Ideal Food for Dogs is not Kibble Part 3

I love giving Huggy Stella and Chewy's.  I used to serve Huggy Bear Acana dog food soaked with some warm water, with some Stella and Chewy's freeze dried raw dog food sprinkled on top.  When I started feeding Huggy Orijen, I did the same.  I sprinkled some Stella and Chewy's on top.

Stella and Chewy's freeze dried dog food is expensive, but from reading how they prepare the dog food, the ingredients that they use, and the care they take in eliminating any bacterial content, I was sold.  I was convinced that this is a good treat to give to Huggy Bear.

Stella and Chewy's also eliminated all of the time, effort, and money that I would have needed to give Huggy Bear raw dog food.  Granted, I don't give Huggy all raw dog food like I had hoped to, but I figure one patty of the raw food per meal, along with Orijen is better than none at all.  This is a compromise that sits well with me.

One thing I have learned when I prepare Orijen+Stella and Chewy's+warm water is that you have to wait for the water to cool down a bit before adding the Stella and Chewy's sprinkle.  Otherwise, the raw food gets cooked by the warm water and the food loses the rawness, which negates the whole point of this.  The Stella and Chewy's actually starts to turn from a reddish brown color to grayish brown color when it gets cooked.

Then I started thinking about how all of the fresh ingredients in Orijen dog food gets cooked in to a tiny, brown, round kibble.  How do they do that?  It does not look like anything it claims to have in it; kind of like a hot dog.  And it's got all of the water sucked out of it; kind of like breakfast cereal.  It's kind of like a hot dog breakfast cereal.  Gross.  More on the nature of kibble in my next post.

Ideal Food for Dogs is not Kibble Part 2

Huggy Bear at Cleveland National Forest, CA

I started Huggy off on Acana dog food, and I was pretty happy with that choice.  Then, I started thinking about what dogs will eat in the wild.  Since dogs are carnivores, I was pretty sure that they were not out in the wild grazing grass or hunting for corn.  I was thinking that they would hunt live animals, kill them, and eat them raw, as I did not think dogs are capable of starting a camp fire, gathering around, and roasting whatever it is that they killed on a stick.  That would make for a very humorous picture though.

I then thought about what kind of animals dogs would eat.  Anything smaller than dogs would probably be a good choice, like chicken, duck, fish, etc.  Also, if dogs worked as a pack, they can probably take down sheep, or maybe deer, which is probably the biggest animal that they would consider pursuing for a meal.  I reached an interesting conclusion that dogs would probably not bother taking down a cow, as it poses too big of a risk for the dogs due to the size and strength of a cow.  One kick from a cow, and the dog is history.  Better to stick with the chicken.

So, I came to the conclusion that they eat raw meat and bones in the wild.  It's not exactly a pretty picture to imagine your cute dog ravenously chomping down on bloody raw carcasses of God knows what, but if you've ever seen those nature shows, and if you reason it through your head, this is ultimately the conclusion that you would reach.  I did some research on the Internet, and I found out that I was not alone in reaching this conclusion.  It turns out that there is a term for this type of feeding, raw feeding, and there is a lot of information on the Internet on this subject, although most of the information seems to be from personal experience and not anything from scientific journals or studies.

So, next, I was wondering how I can do this for Huggy.  I would have to figure out how to buy a whole animal to feed Huggy.  I was thinking lamb at this point.  I would have to learn how to skin, gut, and clean a whole lamb (gross!)  I would also have to find a clean space to do the gutting.  Since Huggy won't be able to eat an entire lamb all at once, I would probably have to get one of those serial killer freezers and put it in the garage (creepy!)  and store a lamb carcass in it (even creepier!)  I would also be concerned about bacteria and viruses, so I would have to get an irradiation equipment to eliminate contaminants without cooking the meat (do I have to purchase a meat processing factory?!?!?)  I would also have to find the time and money to do all of these things.  Plus, I would have to get approval from my wife, who I'm pretty sure is against strapping a dead lamb on top of our SUV and bringing it home for gutting.  I also think our neighbors would not have appreciated me doing this.

So thus, I concluded that I can't raw feed Huggy.  It's too much work, and I didn't have enough money to get all of the equipment I need.  I am kind of a germaphobe, so I just couldn't let that irradiation equipment go as part of the raw feeding process, plus I didn't want our family to be the "crazy" family in the neighborhood either.  There are just too many factors working against me.

The next question I asked myself is, "Is there a compromise or an alternative solution?"  That's when I found Stella and Chewy's freeze dried raw dog food.

To be continued on the next post.

Ideal Food for Dogs is not Kibble Part 1

I want to share how I came to feeding Huggy Bear Orijen dog food soaked in warm water with Stella and Chewy's freeze dried raw dog food.

Stella & Chewy's Freeze Dried Raw Dog Food

This is a learning process that I went through after I had just adopted Huggy from the German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County.  They told me that they were feeding Eukanuba to Huggy Bear, so I decided to get the same thing for him to keep things as consistent as possible.

I went to the pet store, and I looked around at all of the dog food.  I compared prices with other dog food, and I felt assured that since Eukanuba was relatively expensive, that I was getting fairly good dog food.  One thing that bothered me was that when I looked at the ingredients list, I did not recognize any of the ingredients in the kibble.  I figured it was a difference between how human grade food and pet grade food are labeled.  With that justification, I didn't give it too much thought at this point.

Huggy Bear wouldn't eat Eukanuba.

After talking to various people, I heard Science Diet mentioned a bunch of times.  Even vets recommend Science Diet.  They keep them in their office for sale.  How could I go wrong with Science Diet?

Huggy Bear wouldn't eat Science Diet.

Then, I started researching different kinds of dog food on the Internet.  I was in for a shocking learning experience.  I'll explain what some of the ingredients that left an impression on me.

• Anything with "meal" after it is the completely ground up, dried form of whatever it is that precedes it, a powder form of the ingredient.  For example, corn "meal" is completely ground up, dried powder corn.  
• When the ingredient is non-specific, it means that legally, the manufacturers could not specify whatever that ingredient is.  For example, "Animal Fat" is fat that can be from any animal.  It can be from Kobe beef, or it can be from dogs and cats euthanized at shelters.  Who knows.  In any case, when I ask myself would I eat "Animal Fat," or would I feed it to an important member of my family, the answer is no.  
• Anything with "by-product" after it is the scraps and leftovers from processing whatever it is that precedes it.  For example, chicken by-product is chicken feathers, bones, toes, beaks, etc, all ground up and processed.  It's everything in the chicken that you would not eat, and your dog should probably not eat as well.  

So, I searched and searched on the Internet if there is any kibble that does not contain any non-specific ingredients and by-product ingredients.  I also took a step back and thought about the scientific classification of a domestic dog in the animal kingdom.
From Wikipedia:

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Genus:	Canis
Species:	C. lupus
Subspecies:	C. l. familiaris[1]

It might be obvious, but if you look at the Order, the classification is Carnivora.  Dogs are carnivores.  They need meat.  Simple.  With that in mind, I set out to search dog food manufacturers that understood this and followed through in their products.

I spent a lot of time on this web site www.dogfoodanalysis.com.  Their analysis is close to the rationale that I used to search for my dog food.  After spending hours on that site, I came to the conclusion that Orijen was the way to go.  Their protein content is high, they use natural, human grade ingredients to make their kibble, and they are responsible in the way they harvest the ingredients.

The only thing that worried me was that it could be too big of a jump for Huggy Bear to go from Science Diet to Orijen.  I was afraid that Huggy eating Orijen all of the sudden would be like someone who eats McDonalds every day of their life all of a sudden switching to a completely organic, balanced diet.  Completely organic diet is definitely better for you, but your body may not be able to handle the adjustment, possibly resulting in the runs.  So I decided to get Acana dog food, which is the cheaper version of Orijen, and then after a couple of months, transition him to Orijen.

To be continued on my next post.

Nutritional Analysis of Huggy Bear's Home Made Dog Food Part 2

Huggy Bear at Waikiki

So let's analyze the nutritional content of Huggy Bear's home made dog food.  I looked up all of the ingredients that are in Huggy's basic food on the USDA web site, which I consider to be a trustworthy source of unbiased information on food.

Of the 22 components listed on the Vitamin Supplement, the home made dog food was short on 9 items, and 2 that were not verifiable (biotin and chromium, which are found in carrots and broccoli but this information is based on sources in which legitimacy cannot be verified), but there were no components missing completely (contains zero of that component) from the home made dog food.

From this conclusion, I've decided to give Huggy Bear half of the vitamin supplement recommended by the vet.

Vitamins and Minerals in Huggy Bear's daily amount of dog food:

Vitamin/Mineral	In Huggy's Dog Food		Recommended (60 lb Dog)		Enough/Not Enough
Calcium, Ca	184.98	mg	150	mg	Enough
Iron, Fe	7.2532	mg	0.5	mg	Enough
Magnesium, Mg	142.02	mg	10	mg	Enough
Potassium, K	1091.8	mg	0.8	mg	Enough
Zinc, Zn	11.6322	mg	3	mg	Enough
Copper, Cu	0.6438	mg	0.01	mg	Enough
Manganese, Mn	0.77072	mg	2	mg	Not Enough
Selenium, Se	110.078	µg	10	µg	Enough
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid	15.34	mg	60	mg	Not Enough
Thiamin (Vitamin B-1)	0.34846	mg	10	mg	Not Enough
Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2)	0.92492	mg	10	mg	Not Enough
Niacin (Niacinamide)	28.69892	mg	6	mg	Enough
Pantothenic acid	4.46682	mg	10	mg	Not Enough
Vitamin B-6	1.72554	mg	10	mg	Not Enough
Folate (Folic Acid)	90.76	µg	10	µg	Enough
Vitamin B-12	3.954	µg	6	µg	Not Enough
Carotene, beta	1803.6	µg	1000	µg	Enough
Vitamin A, IU	4132.78	IU	1000	IU	Enough
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)	1.682	mg	30	mg	Not Enough
Vitamin D	45.3	IU	150	IU	Not Enough
Biotin*	?	µg	6	µg	Enough
Chromium**	?	µg	10	µg	Enough
* Biotin is found in Carrots
** Chromium is found in Broccoli

USDA Nutritional Content Links:
Chicken Thighs
Ground Turkey
Frozen Broccoli, boiled
Frozen Carrots, boiled
Frozen Cauliflower, boiled
Cooked Rice
Sesame Seeds
For Dried Fish, I substituted Sardines
For Nori Seaweed, I substituted Wakame

Links for Biotin and Chromium Information from unverifiable sources:
Biotin
Chromium

Nutritional Analysis of Huggy Bear's Home Made Dog Food Part 1

Happy Huggy Bear

I make home made dog food for Huggy, so I wanted to make sure that Huggy gets all of the vitamins and minerals nutritional requirements a dog his size needs, but when you search on the Internet, I could not find reliable information on the Recommended Daily Dose of vitamins and minerals.  Most Internet articles always say be sure your dog gets the proper amount of this and that, but they never specify what is the proper amount, and the information source seems sketchy.  I am kind of a skeptic, so that kind of information tells me nothing, and it's completely useless, like this article:

http://www.hartz.com/Dogs/Nutrition/a_dogs_daily_diet.aspx

This article link below is probably the best one that I could find, but unfortunately, it does not list the weight of the dog for the recommended dose so that you can extrapolate the amount that is appropriate for your dog:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=1046

So, I decided to get the multi-vitamin supplement from the vet that Huggy has been seeing.  You can only get it from a vet, so that put my skeptical mind at ease somewhat.  Here's the label for the multi-vitamin RxVitamins for PETS:

Vet Recommended Vitamin Supplement

RxVitamins for PETS Professional Veterinary Formulas Label of Contents:
Daily Serving for a 25-50 lb dog:
Calcium - 75 mg
Magnesium - 5 mg
Iron - 250 mcg
Potassium - 400 mcg
Zinc - 1.5 mg
Manganese - 1 mg
Copper - 5 mcg
Chromium - 5 mcg
Selenium - 5 mcg
Vitamin A - 500 IU
Beta Carotene - 500 IU
Vitamin C - 30 mg
Vitamin D - 75 IU
Vitamin E - 15 IU
Vitamin B-1 - 5 mg
Vitamin B-2 - 5 mg
Pantothenic Acid - 5 mg
Niacinamide - 3 mg
Vitamin B-6 - 5 mg
Vitamin B-12 - 3 mg
Folic Acid - 5 mg
Biotin - 3 mg
Spirulina - 50 mg
Milk Thistle - 25 mg
Kelp - 60 mcg

Aside from the Spirulina, Milk Thistle, and Kelp, I think it's safe to say that the daily recommended dose for everything listed on the bottle is a realistic baseline for vitamins and minerals nutritional requirements for a dog.  Again, this stems from the fact that my vet recommended this.  I am sure that not everyone agrees with the assumption that everything your vet does or recommends is good for your pet, but I am sticking with my vet as the most reliable source of information for this case because the Internet didn't provide me with any answers that satisfied me completely.  

So, extrapolating, if you have a small dog under 25 lbs, maybe half of the amount of listed requirements is good enough to keep your dog healthy, and for dogs 50 lbs and up, twice the amount is good enough.  I am just guessing here, but from a human standpoint, and a scientific point of view, dosage is calculated proportionally based on a person's weight, so I figured that the same principles applied to dogs.

Now, the next question is, what is the nutritional content of Huggy's home made dog food?  I will be discussing that in my next post.  

My Huggy Bear

Huggy Bear at Flo Jo Olympic Park, Mission Viejo, CA

I figured I would start this blog to document everything that I have learned since I became a dog owner in 2010.  When my wife and I adopted Huggy Bear, my German Shepherd mix, I knew nothing about dogs.  I naturally went to the Internet for information.  I was glad I was able to find any information I needed from the comfort of my home, but I was also surprised to find so much information that is simply wrong.

I will try to explain my thought process for the conclusions I have reached as clearly as possible.  I have a background in science, so I would read the information, and then make my own conclusion whether the information is true or not, based on logic, general science knowledge, and cross referencing with other sources on the Internet.

I will try to explain my thought process for the conclusions I have reached as clearly as possible, but I urge you to do the same thing I have done.  Please think after you read anything on the Internet.

I started out with a post on the final dog food that I am feeding Huggy Bear first, and then kind of work backwards on how I got there from initially feeding Huggy Science Diet and Eukanuba when I first got him.

Home Made Dog Food: What I Feed Huggy Bear, My 60 lb German Shepherd Mix

I make my own dog food.  I decided to do this when we moved to Oahu and was faced with exorbitant prices of Orijen dog food.  (I will write how I made my decision to purchase Orijen dog food for Huggy Bear in another post.)  When I looked at the price, I was shocked, and my wife was like "We can feed Huggy chicken breasts every day, and it would be cheaper."  So this started the ball rolling on the idea to make dog food at home.

The question that arises is then, what should I make?  At first, I figured that anything home made is better than store bought since all of the ingredients are human grade.  I bought a pressure cooker and made the following:

Huggy's Dog Food Recipe:
Ingredients:
10~12 chicken thighs with bone, skin removed (Foster Farms from Costco)
1~2 lb of ground turkey (Foster Farms from Costco)
1~2 lb of Normandy Style Vegetable Blend (Kirkland brand, frozen from Costco)
5 sprigs of rosemary

Optional:
Cooked rice

Ground Sesame

Bonito fish shavings (you can find this, and all other items pictured below at Japanese grocery stores like Marukai or Mitsuwa)

Small dried fish

Nori seaweed

Preparation Instructions:
Throw in all of the meat and rosemary with a bit of vegetables in the pressure cooker and add water until it almost covers all of the ingredients in the pressure cooker.  Important Points:

• Don't put in all of the vegetables in the pressure cooker because they liquefy during the cooking process.  
• Be sure to put all of the chicken thighs on the bottom so that they are completely immersed in water.

Cover and heat the pressure cooker at high heat until the pressure builds.


When the pressure cooker pressurizes, turn the heat to low-medium and let it cook for 1 hour.  This ensures that the nutrients from the chicken bone are extracted and the tendons become soft.

After an hour, turn off heat, and let the pressure cooker cool down and depressurize before opening the lid.

After it has cooled down to a lukewarm temperature, remove all of the bones.  Do not remove the tendons, as they are the source of nutrients that are not found in the bones or the thigh meat.

Boil the rest of the rest of the vegetables in a separate, non-pressurized boiling pot.  Important Points:

• Use minimal water as possible and do not drain the vegetables once boiling is finished.  
• The rationale for saving the water is that it will contain some nutrients that have been boiled off the vegetables.  
• Do not over boil the vegetables.  Once the water boils, throw the vegetables in the pot, then let the water come to a boil again, and then turn off the heat.

Combine the contents of the pressure cooker with the boiled vegetables including the boiling water.

Mix.  This is the basic dog food for Huggy Bear.

I feed Huggy twice a day; once in the morning, and once at dinner.  When I serve it to Huggy, I usually put in his dog bowl a cup of the chicken/turkey/vegetable mixture, a cup of hot water, a bit of cooked rice, a bit of ground sesame, a bit of the nori seaweed, a bit of the bonito fish shavings, and a bit of the small dried fish.  Except for the hot water and rice, everything else is optional to add.  I sometimes put some of the ingredients in, or sometimes none at all.  I mix everything in the dog bowl, then make sure the food is not too hot, and then serve it to Huggy after I make him sit.

Huggy Bear likes it very much.  I've been feeding him this food for about 2 years, and I just got a clean bill of health for Huggy Bear from the vet, so I am pretty happy with this recipe.

Nutritional content and how it compares to a vitamin supplement that was given to me by Huggy Bear's vet will follow in my next post.