Do dog food ingredients like pea flour, legumes, or egg really matter?

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Chloe, what a great name for a Cavalier. As you know there are so many diets out there it's hard for anyone to keep up with all of them. What matters is that the diet is nutritionally balanced for the particular life stage of the pet, their body condition score, and their activity level. Diets vary in content, number of ingredients, energy density, fillers/additives, supplements, vitamins/minerals, etc. Some diets are what are called Limited Ingredient diets and these are for pets that may have food problems with certain foods such as a sensitivity or even an allergy to certain proteins. The grain feed fad appears to be just that. Since many humans now are cutting out grains, the pet food manufacturers have jumped on that as a marketing ploy but no evidence exists that grains in general are a problem for most pets. There are cases where pets do better without grains according to the owners. These diets tend to be higher in price and again, like I said, a marketing ploy. So bottom line, look for a diet that Chloe enjoys eating, is appropriate for an adult small-medium breed dog which fits her activity level, and fits your financial budget. Some nutritionists now believe that switching dog foods and brands occasionally (with a very slow transition to the new diet over a 2 week period) is good for pets since no one diet is appropriate for an individual pet. I hope this helps and gives you some guidance. The diets with fewer ingredients are usually meant for pets that are having medical problems or problems associated with their diet. Good Luck with Chloe.

Hi, thanks for using Petcoach! I just ask my clients to check for the AAFCO nutritional statement on any food brand they purchase. If the pet eats the food well, is appropriate body weight, doesn't have vomiting or diarrhea then I am happy. Between these 2 brands you will get different answers and reasons probably from every Vet or pet owner you ask. I have clients on both that are happy. Personally I would chose Fromm for my dog, no reason except for preference. I hope this helps! http://petfood.aafco.org/

Hello! All great questions and comments - and you're right, there's a lot of conflicting information out there regarding food. Some of the information you're going to find is based on personal preference or a value bias. Corn is a good source of digestible carbs, fatty acids, and protein - but these things are better digested in dogs than in cats (who are obligate carnivores), and some people prefer to minimize grains, so those people might state corn is "bad".... in my opinion, the focus on grains is based more on trends in human nutrition than evidence-based pet nutrition. Statements regarding what pet foods are "good" vs "bad" will also come from personal preference...your vet can probably explain what made them state that Purina is better than Merrick, and another vet might have their own input on the matter. I do personally like both Purina and Hills because I find their products consistent, reliable, and I like that those companies put a lot of their profits back into nutrition research to work on creating good foods - but that doesn't mean they're the only good foods out there. Raw food is another hot topic. I have worked extensively with dog mushers, and raw meat is a very common component to their food - and I'm fine with that. However, I also have a degree in Public Health, and know that raw foods increase the likelihood of foodborne illness such as salmonella both in the pets themselves, and in the humans who are in contact with them. So, again, there are going to be different sides to the conversation. It's confusing when there's conflicting information! Try to sort through what's based on research and evidence, and what is based on the personal opinions and biases of the speaker. Good luck! Hope this helps.

I have used Fromm for years and always been very pleased with their products. Their Four Star line does have grains in it which doesn't bother me for most dogs, but some people do not like that. I have not used the Nulo line before. In looking at their ingredients, they have very good ingredients. One word of caution though if you have a Cavalier is that they are generally not high energy dogs or athletes, so the Nulo line might have more protein and fat than she needs. If you decide to try Nulo with her, you might select one of the lower fat diets. I always tell clients that there is no perfect food. You have to try it with your pet and see how they do on it. It doesn't matter if it has all the right ingredients, if your dog doesn't do well on it. I think both lines are good foods, so select one and see how Chloe does on it. I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Again, there is no known problem with these ingredients. The stigma about byproducts is especially annoying, because byproducts like liver, kidney and other organs have great nutritional value compared with meat. The reason behind the stigma is not easy to understand. It really has to do with a series of non- professionals speculating on unsupported theories and then spreading the information as if it's truth. The same happens with people...just look at all the fad diets that come and go. While there may be some shred of evidence that these ingredients may have potential to cause harm, there is not nearly enough for a professional to say that they are bad and other ingredients are good. You can see that the pet food industry has responded to the unsupported claims of grains, natural ingredients, byproducts and even raw food, but please don't take that as confirmation that these ingredients are bad or good. It's nothing more than sales strategy and responding to consumer demands. This is a huge topic that I cannot begin to cover here, so I'll give you a couple links to some helpful articles: https://www.petcoach.co/article/what-to-look-for-when-choosing-your-pet-s-food https://www2.vet.cornell.edu/news/20130205/what-pet-food-should-i-feed

The purple one seems to be a little better, mainly because the 3 first ingredients are meat while the first one only has the first ingredient marked as meat, but it's hard to know for sure without knowing what quantity of each is present in the food.

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!