Home Cooking for fluffs

[Crystal&Zoe]

The Whole Dog Journal recently put out an article enlightening us at to what constitutes AAFCO approval. I'm sorry to say I was sadly disappointed and no longer think that AAFCO approval such an important thing. Just because a food is AAFCO certified does not mean it is truly complete and balanced. Nor does it mean that it will not cause future problems. Here's just a brief synopsis of what was printed in the WDJ.

The feeding trial (1 of 3 ways to get AAFCO certified) is only 26 weeks and using one example, mineral excesses may take a year or more to cause health problems. Another way to become AAFCO certified is through a 'family member'. So if one of the formulas passed the feeding trial, all the other formula's no longer need to be individually tested. The AAFCO nutrient profiles allow for a wide range of values. According to the WDJ, it is far from being some sort of industry 'standard', or offering suggestions for optimum nutrition. They actually offer only broad guidance. Better than nothing and the WDJ suggests it at least gets a pet food maker into the ball park. The WDJ states "But in our opinion, it's farcical to qualify all the products with such a wide range of nutrient levels as 'complete and balanced' --especially with the common mistaken inference that all the products carrying that statement are somehow equal".


That 'family member' way of getting AAFCO approval is particularly scary! I prefer to listen to holistic vets and vet nutritionists who have taken years to really study this. Mine have been on Dr. H's for almost 3 years now. It is one of the few foods I sell at my store. I wanted to be sure, not only for mine, but that I could tell my customers with complete honesty and peace of mind, that mine are getting everything they need nutritionally from Dr. H. So I had mine tested every 3 months for the first year. I'm one of those people that think, 'if this is good, then adding this must be even better'. So I added Animal Essentials Multi-Vitamin every other day to their food and AE's Green Alternative on the off days. My thinking was the amount of Copper in the Green Alternative...not wanting too much copper and therefore decided to alternate between the two. There is no calcium at all in the Green Alternative but a low amount of calcium in the Multi-Vitamins. The very first test came back with Jett's levels perfect. However Zoe's phospherous level was a tad bit low. I called Dr. H and he was shocked that Zoe's phospherous level was low. So after a very lengthy conversation with Dr. H, it came out I was adding the Multi-Vitamin. So I stopped the Multi-Vitamin and the Green Alternative and both of their levels have been perfect ever since. So there is the perfect balance in Dr. H's mix and by adding a tiny bit more calcium was enough to through Zoe's level off. Now every dog is different and one dog could need more or less of this or that then another. But that would apply to any commercial food as well as any of the Pre-Mixes.

That being said, everyone needs to feed what they are comfortable feeding. For me, if I were looking at feeding a human child, feeding a steady diet of processed kibble type food vs. fresh real food seems to be pretty obvious as to which is best. So I do the same for my fur kids. However, if I could not afford to feed my furkids this way, I would feed them a high quality canned commercial food knowing I'm doing the best I can do.

[Nikki's Mom]

If I could not afford to home cook, I'd first go with a grain-free canned food that was in my price range first. Grain-free kibble, second.

Because I had to deal with a very sick Bichon for 15 years before I got my Malts, I decided that I'd home cook way before I even got Nikki, and started adjusting my budge. I feel that I can't afford NOT to home cook. But that is my choice, and I don't judge anyone for what they feed their dog. These days, we all do the best we can with the time and money we have.

I feel that the best way to figure out what works for you is to never blindly take advice from anyone - even "experts," but instead, do your OWN research, try different things, and have your dog's blood work checked to see if what you are doing is working. That is a good way to know what works best for YOUR lifestyle and YOUR budget and what YOUR dogs will thrive on.

This subject seems to always be contentious because some folks (including me) have strong feelings about what to feed dogs. I certainly do not want to tell anyone here what to do, or wish to hurt anyone's feelings.

My reason for posting on this subject is to provide info so that YOU can do your OWN homework and hear BOTH SIDES of opinions on various feeding methods in order to make a truly INFORMED decision.