Pedigree
1
For a short time I fed my little dog the Indoor Complete Little Bites. He seemed to like it so I was satisfied. But then one day I decided to read the ingredients label to see exactly what he was eating. And now that I know what it contains I will never feed him this food again. The packaging sure looks appealing, and the "Build, Replenish, Nourish" line sure seems convincing enough that this is a good food. And if the Purina veterinarians and nutritionists developed it, then it must be good, right? WRONG!!!!
Since dogs are meat eaters, they need high quality, meat-based protein as their primary nutrient, not grains.
The first ingredient in this food is corn, something that dogs should do without. And it being listed first means that corn is the predominent ingredient, instead of a "named" meat which should be listed first. Next is "meat and bone meal". What is the meat source? Beef, chicken, road kill, euthanized animals!?
Corn is listed again as the third ingredient. Corn being listed first and third is a technique many dog food manufacturers use. It's called "ingredient splitting". When these two amounts of corn are combined it is, by far, the most predominent ingredient contained in this food. Possibly 50% of this food is corn.
The fourth ingredient is "animal" fat (what "animal"?). Next is soybean meal, which dogs have a difficult time digesting. (After wheat, corn and soy can cause allergies in dogs.)
Then comes "animal" digest (the guts of an animal), brewers rice (a non-nutritional filler) and salt. Artificial colors round out the totally unhealthy list of ingredients. The only possible redeeming nutrition this food might contain comes from the added vitamins, minerals and, possibly, the garlic oil.
It goes to show that the Purina vets and nutritionists are not looking out for our pets best interest, only for theirs, which is namely the money they can make off of our ignorance. Let's see these "caring" professionals put themselves on a similar diet for a few weeks. I don't think we'll be hearing any of them say, "mmmmmm, yummy. Can I have somemore?" Though I didn't have my "best friend" on this food for very long, I am sorry that I didn't look into the dog food issue sooner. But with the knowledge I have gained from this experience I am not only making better choices but I am passing on this information to all those who care enough to want to make a difference.
I hope that those of you who love your pet and are using this, or any pet food product, will read the ingredients label and understand what it means. Don't believe the advertising and don't believe the hype. Use common sense when choosing food for your dog, just as you would when choosing food for yourself. Your pet is counting on you to make the right choices for them.
And to help you along this path I have listed several websites below.
outoftheearth.com/petfood.htm
dogfoodanalysis.com
dogaware.com
4dogma.com
dogfoodproject.com
executec.com/nutra.htm
Best wishes to you and your faithful companions.