How bad are brewers rice/rice hulls?

oh duh I forgot to post the ingredients:

lamb meal, brewers rice, brown rice, chicken fat, beet pulp, natural lamb flavor, rice hulls, brewers yeast, etc etc.

So yeah, I don't really wanna keep feeding this food, but dangit its the only food thats working!! Does anyone have any suggestions on another food similar to this but without the brewers rice and rice hulls??

I recently bought this exact stuff. The only super-premium that worked for my pack was Canidae and I suspect that Boomer might have a sunflower oil problem. To possibly avoid some of the previous problems we've had I took a step down the quality scale and while we've only been on it half a 40 lb bag I'm thrilled that this is the only switch we've made that didn't tear Boomer's stomach up.

Anyway, about the rice - from www.dogfoodproject.com

Brewers Rice

Also appears in ingredient lists as ground Brewers Rice.

AAFCO: The small milled fragments of rice kernels that have been separated from the larger kernels of milled rice.

A processed rice product that is missing many of the nutrients contained in whole ground rice and brown rice. Contrary to what many pet food companies want to make you believe, this is not a high quality ingredient, just much cheaper than whole grain rice.

Rice Hulls

AAFCO: The outer covering of rice.

An inexpensive byproduct of human food processing, serving as a source of fiber that is considered a filler ingredient.

As bad ingredients go, these aren't horrible.

Sorry I really don't have any other suggestions, surely other people will, but if it's working why worry too much?

I would have to see the exact definition (nutrient profiles), but it seems to me that the Sensible Choice stuff is just using brewers rice the same way Canidae uses white rice. Both are devoid of much nutritional value unless the white rice is enriched (which I doubt for dog food), and even then it's synthetic minerals as opposed to what you get naturally from brown rice. I don't like the use of rice hulls and salt in the formula, but at face value (ingredients list without weights), it looks like a good pet store food.

I guess I'll stick with it for a while then.  At least there is regular brown rice in there too. I am just thrilled that Jetta actually eats this food! (we'll see how long that lasts..[>:]).

I know alot of dogs who've had great success with Sensible Choice.  Have you looked at California Natural, it's real basic like Sensible Choice.

Some other basic lamb foods include:
Breeder's Choice Avo Derm Specialty
Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice

They are not terrible....both give a good source of fiber (which is vital to good digestive health) and the brewer's rice also provides a good source of carbohydrates.

 I am so glad you've found something that is helping Jetta;  [] considering how much trouble she's had before I'd say stick with this food.

scale and while we've only been on it half a 40 lb bag I'm thrilled that this is the only switch we've made that didn't tear Boomer's stomach up.

 
Kelly; I'm glad that you have found something that Boomer can tolerate; I hope it continues to work for him. []

I took out the Eagle Pack brochure to see if Brewer Rice is in Eagle and it must be because its listed under whole grains and says : Brewers Rice - This is broken pieces of human grade rice used in the manufacture of food and beverages.  Must be in many many things we eat and drink.

No doubt, others will think of some ingredient such as grains and grain fragments as being nothing more than filler and devoid of nutritional benefit. Actually, such ingredients as grains do have several important nutrients and this info can be found at websites having nothing to do with pet nutrition. In fact, I found some info at a website that detailed a new piece of equipment that analyses grain by means of infrared.
 
Let's pretend for a moment, that a grain fragment had absolutely no nutritional value, could not be absorbed in the GIT, was nothing more than filler and did nothing more than act as a binder to hold meat and a few veggie fragments together. That means it would pass on through the GIT and the food would present a higher animal protein profile to the GIT, n'est pas? If it was devoid of value and th GIT couldn't handle it, it would pass right on through. To the body, it would seem to be mainly meat, plus other stuff it passes. Does that sound logical?
 
OTOH, since the body can absorb some stuff from some fragments, then they are viable sources of nutrients, in addition to meat products. Nicht wahr?
 
 

I think my comment was misconstrued. What I was attempting to get across is that both brewers rice and white rice are stripped down grains that don't offer as much nutritionally as whole ground brown rice, just by way of the process that takes place to produce the ingredients. I was in no way saying that they offer zero in the way of vitamins and minerals.

If there is some reason other than lowering the cost of the food for using any version of rice except brown, I'd be very interested in that. Ron, you know my thoughts on various foods better than to think I'm on some holier than thou campaign. [sm=lol.gif]

ORIGINAL: schlep

I think my comment was misconstrued. What I was attempting to get across is that both brewers rice and white rice are stripped down grains that don't offer as much nutritionally as whole ground brown rice, just by way of the process that takes place to produce the ingredients. I was in no way saying that they offer zero in the way of vitamins and minerals.

I agree.  Brewers Rice isn't horrible, but whole grain brown rice is the best of the rices.

Believe it or not, I wasn't directing the question particularly at you. I wanted to ask papillon not only because she has the background to answer this question but asking her would hopefully seem like I was not attacking anyone for making the statement. That is, I wanted to sound out a logical concept that came to mind. Not only could she answer, but she wouldn't take it the wrong away and take it as a personal offense.
 
I do apologize if you thought I was aiming the statement at you. There have been several people make a statement about grains and grain fragments. To, me what is often said does not logically pan out. I want to see if Papi's knowledge supports my logical conclusion. I suppose I could have pm'd but eventually such concepts will find their way into discussions.

it's not a bad food. Lamb meal, some filler, some rice. They put the brewer's rice in there to bulk up the food and keep the cost of the food down-- which means you'll need to feed fairly large volumes and clean up fairly large volumes of poop, but if you're fine with that, and the dog is happy, it won't hurt anything.
Probably be cheaper per serving to make your own lamb n rice dinners.