Friday, October 19, 2007

Good Luck Finding Low Carb Dog Food

At least when it comes to Walmart and canned dog food. Since the "1 can of low-carb wet food and a free feeding bowl of low-carb crunchies" plan is working so well for my cats, I see no reason it wouldn't work for dogs. With sister-in-law's dog being 20lbs over weight, I wanted to find a quick solution.

Too bad I have not yet found the canine equivalent of the relatively inexpensive grain-free Fancy Feast canned foods listed on FelineDiabetes.com. I checked dog food label after dog food label and found ingredients like wheat gluten, corn, corn gluten, rice, barely, potatoes, and lots of other useless goop. It didn't matter if it was a cheap store brand or the fancy expensive stuff like Newman's Own. They all had a very high percentage of fillers.

The only canned dog food that I found that seemed more on the harmless side was Cesar brand, but even that has yams in it. Plus it is designed for small dogs. Anything bigger than a Shitzu would laugh at you for trying to feed them such a tiny amount, and then bite you in the leg for teasing them.

After the useless Walmart trip, I decided to give Petsmart a call and see if they had any brands they could recommend. I told the girl on the phone that I needed a canned dog food with no wheat, corn, glutens, or other fillers. She recommended Blue Buffalo brand. A quick web check for ingredients showed it is free of wheat gluten, soy, or corn, but does contain ingredients like brown rice, rye, barley and oatmeal!

Sorry underpaid, overworked Petsmart girl, those are still fillers!

Yes, you can order low-carb dog foods online, but the shipping costs are a killer. I will do some more local product checks and read more labels as long as my eyesight holds out. If I find anything good, I will post it here. Even though I have cats, puppies are also cute and also deserve decent, affordable food.

12 comments:

. said...

What about buying scraps from the butcher? My ex's mum used to do that. I remember her feeding her dogs things like eye balls *shudder*

Linda said...

The Irish Setter we had growing up used to supplement her kibble with rabbits and chipmunks she would catch...and eat whole...LOL

The thing with table scraps is you have to know what vitamins your dog is getting.

You could research a raw food diet for your dogs. Many people switched to a raw food diet for their pets after the pet food recall.

I have tried a few raw dishes with the cats (ground chicken liver, hearts and gizzards) and they were not the least bit interested.

Unknown said...

Did you check the 'where to buy' page ?
http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp

I took Smokey, my fat kitty, to the vet yesterday, he's down to 21.5 on the Fancy Feast.

Linda said...

No doubt you CAN purchase low carb dog foods online. I am just having trouble finding some you can grab at your local store.

Glad the weight is coming off your kitty. I weigh the girls again on Monday so we will see how they are doing.

Unknown said...

They have a list of actual brick and mortar stores that carry the brand. Then you only have to ask the store if they carry the Evo. There is one about 45 miles from me. If I think of it the next time I'm over there I'll see if they have the kitty kind for Smokey. He seems to miss the crunch but he threw up the last time he got into the regular kibble.

Anonymous said...

I feed my two dogs Canine Caviar lamb and pearl millet http://caninecaviar.com/adultlamb.html
Ingredients: Dehydrated Lamb, Ground Pearl Millet, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Lamb, White Fish, Whole Ground Flaxseed, Sun-Cured Alfalfa, Beet Pulp Shreds, Sun-Cured Kelp, Canola Oil, Sodium Chloride, Whole Clove Garlic, Potassium Chloride, Lecithin, Peppermint, Parsley, Papaya, Dried Chicory Root, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Rose Hips, Rosemary Extract.

My two dogs love the food and they are picky eaters. Their coats are shiny and they are full of energy. The real test is when I take my Catahoola Leopard to the vet for a regular check up and see if his ears are clean as he gets dirty ears really quick and goes to infection and it seems to be diet related.

The pet stores don't carry it locally but I was able to find a store that will order it for me.

Linda said...

Thanks for the input Christy! I will pass the information along :D

Posse Pal said...

I know what you mean about the difficulty in finding a low carb dog food. We use Evo. It is grain free and low in carbs. I combine it with a raw meal plan, but even using Evo canned and dry without the raw meals added in would be a great diet, in my opinion. I looked for years before I found a prepared food I could feed my sensitive Sheriff Tom. Take care and good luck
Misty and the Posse

Anonymous said...

contrary to your cats low carb diet, dogs actually DO need carbs. I did a modest internet search for raw dog food and discovered some very interesting facts. dogs, being scavengers, will eat the stomach contents of downed ruminants thus getting a supply of partially digested grains and grasses. The problem I read is that commercial pets foods are COOKED. I highly recommend you try Sojourner Farms (www.sojos.com). It's like hamburger helper for your dog. You mix ground beef with the dried veggies and add water. My dog LOVES the stuff.

Linda said...

Dogs don't NEED carbs, but are capable of digesting them. Just like humans. It was a common belief that humans HAVE to have carbs too. That theory was debunked by arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson and the entire Inuit nation.

Anonymous said...

You can feed dogs cat food (you can not feed cats dog food). The cat food is nutritionally better, so recommend the food you are feeding your cat to your sister-in-law for her dog.

Unknown said...

We always feed our animals fresh food. It is a little more expensive than pet store food, but well worth it. Now a days, they are recalling different pet products everyday