Are oat groats, barley, and millet good pet food ingredients?

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.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. No, this is not a grain free diet. Oat groats are the first ingredient on the list. They are the hulled kernels of cereal grains: in this case, oats. Groats are whole: they include the cereal germ, the bran, and the endosperm of the grain. They are very nutritious. The novel protein is not a concern for DCM. So this diet would be good for Jack! I hope this is helpful!

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!

Oat groats should be fine, however the change in diet may cause some minor GI upset or loose stools that should return to normal once C's regular diet is replaced. If any loose stools continue, or C shows any signs of illness or distress, then a veterinary exam is always a good idea.

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 word filler is really not appropriate for either of these, because they actually have good nutritional content and are an appropriate staple for dog food. Brewers rice is rice that has already been used for brewing purposes (i.e. brewing beer) and is recycled for animal feed. While this may sound cheap, it actually has some good nutritional qualities after being used for brewing. Rice bran is essentially the chaf, or bits of rice that are sifted out of the rice that is sold for human consumption. It has similar nutritional qualities to the other rice, but doesn't look as appealing. I hope that helps and all is well with Chloe.

According to Purina, their chicken by product meal is made "of chicken that has been ground and cooked, reducing the fat content to create a protein-rich ingredient." I feed my dog Purina ProPlan and regularly recommend it to others. It is one of the few foods he can eat without issue. While grains have been implicated in allergies, not all dogs who eat grains in food develop allergies. If your dog does well with what you are feeding, there is no need to change it or be concerned. There is no one "best" food. Feed what your dog will eat, does well on and is easy for you to buy.