.   He is a snake. 

My aunt's dobie is about eight years old and has been on Bil-jac her entire life.  She (the dog) is just gorgeous, with excellent body condition.  Probably helps that she's not a big eater, because I've heard that Bil-jac is great for gaining weight.

It's hard to say Glenda. Most raw diet plans recommend 5% of the diet be organs, but the organs they talk about are rich nutritious organs- liver, brain, kidney, tripe-- not intestines. I've never seen a diet plan that suggested feeding intestines.

ORIGINAL: SummersAngel

K looking for some feedback on Bil-Jac dog food..is it good..is decent..is it bad?

 
My folks have a 17 1/2 year old peke that eats bil-jac.  It's the only kibble she's ever eaten. 
 
Now at her age she's got some health issues, but nothing GI related at all. 

Most raw diet plans recommend 5% of the diet be organs, but the organs they talk about are rich nutritious organs- liver, brain, kidney, tripe-- not intestines. I've never seen a diet plan that suggested feeding intestines.

 
I really don't know which organ meat is the best for dogs.  I mostly use calf liver or chicken gizzards in my girls stew, sometimes chicken livers, but not often.  As for a recipe not calling for intestines, i don't think you can find them very easily in stores....have seen chicken feet and chicken heads in the store, but no "guts".  Would almost have to raise your own and slaughter them to get the intestines.  But i h ave read that intestines are some of the best things for dogs.  Guess it all depends on which nuttitionist you read.

where have you read this? a dog food company looking for a cheap source of protein?
chitterlings, which are pork intestines, are widely available for sale. If you look up nutritional content, it has protein and fat and practically no vitamins or mineral content. Most raw feeder feed organs specifically to add vitamins and minerals to the diet.

No, not from some dog food company trying to push cheap food or whatever.  I have read i more than once, but this was the only place I remembered.  She has a large atricle on ingredients, etc.  She lists some foods that people swear by, but says she doesn't agree with all of them.  And she does not say what she feeds because she feels everyone needs to find wha works best for their dog.  It is interesting reading.
 
[linkhttp://woodhavenlabs.com/dogfoods.html]http://woodhavenlabs.com/dogfoods.html[/link]

LOL!  Sure can't find chitterlings in the north country!  Down South they are plentiful and in demand by many of the ethnic groups, but shoot, we don't even have ONE single ethnic grocery up this way, forget the mainstream groceries carrying it!

our puppy emma is on bil-jac. we tried it after her parvo treatments thanks to a recommendation from brookcove.

she had refused to eat everything else we put down for her (including three different brands/varieties of kibble, canned, kibble mixed with beef broth). she was severely malnourished, skinny, and still feeling the effects of the parvo. i think it is safe to say that the bil-jac saved her life. much more time without eating and i dont think she would have survived.

so far we have kept her on it. the vet was impressed with her weight gain and overall improvements at her last checkup.

we will probably switch her to what the other dogs eat once she goes off puppy food, but i wouldnt hesitate to use bil-jac again.

the only two things i will say about bil-jac are 1) the pieces look nothing like any dog food i have ever seen before. 2) it is smelly! not a lingering smell, but you definitely know it when the lid on our food container is open!

I will probably stick to the food I have Buster on right now since I know that works for him. But I may consider it in the future. My neighbor uses it for her jack russel and she has lost weight since being on it. So thats a little weird to hear people say they gain weight. Her dogs coat has shined up alot. She says she notices a big difference.

It's got to be healthier than the corn-based diets you see for sale. At least the primary source of protein in it is an animal-based protein.
The sugar content bothers me more than the by-products.

Madi has been eating Bil Jac senior for about the last 8 months.  She was on the nutro natural before this. As with everything she gets meat addded with this.
 
She has lost weigh and is finally eating without coaxing or letting it sit for hours.
 
I ran out last week and had to give her some of the left over Nutro I had and she refused to eat for the entire day.  At this point she is eating.  Her liver counts have leveled out and her weight is back to normal.  I am more then willing to give her something else but what is out there that she will eat?

I used bil-jac for my girl Nara (rip).  At first I fed her as much as I'd fed her of whatever I'd fed her before and she gained weight.  Then I looked on the bag for the proper amount, haha, reduced it to that, and she went back to her original fit self.

The really funny thing about bil-jac dog food though, is that not only did my dog stop eating the cat food when I switched her to BJ, but so did the CAT!!  It was the first time in my life I ever saw a cat eat the dog's food and snub their own.