Dr. Billinghurst’s BARF Raw Diet could very well be the raw feeders dream, especially if you’re busy and on the go, or worried about providing a balance of nutrition and meeting all the essential needs for your dog. They offer supplements to help ensure your dog is getting all it needs.

This system has you covered all around. They even have a handy calculator to help you determine how much food to order for your dog.

The only down-side I can see with this, just like with the delivered home-cooked system, is the cost. It’s very expensive. Doing it yourself is obviously going to be much less expensive; but, if you can afford it, or need something as a backup for times when you get busy or just need something to grab quickly - then I think this system is worth checking out.

It’s as if you went out, shopped for the finest organicingredients, then home-cooked your dog a delicious,perfectly balanced meal every day.”

Well, now if I can only get them to come and cook for my human family - I’d be all set. Seriously, if you prefer a home-cooking feeding method for your dog, and either don’t like to cook (that would be me), don’t have time or want to use a service like this as a back-up for emergencies or something. It might be worth checking out.

However, life for me gets crazy busy, and one reason I chose Chicken Soup in particular, aside from it’s quality ingredients, was that I could obtain it locally. Living in a rural community, this is huge for me. I like the convenience of Flint River’s delivery - but for reasons I won’t go into here, I do not care for auto-ship or having anything coming automatically out of my checking account. So with a crazy life, you can imagine that I get low on food and well…. I need a local source where I can go get food when I need it. Thus Chicken Soup.

This past week found me in such a spot. So I send my hubby to buy Chicken Soup and he comes home and tells me they have none. They had the Chicken Soup cat food (on which our cats do quite well), and he did buy that, but couldn’t find the dog food. Since this store is known to switch things around, I decided to go myself - assuming he had just overlooked it. Nope. They didn’t have it. So I had the gal call their other location in a store 40 minutes from my house. Nope. They don’t have it either, but a truck is due in the next day, but no guarantees they will have it on the truck. Great. So the next day, I remember that another nearby town also has a branch of this store, plus another store that carries Chicken soup. I call both stores. Neither has it; and worse: the one tells me that they had a bag of the puppy variety and it’s clearanced priced like they aren’t going to carry it anymore! :-O Yikes!!

So I decide to head to a local feed/pet specialty store in a town about 15 minutes from me, where I was hoping they had some food of quality there I could get. First, I ask them about Chicken Soup and their distributor says they won’t be carrying it anymore. So assuming this same distributor supplies my whole area, this may be why everyone is out. Thankfully, they did have a suitable food: Taste of the Wild. It’s made by Diamonds, which also makes Chicken Soup. Taste of the Wild is a grain-free, more like a raw type feeding in kibble form. Not entirely like raw, of course, but closer than traditional kibble, as it’s higher in protein and fat than traditional kibble.

One concern that I have found with feeding a raw diet to puppies is the high protein counts can contribute to a rapid growth and stress the growth plates and joints in the puppy. (I have a 6 month old Cavalier puppy, so this is an issue for me) I had first heard of this theory when I had Golden Retrievers, so to avoid this possibility, I went with the Smoked Salmon variety which only has 25% protein, compared to 32% for their other two varieties. My plan is right around his first birthday to switch everyone to one of the other higher protein varieties.

The other issue with a higher protein diet is the kidneys: as long as the dog has normal kidney function, then feeding a higher protein diet should not cause any harm or problems. As always, check with your vet regarding your specific pet’s health and potential health issues.

I have to say, I would not have changed foods, had it not been for the Chicken Soup distribution issue; but my dogs absolutely LOVE Taste of the Wild. They have always liked Flint River and Chicken Soup just fine. Ate it without squawking, but they never wolfed down their food like they do now. This tells me they obviously prefer Taste of the Wild.

Check out their web site for more information. http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com

Apparently a few companies chose to either not respond, or not comply with this request and were dropped from the list for 2008.  According to the 2008 report, some companies cited reasons for not disclosing the source of their ingredients were, their source is a “competitive advantage” or they didn’t want to “lose the advantage of an exclusive relationship”.   However, it appears that most companies just failed to respond to WDJ inquiry for the manufacturer information.

After a  horrendous 2007 in the pet food industry with the food recalls and pet deaths,  it puts everyone it a tough spot I suppose, but none more than our pets.  Pet food is big business.  Disclosing ingredient sources, I would imagine, is a huge thing; and for reasons I can not even imagine.  Those companies who chose not to, may very well have nothing to hide; but as a pet owner, it certainly makes it difficult for me to stand behind any product that would not be transparent in disclosing the source of it’s ingredients.   I need to know what I’m feeding my pets is safe and coming from safe sources.  It’s all about accountability.

As WDJ has stated in the past, every single good food is not listed in their annual lists.  They will tell you themselves, to read the ingredient lists yourself.  Also, if one food from a company makes their list, chances are, other varieties or foods from that same company would also - if it meets their selection criteria.  (click image to left to see selection criteria)

So does that mean the foods cut from the list this year are bad?  No, not necessarily.  It also doesn’t mean those companies are hiding anything.  You can buy a copy of the WDJ 2008 List for $10 and find out for yourself if the food  your feed is one of the 33 foods on the list, or one of the 11 foods cut from last year’s list.

If you have questions, then call the manufacturer yourself and ask them!  Reports like the WDJ are helpful, and it’s great that others do some leg-work for us, but they aren’t the “end-all” authority.  They say themselves this isn’t an exhaustive list of good foods.  So while great to use as a guide, you still need to read the label on what you’re feeding and decide for yourself if what you’ve chosen to feed your pet is a quality food.  If you have questions about the ingredients being used - call the manufacturer and ask.

The good news is that we’ve come a long way and there are many great choices available on the market today.  The not so good news is getting the word out about those choices, getting folks to buy those good foods and stop buying the “candied crap in a bag” sold in grocery stores.

My mission, and my hope, is that The Dog Food Blog will educate, enlighten, encourage and maybe even make you laugh; but always to point you to the facts about dog nutrition in general, and to help you make your own decision on the best food and/or feeding method for your dog.

So check back often as we’re still getting unpacked and settled in.  Please sign-up for The Dog Food Blog Newsletter too - as there will be information, incentives and goodies shared through the newsletter that you will not find here on the blog.