Dog Food Recalls and their Impacts
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The best type of food to feed your dog is raw. And freeze-dried raw is so much easier than frozen raw. And the best freeze-dried raw out there is Dr. Marty's. So there you have it: the best dog food is Dr. Marty's. Dr. Marty's is great! It's just so expensive. But if you can afford to feed just Dr. Marty's to your dog then I suggest doing it. But you can feed it as a meal topper on top of the kibble to give that extra taste, nutrients, sustenance, and flavor your dog needs. This is because kibble is like feeding your dog TV dinners. Freeze-dried raw is like feeding your dog a home-cooked meal.  So, why do I like Dr. Marty's over the other freeze-dried raw brands? It all comes down to ash content. There's more ash in the freeze-dried raw that is their other great competitor (Stella and Chewy). Where's the ash coming from, you ask? It’s coming from the bone content you’ll see in some of Stella and Chewy's first ingredients. And nothing is particularly wrong with feeding your dog ground-up chicken bone which is what you'll see in the Stella and Chewy ingredients for the Stella and Chewy Freeze Dried Raw Chicken Patties. Except, of course, if your dog isn't a big water drinker. Ash content is terrible for causing urinary tract infections in animals that don't drink enough water. This is because ash is an inorganic mineral content, unlike the organic content like the organs which can burn off more easily. However, the extra minerals caused by the ash should be flushed out by water to keep a healthy balance in your dog's system. Therefore, Dr. Marty's is the superior freeze-dried raw due to not using bone, unlike the lesser quality freeze-dried raw brands. So what is Dr. Marty's and what do they have to offer? Dr. Marty's is a freeze-dried raw containing different foods with multiple proteins, unlike their competitors who only do single protein packages. So if you're starting with puppy food, go with Healthy Growth Dr. Marty's. The proteins they use in their puppy food are turkey, beef, salmon, and duck. These four proteins are in their classic line: Essential Wellness and the Small Breed line. Then they have three other adult lines: Essential Wellness Premium Origin, Radiant Select, and Sensitivity Select. Essential Wellness Premium Origin has higher quality proteins: New Zealand lamb and venison, grass-fed beef, and wild-caught mackerel. Radiant Select focuses on better skin and coat: pollock, beef heart, tuna, and salmon. And lastly Sensitivity Select focuses on proteins for dogs with a sensitive stomach: turkey, duck, goose, and quail. All in all, whichever Dr. Marty line you choose I know you'll choose a great one.  In conclusion, Dr. Marty's is the number one dog food. It's a complete meal but a pricey meal at that. They come in 6 oz., 16 oz., and 48 oz. bags. It is vastly different than feeding kibble which comes in pound bags. But of course, since it's freeze-dried raw you won't have to feed as much as you would with kibble. However, that's just my opinion. Packages might tell you differently like Dr. Marty will say 2 cups a day for a 30 lb dog and your standard bag of kibble will say 2 cups a day for a 30 lb dog. Also, remember to talk to your vet.
If you liked this blog post subscribe to All Healthy Dog and stay up-to-date with the latest blog posts. Acana and Orijen- the scoop on it Everything still kind of seems fine with Acana and Orijen. I still have them at my store, The Natural Dog, and people are buying the sister dog food brands. But yes, rumors have been going around. Are you feeding your dog Acana or Orijen? Did once they got bought out by Mars, the mega-corporation, did they stop eating it? Or maybe you didn't even know they got bought out by Mars, and your dog has been eating it right up like nothing ever happened.  It's interesting that Acana and Orijen still seem to have the main key essential ingredients they had before. No one at my store has noticed any of the ingredients changed when Mars bought Champion, the company of the two dog food brands. And the dog foods are still some of the most expensive dog foods you'll find in my store. So what's the deal? Well, let's get into it. What is Champion, the company of the sisters: Acana and Orijen? Champion was established in 1985 in Alberta, Canada. The founder was known for having the ingredients for good food and that's why the people around him wanted him to start selling dog food. Thus, Acana came first. They are there for pet lovers and pets. They are known for having some of the highest amounts of meat in their food which could range up to 90 percent. This equates to around 38 percent protein.  Suppliers go through a year and a half vet. The food is made in their very own kitchens, and they only believe in top-notch standards. The only thing not made in-house is their wet cat food. They believe in fresh and raw ingredients only cooked once unlike other brands. They get all their ingredients from either America, Canada, New Zealand, or France. What's cool is that their packaging is designed for recycling. They keep what's in the food on display through pictures on the packaging. They have limited ingredient diets. This was all information that a rep gave me at a training at a store so take it how you want. But what the rep did say to us is that if you want to start giving this food to your pet then start with Acana first. Acana has around 60% to 70% meat while Orijen has 85% to 90%. The most expensive bag, at my store, of the sisters is Orijen Tundra which is 123 dollars as I last checked. The cheapest bag of the sisters at my store is the small bag of Acana Free-run poultry which is about 21 dollars. Champion is coming out with cheaper food, Acana Classics with much less meat and protein which I thought was interesting. It probably has something to do with them being bought out by Mars.  But yes, this is what I know of the sisters. But why do some dogs not want to eat the sister foods after they got bought out by Mars? Some think it's lesser quality ingredients, but it's hard to know. I had a coworker speculate that maybe it had something to do with how the company moved from Canada to America; Auburn, Kentucky to be exact. Does this have anything to do with it? But it happened back in 2016 so it is very strange.
In conclusion, if you want to feed your dog one of these sister brands then go ahead. But be watchful of the ingredients and make sure that now Mars owns them hopefully they don't go changing the ingredients on you. If you liked this blog post remember to Subscribe to All Healthy Dog and stay up to date with the latest posts. Do you want the highest quality kibble you can feed your dog? There are some high-quality ones out there, that's for sure. The store I work at, The Natural Dog, has kibble that you can say is the best of the best. Whether it's Open Farm, Fromm, Acana, or Orijen you're sure to find the highest quality kibble. And the price will be sure to let you know it's high-quality too. But what's the best kibble, in my opinion? Farmina N&D hands down has kibble you won't find anywhere else.  The N&D stands for Natural and Delicious. And they have that right. It's some of the tastiest kibbles you'll find on the market and the most natural (which means they use natural preservatives). That means the kibble goes bad much, much quicker than your standard kibble that is loaded with artificial preservatives. Farmina is an Italian company. And the thing about Italian food is that Italy has much higher food standards, unlike the U.S.A. which is pretty despicable what flies under the radar for U.S. standards. I gave Zoey, my goldendoodle a couple of samples of their kibble, and boy did she gobble it up. The kibble was a brown color like your normal kibble but what I was surprised about was the size of them. They were much larger than I was expecting. And it didn't say it was for large breeds which could’ve been why the kibble was larger.  What's great about Farmina N&D is the way they choose Protein that's not normal like the rest of the kibble brands. In my store, they have wild boar, lamb, cod, herring, and chicken. But you can also find venison, duck, and quail which my store doesn't provide. Farmina is one of the few kibble brands offering grain but with a spin on it. They use ancestral grain. Open Farm uses it as well. Ancestral Grain and Grain Free are the best bets, whichever you prefer. It can also depend on what your vet tells you or how your fur baby does on one over the other. Ancestral Grain can be quinoa or spelt. Those are the two main ancestral grains I see in most dog kibble. Ancient grains are a great source of vitamins. Another thing I like seeing on Farmina N&D's packaging is how you'll see either pumpkin, blueberry, pomegranate, or orange. It shows their diligence to provide a high-quality kibble with the necessary fruits your dog needs.  In conclusion, I personally love Farmina N&D, and it is one of my favorite kibbles to feed your dog if you're looking for a superior brand. If you liked this blog post remember to Subscribe to All Healthy Dog and stay up to date with the latest posts. One of the best high-quality foods you can feed your dog is A Pup Above. It's not a raw diet which is my favorite above all but it is cooked Sous-Vide which is still in comparison to feeding your fur baby a homemade meal, unlike your standard kibble. And of course, if you can feed your dog food in these classes:
 I'm sure there are other types of dog food that you can buy that would be considered feeding your dog a homemade meal but these are your standard ones. They truly are a step above your standard kibble and if you could at least add a little bit of one or some of these to your dog's kibble that would help them out so much. No dog should only be eating kibble. It's like a human living only off TV dinners. That's why adding some homemade meals or switching entirely over to homemade meals aka the big four which I mentioned earlier. Now let's get into sous-vide A Pup Above. Dog parents Ruth and Javier Marriott founded a Pup Above. Their dog, Lola was a picky eater and they also wanted to feed her high-quality food that made the most sense to them. They were tired of not knowing what was in Lola's bowl and tired of not liking anything they were putting in her bowl. Ruth is the CEO and Javier is the president. Together they make the perfect team for a dog food that is truly a Pup Above.  It comes frozen and in what they call Cubies. They are both cooked in the famous sous vide way which is a cooking style that is used in high-end restaurants. It is cooked at low temperatures in water. The water never comes to a boil. It is gradual and controlled. I thawed out their frozen beef in the fridge and served it to my dog, Zoey. She loved it! It reminded me of beef soup, in my opinion, and it did look like human food which I love love LOVE. It smelled tasty, it looked tasty, and it looked like real food. I've noticed three times in all my years of serving dog food to my dog, Zoey, that the food didn't look like dog food but also looked like human food. The three brands were A Pup Above, Weruva, and Farmina. A Pup Above looked most like human food looking like a high-quality beef soup. One of Farmina’s cans looked like your standard Chili, and Weruva’s cans looked like store-bought soups. However, Weruva still looks like dog food it could barely pass for human food. And I still wouldn't eat any of the three dog foods. The only one that looks kind of appealing in a human's eyes is A Pup Above but knowing it's dog food I definitely wouldn't eat it and wouldn't advise anyone else. But, in conclusion, it is leagues ahead of your standard kibble which doesn't look edible at all and surprises me to this day that dogs will eat. But it's animal-grade not human-grade and it's hard to see my dog, Zoey as just a dog and not just my furry child.  Getting back to A Pup Above, cubies remind me of the freeze-dried raw that I feed Zoey. They are cooked Sous-Vide like the frozen meal, the only difference is that instead of being frozen after the sous-vide cooking process they are diced into cubes and are air-dried. If you want a more affordable homemade meal to feed your dog's cubies, they are great because they are not as expensive as your freeze-dried raw. But cubies are human-grade meaning humans can eat them. Freeze-dried is not. Zoey taste-tested the cubbies and loved them. She gives a gold star to the frozen and the cubies so the choice is yours.
In conclusion, I give this dog food my gold star rating. I love this food so much and I know your dog would too just like my dog, Zoey, has. If you liked this Blog Post remember to subscribe and stay updated to all our posts at All Healthy Dog. Thanks! Working at my dog food store I've had two types of people come in when it comes to Protein. I've had customers come into the store that needed a dog food with the least amount of protein and I've had customers who needed a dog food with a high amount of protein. And I always brought them over to two different kibble. Highest protein: Orijen. Lowest protein: Solid Gold. And now you know. So let's get into it.  Going through a dog food store, it's a lot to take in. Especially if you're on the hunt for something in particular that you need out of that dog food. Say your dog is skin and bones. You need to bulk them up and bulk them up fast. And that's the case with possibly rescue dogs that just came from a bad home. They weren't fed and are dealing with malnutrition. They need food in their bellies and they need to start putting that weight on. Orijen Original is your best bet in my opinion. It contains 40% protein, a lifesaver for some starving dogs who need to start gaining that weight. And it will do the trick. Now there might be other underlying health conditions to why a dog is skin and bones or keeps losing weight so it's always best to consult with a veterinarian. But if your dog is just a skinny dog that needs to put on weight give Orijin a try. Another great high protein is freeze-dried raw. I give my dog, Zoey, Stella and Chewy freeze-dried raw Turkey and it contains 40% protein. Now you can feed freeze-dried raw as a meal but I just feed it to Zoey as a treat and sometimes sprinkle it on her kibble because I'd break the bank feeding her that alone. Zoey is a healthy fit dog. She's not skinny and she's not overweight. The current kibble I feed her has a protein of 29% so if you want a good number for a normal amount of protein I'd suggest that.  Why would you need the least amount of protein possible in our store? Why would you need the dog food Solid Gold? I have customers who come in when their dog has kidney disease and the vet told them to go on a low-protein diet. I immediately showed them Solid Gold which has a Protein of around 18%. A low-protein diet will help reduce the workload of those kidneys that you need to keep in tip-top shape. That's why 18% is a great number to look for when you're in the dog food store. And as always you can check the back of the bags where you'll find the protein amount. I hope you found this helpful and now know what you should stay away from regarding protein percentage-wise and what you should search for. And not every store has the dog food brands I listed here so you might have to look at every bag in the store yourself to get a good idea of what that dog food store has as the best protein percentage that you need for your pup. And don't be afraid to ask one of the staff members at the dog food store because they are always there to help. I was at the vet the other day, and they brought up how next year, my dog, Zoey, will be turning seven. Seven years old is a big number for dogs. Once they turn seven, they are now considered a senior dog. It's scary to think, but we all age. Dogs just happen to age faster than humans. But how do we prepare our fur baby for their old age? It's time to implement glucosamine. What is glucosamine? Glucosamine is a natural compound found in everyone's joints. You have it, I have it, even our dogs have it. But once your fur baby reaches old age, Glucosamine levels start to drop. And they need that glucosamine to cushion the joints.  Glucosamine comes in a powder that you can sprinkle on their food. It comes in chewies that can be given orally every day. It comes in treats. It comes in the kibble you get at the dog food store. That is one of the main reasons you can find senior kibble in the dog food store. If you look at the packaging of senior dog food it has high amounts of glucosamine that you wouldn't find in regular kibble. Good examples are Nutrisource Senior Dog food which has the daily glucosamine your canine friend needs and Open Farm Senior Dog food which has even higher amounts of glucosamine than Nutrisource. My friend brought up how her dog was turning seven in less than a month. She knew right away that once that day came she would begin implementing glucosamine into her dog's diet just like every dog parent should. You want your dog to be able to get up and down stairs, move with agility, and not have those aches and pains that come with old age. That's where glucosamine is here to help. Not only do humans take it but dogs need to take it too. So what happens when you give your dog glucosamine? It replaces the cartilage functionality in their hips and joints that they lose over time. It can also ease the pain in the hips and joints that your dog might have.  Remember that glucosamine is an over-the-counter supplement where if you have any concerns about whether you should give it to your dog you should speak with your veterinarian.
Remember to read the appropriate dosage amounts on the package of whatever type of glucosamine you choose. It could be from anywhere from a chew a day if you choose the chews or a quarter cup of powder sprinkled onto their kibble if you choose the powder. Or, if you are switching from adult kibble to senior kibble, then the recommended glucosamine dose is already in the amount of kibble you already feed your fur baby. But of course, remember to talk with a vet about the glucosamine dosage because they might advise more or less. You can communicate as to the dosage there is in the kibble and as to however much glucosamine, they might want you to add to their diet. Remember that there could be mild side effects to adding glucosamine to their diet including diarrhea, constipation, bloating, and nausea. All in all, glucosamine could be a wise choice for you to take in helping out your senior dog in their old age. Whether you like it or not, all dogs get old just like us, and we have to be prepared for their old age and what comes with it. That's why glucosamine might be their new best friend and ally. If you liked this blog post remember to subscribe to All Healthy Dog and stay updated with posts every month. So, you want to find the right treat for your dog. Whether your dog is a puppy, an adult, or a senior it can make all the difference. Whether your dog is a small, medium, or large breed dog it can also make all the difference. And whether your dog is skinny, normal-sized, or fat it can make all the difference too.  Now what sort of treats are out there? I work at a high-quality dog food store and we have three different aisles designated for three different types of treats. The one type of treat we're not going to talk about is dental treats because they don't really qualify as your standard treat. They are on a whole other level. Yes, you can only give your dog dental treats but we are just assuming here that you want to learn more about the other two types of treats. And the first, most common type of treat we will talk about today is the biscuit. The biscuit is a hard, crunchy treat that is baked. The process of making it begins with grinding up whatever grains are going in the treat. This could be oats, rice, barley, wheat, rye, sorghum, or corn. It is then steamed and pushed through an extruder. An extruder heats up the treat and helps turn it into the desired shape. It could be in the shape of a bone or a shape of a cookie or a shape of a heart. Then the treats are cooked. Remember that the longer the treat is cooked and the higher the temperature impacts the nutrients in the treat. A lot of bad companies want to speed up the cooking process and cook at a way too high temperature which cooks out all the nutrients. Remember to find dog food that is cooked at a lower temperature and cooked more slowly. And once it is cooked it is cooled and sprayed with fat for the dog to enjoy its taste.  Soft treats are more acceptable for puppies when training them, and tinier dogs that might have more trouble chewing on big, hard biscuits, and senior dogs who have lost teeth and are much more fragile. But even so, biscuits that are smaller in size can still be good for smaller dogs, puppies, and senior dogs as long as they are okay with doing a little bit of crunching and chewing and have the teeth to do so. The thing about soft treats for medium-sized and large adult dogs is that the tiny soft training treats you find in the dog food store might not satisfy your canine friend like biscuits will. But you might have no other choice but to give your dog soft training treats because they might have a weight problem.
In conclusion, whether you choose to give your dog soft treats or biscuits just remember not to overdo it and to be conscientious about if you’re making your dog put on weight due to the treats and to remember that you're in charge and not to give in too easily. Also to remember that if there are other people in the household and they're giving treats too, it might be a good idea to have everyone on the same page so the treats for the dog are not doubling or tripling because no one knows if your canine friend has already had enough treats for the day. Is your dog or cat a picky eater? Do you want to find a dog or cat food that sells only canned wet food? Do you want dog and cat food that has a high moisture content? Weruva might be the best bet for you and it's a high quality food that your dog and cat will enjoy. For those who don't know, cats originated from the desert. And of course, there isn't much water in the desert. So cats got their moisture from the next best thing. They get their moisture from mice, snakes, birds, whatever feral cats can sink their teeth into. That's why weruva doesn't believe in feeding cats kibble. The cats aren't going to go straight to the water bowl when they're thirsty. It's not in their DNA to do so. That's why wet food, Weruva believes, is the best food for a cat. It helps fight urinary tract infection in cats and keeps cats from going dehydrated.  Some dogs aren't big water drinkers either. After my training with Weruva and where I learned all about them, I had a customer who vouched for Weruva. She said her dog wasn't a big water drinker and that's why she loves feeding her dog Weruva. Not only was her dog a picky eater but her dog wasn't a big water drinker. And she brought up how she loves how Weruva has a high moisture content. She feeds her dog all different Weruva cans but here are the big 14 which Weruva live by should be the only 14 that matters:
In my training, I learned that Weruva has their number one seller and that's their yellow can, Paw Lickin' Chicken. Then the can that comes in second is the dark purple can Steak Frites Dinner. All the rest don't matter as much because even though they're all great and certain cans will or might work better for certain dogs, the top two are the King and Queen of Weruva. The rest are their faithful court containing the rest of the nobility which are the Big Fourteen.  In conclusion, Weruva is a great dog and cat wet food that will keep your dog and cat hydrated, keep them from being picky, and keep them eating high-quality food. The two biggest takeaways I learned are that Weruva has a low ash count and makes the protein their number one ingredient, unlike many other competing wet food cans which use broth as their number one ingredient. I hope you learned something as did I.
If you liked this blog post subscribe to All Healthy Dog and stay updated with posts to come. A lot of people don't brush their dog's teeth. Maybe they're just too lazy, maybe they're scared of getting bit, and maybe they just haven't thought of it. Are you one of these types of people? Maybe your vet said something to you about it.  My vet brought it up to me. She brought the realization straight to my face. My dog, Zoey had developed a good amount of nasty tarter on her two upper back teeth. You might know them as the molars. And they were nasty. To be honest, I had never thought to look back there before and open my dog's mouth up and take a look inside. But I bought a dog toothbrush and dog toothpaste and started doing something about that tarter. To be honest, it was hard to get into a habit of cleaning her teeth. I would go through spurts where I would be cleaning her teeth every day. Then weeks would go by and I would say, 'Oh, crap, I need to clean your teeth, Zoey' and I would be back at it again. But to get into a habit would be great. And hey, if you don't want to clean your dog's teeth I know certain groomers get paid to clean a dog's teeth.  Just remember that you can't use a human toothbrush when cleaning your dog's teeth. Dog toothbrushes tend to be smaller and softer. The bristles are what's shorter and softer than a human toothbrush and you can find ones that just fit over your finger. And just remember you can't use human toothpaste. Human toothpaste tends to have xylitol and fluoride which are poisonous to dogs. Dog toothpaste is toothpaste where the dog is safe to swallow it. Other products for dogs are treats that brush your dog's teeth as they chew on them like Greenies and Whimzees. Then there's mouthwash you can put in your dog's water. I only stress to be careful when putting in the mouthwash. You are only supposed to put in so much. I had a problem with my dog, Zoey. I put it in her water and she wouldn't drink it. I had to learn the hard way. At the end of the day, I took a shower and Zoey tried drinking the shower water, anything but drink the mouthwash water. So I poured it out and gave her clean, regular water and she gulped that down like a madman. I realized never again would I put her through that. I'm just sticking to giving her dental treats and brushing her teeth.  In conclusion, Zoey's teeth look a lot better and so can your dog's. If you liked this blog post, subscribe to All Healthy Dog and stay updated with all the articles.
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