Is Pedigree Dog Food Good For My Dog?
Pedigree Dog food is another food to avoid feeding your dogs. They claim that their Mealtime With Lamb and Rice is “nutritionally complete and highly digestible food formulated for the growth and maintenance of dogs. This product contains real lamb meat not lamb meal and has no artificial colors or soy.” Listed below are the ingredients for this particular flavor.
Ground Corn
Chicken By-Product Meal
Ground Wheat
Animal Fat(Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols, source of Vitamin E)
Lamb, Rice, Natural Poultry Flavour
Salt
Dried Egg Product
Potasium Chloride
Titanium Dioxide
Sunflower Oil (source of Linoleic Acid)
Take notice that the lamb and rice are the 5th ingredient, not the first. We already know that dogs have a very difficult time digesting corn and corn is the first ingredient. The second ingredient is chicken by-product meal which you already know if you have read “Are you Poisoning Your Dog?” can be anything from euthanized pets to bone, feathers, and beaks among a multitude of other grotesque animal parts.
I have discovered that many guide dog schools are recommending this food to their students because Pedigree is donating free food for the dogs in exchange for the recommendations. They also give discounts to the students. This again is another reason to read your labels before buying food for your dog, no matter who recommends it.
Keep in mind that no matter what commercial food you do decide on, it is important to supplement the diet with raw and homemade food.
Answer to “Is Pedigree Dog Food Good For My Dog”
Jenifer replied:
Umm, I feed my Kelpie X Pedigree Canned food aswell as Dry food and we have regular checkups at the vets, and there is nothing wrong with her. She has a shiny smooth coat, her teeth and gums are healthy, she produces normal urine and poo, and she has no problems whatsoever in the area of liver, lung or heart disease, so I don’t get what the big deal is, feeding your dog Pedigree. She weighs 22kg and gets 1.5 cups of dry food aswell as 1 quarter of a can wet food, and the vet says she is perfectly healthy, so I do not think there is anything wrong with Pedigree Dog Food.
July 10, 2008 at 10:49 am. Permalink.
KonaGirl replied:
Hi Jennifer,
As long as your dog is physically fit without any side effects, I wouldn’t worry about it.
My main concern for this dog food (and the reason I won’t buy it) is ground corn, chicken by-product meal and ground wheat are the first ingredients. Dogs need more meat in their diets than grain and corn is difficult for dogs to digest.
Titanium dioxide is a carcinogen and photocatalyst, although there is controversy over the amount that can be ingested before it becomes harmful to the system. The MSDS states that titanium dioxide can cause some lung fibrosis at fifty times the nuisance dust, defined by the US Department of Labor as 15 mg/m cubed (OSHA) or 10 mg/m cubed (ACGIH Threshold Limit Value). The The ACGIH states that titanium dioxide is “not classifiable as a HUMAN carcinogen”, however in animals IT IS.
Many of these chemicals have long term effects rather than, immediately noticeable. In other words, your dog may be fine now, but may get cancer when he is older. The only reason this chemical is used in dog food is to make it look better to humans, it is used as a pigment.
Potassium Chloride is the chemical of choice in the food manufacturing industry and is used to flavor the food (salty taste), however it is also used in chemical fertilizers, and there is controversy around the necessity of using this chemical in food substances. It is important to remember that what may be O.K. or even good for a human may not be for a dog.
Why take the chance by feeding one more harmful substance?
My thought, IMHO, is to try my damnedest to eliminate as many poisons from my animals systems as possible.
In answer to “What is wrong with Pedigree dog food” you can visit these sites to learn more about dog nutrition and dog food ingredients:
Are You Poisoning Your Dog?
Healthy Dog Food Diet
Top 10 Dog Food
Once you have read the information, you will have a little more knowledge with which to choose what you prefer to use for feed.
I hope this has been helpful in answering you question.
Aloha,
June
July 17, 2008 at 7:49 pm. Permalink.
Jim replied:
Actually the order that ingredients are listed in is VERY misleading. By breaking down the carbohydrate source down into several components it artificially moves meat up the list. There is not a single commerically produced food that sells over 100,000 bags of food a year that contains more meat than carbohydrate. I work in the animal industry and when the whole “meat is the 1st ingredient” advertising started about 15 years ago suddenly 80% of foods moved meat to the first ingredient yet they never changed their formulas.
They achieved this remarkable feat by listing corn, not just as corn but as corn meal, corn gluten, corn by product etc. None of these factions of corn weighed more than the meat so meat moved to the 1st spot on the ingredient label. However added together they easily outweighed the meat.
I’m not saying Pedigree is a good or bad food. Just pointing out that people that buy a food based on the meat being the 1st ingredient are being misled.
And by the way even wild dogs don’t consume much over 40% of their diet as protein. Wolves after they take down their pray eat the stomach contents first which happen to be partially digested carbohydrates since most everything they pray on (deer, gazelle, rabbits, etc) eat mainly grass.
Domesticated dogs by the way are a creation of humans. Less than 2% of the breeds on the planet would exist without genetic manipulation through hundreds and in some cases thousands of years of selective breeding. Selective breeding by the way that primarily involves breeding siblings to siblings to accumulate recessive genes. It is this accumulation of recessive traits that cause such great variablity in the phenomes. So most animals that we refer to as “breeds” are just a collection of over represented recessive characteristics from a handful of truly wild dogs.
Hope this helps make us all better informed consumers.
Jim
July 24, 2008 at 9:52 pm. Permalink.
Jim replied:
Interesting that my detailed comments about how the order that ingredients are printed in on pet food labels is nearly irrelevant has been deleted.
Does this factual information not fit into your agenda?
Just because meat is listed first has nothing to do with how much meat is in a pet food. By breaking the carbohydrate source into many ingredients this artificially moves the meat into the first position.
Many foods never changed their formulas but magically the meat began to be listed first after they stopped listing the carbohydrate as just one or two ingredients and broke it up into 4,5 or 6 seperate ingredients. Any one of which weighed slightly less than the meat source but combined weigh more (usually considerably more) than the meat source.
Not sure why you feel you have to remove this post. It is completely factual and I don’t care what pet foods people purchase…they just need to be aware that there is not a SINGLE national brand that actually contains more meat than carbohydrate.
July 25, 2008 at 1:40 pm. Permalink.
Jim replied:
OK, now my original comment is back. LOL…..sorry about the duplicate…
July 25, 2008 at 1:46 pm. Permalink.
KonaGirl replied:
Jim,
You are absolutely correct and I couldn’t agree with you more. That is why I make the majority of my dog food myself. I know what is going in that!!
Thank you so much for the great post, it was good to hear from you.
Aloha,
June
July 31, 2008 at 5:21 am. Permalink.
bellemom replied:
I am worried about Pedigree canned food. I have tried all the brands of the GROUND DINNERS at this point and they have new labels on them that say “glistening coat” or something, but they are giving my dog loose stools and I think I have to change brand. I’ve been combing the local stores for the “old” cans. Is anyone else noticing that the “new” canned ground dinners are much less sold than just two weeks ago and are there any side-effects to your dogs?
August 9, 2008 at 3:05 pm. Permalink.
KonaGirl replied:
Bellemom,
You already know my opinion on the dog food and as Jim already pointed out, in the wild wolves eat the stomachs of their kill to get the grains that they need. Keep in mind that the animals in the wild that the wolves feed on usually are not eating out of the corn field, but if they were the corn would be predigested, which would make it easier for a wolf to digest.
Dogs are no longer of the exact disposition or make-up of a wild wolf. They are been over bred and domesticated to the point of almost being a complete different species. One thing that has held true with domesticated dogs is that they have a difficult time digesting corn products.
Enzymes are needed in the healthy dog food diet to enable the body to function properly. Dogs produce enzymes naturally in their stomachs to digest raw food. Both the semi-moist and dry dog food can sit in the dogs stomach for up to 16 hours waiting to be digested because there are not enough enzymes being produced in the stomach to break it down. Remember, a dog’s stomach is designed to deal with raw foods.
Enzyme robbing occurs at such times when the dogs body must pull enzymes from other parts of the body, such as the heart, liver, and kidneys, to be transported to the stomach. Robbing the other parts of the body of these enzymes can have a detrimental effect on those organs. While the body is working overtime to gather these enzymes for digestion, the food just sits in the stomach until the body has gathered enough enzymes to digest it.
The correct healthy dog food diet should never contain more than 40% of cereal grain for the dry food portion of the diet, or 30% in a mixed diet. Dogs that eat a lot of carbohydrates, or commercial dry dog food (which is high in carbs) take a very long time digesting their food. The high carbs in dry food will produce large quantities of gas and smelly stools.
Corn is the carbohydrate that is used by most lower quality commercial dog food companies because it is in great supply and is cheap to produce, (bottom line not the health of the dog being first and foremost); however, the nutritional value is low and again, it is difficult for a dog to digest.
If your dog is reacting to the “new” Pedigree, then it should be obvious that he is reacting to something in the food. You did not say what breed your dog is. Often miniature breeds and pedigree breeds will have stomachs that are more sensitive to foods than dogs that have not been over bred.
Sometimes when introducing a new food to these types of dogs, it is better to introduce the new food a little at a time, increasing the amounts every few days until they are completely changed over and adjusted to the new food.
If this doesn’t work and there are still problems, then again, obviously, the dog is reacting to something in the new food. Buy a better quality food.
In answer to Pedigree Dog Food? Here are some more opinions.
August 10, 2008 at 2:21 pm. Permalink.
Emma replied:
BETTER FOODS TO FEED YOUR PETS AND WHY
If your dog has diarrhea mixing rice with their food and even some unflavored Metamucil helps to firm up stool. Pedigree is really not a very good food to begin with. Neither is IAMs Beneful Purina or any of the other foods you have usually heard of. The first several ingredients are usually corn (we know what happens when our body gets corn, we poop it out and don’t use it, same with dogs) meat by products (the take the meat off of whatever it is and you get the bones, feathers, coat, feet, beaks, etc) and white or brewers rice (no nutritional value, just a filler) because of this our dogs need to eat more to get the nutrients they need and poop a lot more too. Also…science diet and eukanuba are not very good foods either. They used to be but they were bought out by other companies who, to save money, changed the ingredients to fillers and by products. These foods cost about the same as the all naturals foods and you are getting pedigree quality food. You can check all the ingredients yourself. Stay away from the first 3 ingredients being corn, by products of any kind, and white or brewer’s rice. Go for foods with chicken, chicken meal, or any meats that don’t have by product after them, and BROWN rice. These are good foods. Try going to a specialty pet store and ask about a better food. Precise, Royal Canin, and Verus are all really good foods. When you look at the ingredients they will be along the lines of Chicken, brown rice (the only rice with nutritional value for dogs), and usually another protein source such as chicken meal (chicken meal is just dehydrated chicken, very good) your dogs will eat much less of the food so even though it cost a bit more you go through less food and it ends up saving you money. They also poop less, live longer, and are overall healthier. I have four shih tzus and I feed them Royal Canin dry food. 10lbs of that food last us over a month. 4 adults dogs eating only 10lbs of food between the 4 of them is pretty good! These foods are also all natural and organic so they are never involved in any recalls; you know your food is always safe. Go to your local pet store and ask about these brands (Precise, Royal Canin, Verus, Wellness, California Natural, Innova, Canidae, Merrik) many stores, such as Pets Plus, will even give you your money back for the dog food if your dog doesn’t like it and has programs such as buy 10 bags get your 11th free. It’s worth a try and trust me your dogs will love it.
September 23, 2008 at 1:59 pm. Permalink.
KonaGirl replied:
Excellent post Emma. I have a new Sheltie puppy in the family (10 weeks) and we have found another decent dog food that we are trying out called Evolved. The ingredients are excellent and he likes the food – so far so good.
I cannot state enough to people, just as Emma has brought up again, that if your dog food has corn or meat by-products as the first 3 ingredients, it is time to find another dog food.
Read your ingredients carefully as there is a difference between brown rice and brown rice hulls. Brown rice hulls, just like brewers rice, are the hulls that have been removed from the grain.
October 5, 2008 at 1:26 am. Permalink.
Heidi replied:
“Go to your local pet store and ask about these brands (Precise, Royal Canin, Verus, Wellness, California Natural, Innova, Canidae, Merrik) many”
I have a Lab. Since getting him as a puppy we have tried these mentioned brands plus more. He’s even been on Royal Canin Vet Diet (Hypoallergenic). NONE have worked, in fact the “super” or “healthy” diets have made him worse. Loose stools – fast shedding coat – throwing up – flaking – itching and more.
Not all dogs are the same – and not all digestive systems can tolerate the so-called healthy dog foods.
We are using Pedigree. So far it is the only food that hasn’t caused the aforementioned problems. I don’t care what anyone or any vet has to say ever again. We will use what works for our dog and anyone pushing these other specialty foods better not bump in to me.
November 3, 2008 at 8:07 pm. Permalink.
anonymous replied:
well i went to your link for homemade food for dogs and i didnt find anything but products to buy, so my feeling is that this post is advertising for those products
November 4, 2008 at 4:41 pm. Permalink.
KonaGirl replied:
Heidi,
Thank you for sharing that. It is great news that you have found something that does work well for your lab. Not every dog is created equal just as every human is also different. Living beings have different metabolisms and will react differently to different substances. I am assuming that you also supplement your labs diet with fresh food and are not relying solely on Pedigree. Good luck to you and your precious lab!
November 5, 2008 at 1:34 am. Permalink.
KonaGirl replied:
To Anonymous – Yes the link is to buy the products if you so choose. No offense, but duh! The difference is that it is not an affiliate link. You should have seen that from the link itself. The link was put there as an easy way for you to find it if you are interested. I am not earning anything from this link, it is not an ad for the product, just a recommendation as something you might want to try. It may or may not be right for your dog. It is something only you can decide
November 5, 2008 at 2:06 pm. Permalink.
josh replied:
should i go by the bag when feeding my dog, as far as how much to feed
February 10, 2009 at 9:03 pm. Permalink.
KonaGirl replied:
Josh,
That is a hard thing for me to determine without knowing the breed and age of your dog. Younger dogs need more food and more protein while older dogs need less protein. A dogs activity is a deciding factor too. If you and your dog are both couch potatoes, then less than the recommended amount is better. Dogs, just like humans are prone to obesity when they don’t have enough exercise. I good rule of thumb is at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. Some hyper breeds will need more than that.
June
May 11, 2009 at 9:40 pm. Permalink.