Sanflorian Cavaliers

When it comes to choosing a dog food the options are seemingly endless. Choices include
"kibble", baked dry foods, canned food, frozen raw food, "pre-mixes" to which owners
add some fresh ingredients, home-prepared cooked diets, and home-prepared raw diets.

Many canned and dry dog foods start with ingredients that are of questionable nutritional
value, often the by-products of foods processed for human consumption. Of course, some
dry and canned foods do start with high quality ingredients and this is one of the first things
we look for if feeding one of these types of food. To make kibble, the ingredients are
highly processed. They are pressure cooked and extruded into "kibble" shapes to dry. To
compensate for nutrients lost in processing (or never present to start with), and to assure
that the food meets American Association of Feed Control Officers (AAFCO)
recommendations, manufacturers generally add back a vitamin and mineral mixture. Then,
to restore palatability, kibbles are commonly sprayed with fats or digests to get dogs to eat
them. For human consumption, there are many bars, shakes and powders which are
heavily processed, but nutritionally complete. Feeding a heavily processed food to our
dogs is analogous to our eating only these types of products. It can be done, but it's not
ideal.

Consumers' increased interest in "health foods" prompted the pet food industry to begin
offering alternatives to kibbles and canned food. Baked dog foods are slightly less
processed and in this way, a step in the right direction. They also tend to retain palatability
through processing, so flavor enhancers do not need to be added. "Pre-mixes" and
commercially available frozen or freeze dried diets are also less processed. However,
many of these types of foods are NOT sold as complete diets, so the consumer must take
responsibility to investigate them and assure that they are properly balanced and complete.

Home prepared raw and cooked diets have recently been hyped as the key to feeding a
healthy diet. Unfortunately, many of the "experts" who promote home prepared diets
assure pet owners that as long as they feed their dogs a wide variety of foods the pet will
thrive. This attitude is not only ignorant, it is dangerous. The effects over time of excess or
deficiency of key nutrients-especially in feeding puppies-can be devastating and
irreversible. It's true that variety in a diet is helpful in obtaining all of the necessary nutrients.
It's also true, however, that the CORRECT variety must be fed in CORRECT proportion.
If a diet is not complete and balanced, it doesn't really matter how fresh or good the
individual foods are.

Most veterinarians to whom we've spoken recommend a kibble of some kind, and most
people in this country probably choose this type of food. It certainly is the easiest way to
feed and the easiest way to assure a complete and balanced diet. However, with careful
research and/or professional guidance, it is possible to feed a complete and balanced
home-prepared diet that will support your dog's overall good health. We do not generally
suggest going against your veterinarian's recommendations, so if you are going to choose a
home-prepared diet we strongly suggest that you have a conversation about it with your
veterinarian. You should be prepared to show your veterinarian your recipe(s) and explain
why you believe it to be complete and balanced, and listen to his or her feedback.

For many years, we feed our dogs exclusively a home-prepared combination of raw and
cooked foods. The diets were developed by Monica Segal, ACHW, a specialist in canine
nutrition, and formulated to be complete and balanced and meet National Research
Council (NRC) recommendations. (Click here for an explanation of the difference between
formulating a food to AAFCO vs NRC standards.) Recently, a variety of pressures have
made us re-consider the amount of time that goes into food preparation and we have
compromised by introducing some kibble to the diet.

We do not believe that this is the ONLY right way to feed a dog. What we are committed
to is feeding a complete and balanced diet prepared, as much as possible, from fresh foods
approved for human consumption.