Nutrition is my passion and I have been studying canine nutrition for the past 5 years, and human nutrition for more than 10 years.

Keep in mind that a kibble's nutritional content claim is devised as if all the food was raw, and they are not required to tell you how much nutrient is left once they are done extruding it. The extrusion process cooks it at extremely high temps (ever heard of cooking all the nutrients out of the food?) and pressure, which makes it into a certain uniform shape.

Pet food labeling is also deceptive in other ways. For example, “meat" is not beef, but rather all the OTHER stuff that does not fall under the descriptions of chicken, beef, pork, poultry, lamb, etc. If it were beef, they would be more than proud to tell you. By-products usually contain all the indigestible portions of the animal, and NONE of the actual meat (the actual meat goes into fish sticks and chicken tenders, etc.) Dogs in the wild would typically get a balance of both in their diet, and only getting the hard-to-digest portions is taxing on their system.

When using all this waste in dog food, they have to make it look palatable so they use artificial colors, flavors and other "enhancers" to make it look and smell pleasing to us, and also appeal to our pets. These things only have to be cleared from the body and further taxes the organs, lowering their immune system.

Dog foods also need to be preserved, and in order to keep it's shelf life measurable in years, they may use very harsh chemicals to preserve it. When food is more than a year old at room temperature, I know I would be very suspicious of how good it was for me.

Ethoxyquin, polyethylene glycol, BHA and BHT have been used as rubber stabilizers, color stabilizers, herbicides and pesticides, and they just so happen to also retard spoilage. Therefore, why would I want to feed my pet a suspected or known carcinogen?

So, what does this all mean for your pet? The proteins are mostly biologically unavailable to your dog and therefore pass through undigested. I think it should be a CRIME for these pet food companies to claim that dog food is 100% of what your pet needs and even discourage your from supplementation.

Even at 100% of the requirements, that is only the minimum for a beagle (the breed that was used in the experiments) to stay disease free for 2 years. What is wrong with that picture? I don't want my pet to simply "get by" on his diet; I want him to be a robust picture of health! Also, what if the dogs in the experiments all got sick in their 3rd to 5th year? I don't want that either! And what if I have a different breed of dog? Does it have different nutritional requirements? Or is it the same no matter if my dog is a Japanese Chin, a Dane, a Pug, a working dog, a pampered foof? Is food one size fits all? I somehow cannot believe that.

Therefore, the first things I do when working with someone's nutritional program, is recommend what I think is best for most dogs. I strongly suggest a home-prepared diet with non-processed human grade foods (Purely Pets provides recipes available for those who are interested). Pitcairn's book is a good resource because not only does he explain canine and feline nutrition, complete with recipes, but it also is a valuable resource when your animal is sick or hurt.

Nutrition is the cornerstone of your pet's health and nothing else you do will work as well if that is not improved. I suggest starting off with a good diet, and FILTERED water, and go from there. In my opinion, it is futile to solve a pet's skin or other health problems without starting here first. You want the body working toward one goal -- better total health.

If you are simply not ready to step up to a home-prepared diet, but DO want to switch to a better kibble, there is a whole strata of kibble out there that is preserved naturally and made of only wholesome ingredients. A consultation with our resident canine nutritionist is recommended to decide which one is best for your dog. After much consideration and research, Purely Pets recently discontinued Owen & Mandeville's Sirius line, and is carrying the following pet foods listed below:

Flint River Ranch Dry Dog Food
AZMIRA CLASSIC or LIFESTYLE formulas for Dogs and Cats
FLINT RIVER RANCH LAMB, MILLET and RICE kibble: