Are brewers rice and rice bran in dog food healthy or just filler?

I am going to give an answer that is likely different than what you are expecting and is somewhat vague. There is a great deal of marketing and misinformation out there that speaks in terms of absolutes, but unfortunately the answer is much more complex than and can't be stated as good or bad. The term filler has not and is not commonly used appropriately. All of the ingredients you listed are good sources of nutrition and are appropriate for dog food, because dogs are omnivores (similar to people). Filler implies the ingredient has little or no nutritional value, but these ingredients do contribute vital nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids to pet foods. These products also provide protein, which may be easier for the pet to digest than some proteins from meat. Most dogs and cats (>90%) can utilize and digest nutrients from grains normally found in pet foods. One other thing to keep in mind is that these ingredients are one of a few different ingredients that are scientifically formulated in order to meet the known nutritional demands of your dog. These ingredients are utilized for the nutrients they are high in, so depending on the food, one may be more appropriate to use than the other. Given this, I cannot say that one is better than the other. For more information about dog food, I recommend you read the articles at the links below. https://www.petcoach.co/article/what-to-look-for-when-choosing-your-pet-s-food/ https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047113.htm I hope that helps and all is well with Chloe.

The word "filler" is not exactly accurate and has been perpetuated by a great deal of false information spread about dog food lately. The truth is that these ingredients actually have a great deal of nutrients and properties that make them an important part of the diet. Dogs are actually omnivores (similar to humans) and are not meant to eat an all meat diet, so it's expected that some degree of carbohydrates are in the diet and all the packaged dog foods are formulated to meet the known nutritional demand of dogs. Additionally, carbohydrates such as rice and potatoes are good for promoting a healthy digestive system. For these reasons, all the mentioned ingredients are good ingredients to have in dog food. The benefit of brown vs white rice is not well known and any claims that one is better than the other are usually not well supported by the facts. Same goes for different types of potatoes. The easiest way to sift through the vast amount of information about dog food is to always check the source of the information. If the information is coming from a veterinary nutritionist, then it can be trusted. Veterinarians are also good sources of information, but be wary if the veterinarian is speaking on behalf of a certain company. If the source of the information is coming from someone without these qualifications, then it's best to be very skeptical. I hope that helps.

These brands you mentioned are considered at least in my mind to be mid range foods, it's no McDonald's but it's not super healthy either. same foes for all the ingredients you mentioned, these are indeed fillers, some more problematic than others (such as meat byproducts for example). Dogs are considered omnivores but are truly carnivores, meaning they need mainly meat/fish in their diet, but economically and realistically it's not doable, there are too many dogs/cats and not enough meat on earth to keep with the demand.

Basically, there is proponent of people in the media and in the "natural" food sector that would like to make everyone believe that grains are the devil and that dogs are wolves. This is, in fact, incorrect. Wheat and soy, grains, contain valuable nutrients including proteins that dogs can readily digest and utilize appropriately. While it is true that there are dogs that get GI upset from consumption of these, the same can be said about beef, chicken, and any other meat protein. Rice, oats, and potatoes are acceptable in small quantities, but do contain starches which are complex sugars, and are a little more difficult to digest. In terms of by-products, this is usually referring to any part of the animal that is not the flesh of the beast. Usually this includes certain organs, bones, blood, etc. These products can be ground up and made into a byproduct - meal of sorts. Obviously, the actual meat is going to contain more appropriate nutrients but if a dog were left to it, they would be happy to eat any and all pieces of an animal. As for specific brands of food, Hill's is the brand that I typically recommend to all my clients and which I feed to my own dogs and cats. I consider it to be very high quality. I can't speak much about the other brand you've named unfortunately as I have little knowledge about it. Hope this helped though!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding diets. Royal Canin is great pet food company as they have veterinarians on staff to formulate and research their diets. This is not something small niche brand companies can afford to do. Very few dogs actually have allergies to wheat. It is typically a breed problem with Irish Setters. As far as corn, it is actually a high quality ingredient despite the bad press. It provides a complete protein source and many essential fatty acids. There is so much misinformation from other pet food companies trying to make their diets unique. Additionally, very fre dogs have allergies to corn. Thank you for the exc question. I hope this information helps!

Green beans are normally a very safe and healthy option to add some extra "bulk" to the diet without significantly increasing calories - so as long as Chloe is otherwise healthy and isn't on any kind of special diet for medical reasons, it should be fine to add some to her diet to see if this helps her feel more full :)

Groats and oatmeal come from the same plant, however groats have had the husk removed; oatmeal has not. I suspect that the food you're looking at uses oat hulls as a source of mostly insoluble (non-digestable) fiber, so they are sort of a filler (something having little to no nutritional value) and sort of not. Similarly, pearled barely has had the husk removed and the grains have been polished, so barley would retain the husk and thus have some additional benefit for fiber. Millet is actually a plant, but the tiny spherical components of the plant that are used in foods are actually seeds and not grains.