I do an enormous amount of research before buying a kibble. I have used other BB kibble formulas in the past and was very pleased. Due to my dog becoming elderly I decided to switch to a kibble with an even lower phosphorous percentage (reducing load on the kidneys) than the BB Senior which is about .8%. While BB does have a much lower phosphorous content than many kibbles I wanted something very low and Epigen (Wysong) is a low as it gets while maintaining a very high protein content from good quality meat sources. Be aware that regulations only require the manufacturer to list the minimum amount of phosphorous and not the maximum. One has to write the manufacturer to obtain that data.
So after months of research I bought some Epigen which is grain free, high protein, quality protein and starch free. Eqigen has some patented process that removed the carbohydrates that I can't explain. Eqipgen is 60% protein which is very high, but then older dogs need a good amount of protein that is easy is assimilate due to having reduced stomach acids.
But I wanted something to rotate with the Epigen that was not quite as high in protein and started reading about BB new Wilderness formula with a protein of about 47%. Since the fiber content of the Wilderness is higher than Epigen the stools improved immediately. I frankly don't know whether the Life Bits are credible or not, but the food is very good quality. While neither product is as good as home made and/or the raw or BARF diet, these are both very fine kibbles. Based on the improved stools I think I prefer that Wilderness over the Epigen and the later is more expensive. Neither are cheap products. Too both I've often added vegetables from SOJOs or canned tripe. Tripe is the lowest phosphorous meat there is and Solid Gold make as good one canned if you chose not to order frozen, ground tripe.
As my dog ages further (now 11.5) I may have to give up kibble and move to frozen, ground tripe to continue to keep kidney disease from happening. Since the huge increase of kidney issues in dogs appears to correlate with the advent of dry kibble, finding one that is low in phosphorous is, in my opinion, something of great importance. And since dogs of GSD or Malinois size (med to large) reach senior status at around 5 years of age, the handler should start being concerned about diet and phosphorous at that age. I train dogs in advanced obedience and K9 work and have seen how diet affects not only performance but health and longevity. If you love your dog and wish it not to become ill from kidney disease please don't feed your dog crap from the super market. You may think you are saving money, and yes dogs will eat just about anything because they are adaptive animals. But a poor diet will catch up with you via medical bills eventually.
0 comments:
Post a Comment