Nutrition Information from Brendael English Springer Spaniels

Good health for dogs, as well as people, requires variety and fresh food in the diet. To meet this need I add fresh foods to a dry dog food base. Since heat and processing destroys or alters the nutrients in foods, I add supplements that return what is lost back into the diet. Although I encourage my puppy buyers to follow the optimal nutrition guidelines, I realize it is not always possible. The following are suggestions to select the best nutrition available. When selecting food consider the following:

Minimal nutrition, this includes treats! Read the labels and they can be hard to find:

No artificial preservatives – BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin, or propyl gallate
No artificial colors
No sugars and sweeteners – corn syrup, sucrose, and ammoniated glycyrrhizin
No propylene glycol
No soy containing products
No animal digest
No animal by-products in the food and limit the amount in treats.

Good Nutrition:

In addition to the above list:
A whole meat source as one of the first two ingredients. The meat should be single source meat, i.e., chicken not poultry, may be listed as chicken or chicken meal. Ideally the food should list two meat sources. If you need to feed a single meat source, try to avoid lamb by itself. There have been questions about the completeness of the amino acid profile with long term use.
Whole fats, i.e., safflower oil, flax seed oil, chicken fat.
Natural preservatives – vitamin C and E (tocopherol)

Optimal Nutrition:

In addition to the above lists:
Eagle Holistic Select Chicken Formula* is the food we use.
Nzymes – puts the "living component" back into the processed foods thereby boosting the immune system and providing the body with the correct nutrients to help it flush toxins and repair itself. By doing so, it helps prevent allergic reactions, vaccine reactions, and cleanse toxins from the body.
4 in 1 Probiotics – fills the holes in any diet by adding probiotics, Vitamin C, and digestive enzymes to the food.
Vitamin C – in the form of Calcium Ascorbate or Ester C powder. If you are using the 4 in 1 Probiotics your dog does not need additional Vitamin C except in times of stress.
Morning meal – one of the following: up to 1/4 cup cultured yogurt, up to 1/4 cup buttermilk, or 1 large egg including shell chopped. These have a balanced calcium/phosphorous ratio and may be fed at any time. You may also add up to 1/4 cup cottage cheese, shredded cheese, or raw/lightly cooked meat (beef, chicken, turkey). These protein additions need to be alternated to maintain the calcium/phosphorous ratio. Freezing the meat will kill a large portion of the bacterium. Alternate the protein sources for a variety of amino acids and mineral content. These amounts are for adults, decrease appropriately for the puppy's age.
Evening meal – up to 1/4 cup of fruits or vegetables: carrots, broccoli, tomato, zucchini, squash, kale, collard and turnip greens, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, green beans, sweet potato, berries, melon, apple, orange, or banana. Red/purple grapes can be given but not large amounts or for more than 1 day at a time. You can give some of the fruits and vegetables raw, but most of them should be put through a food processor or steamed. Do not feed raw onions. Frozen vegetables work well when fresh are not available or convenient. These amounts are for adults, decrease appropriately for the puppy's age.

If you are interested in further information on nutrition, the web sites for the products I use are listed below. If you want to do food research on your own, most of the companies have their formulas (including ingredients, calorie, protein, and fat content) and distributor lists of their foods on their web sites.

Eagle Pack Pet Foods – Eagle Holistic Select Chicken at http://www.eaglepack.com/ The web site has a distributor list where you can look to see where to purchase the food in your area
Linda Arndt – canine nutritional consultant. This web site is large with a lot of information http://www.greatdanelady.com
Nzymes – in addition to the Nzymes, I keep the Bac-Pac on hand to use during stress such as that from surgery or antibiotics http://www.nzymes.com
First Choice Naturals – 4 in 1 Probiotics, Source, MSM http://www.firstchoicenaturals.com

*If you do not want to use Eagle Holistic Select Chicken formula quality alternatives are listed below. Most foods are different, so check the protein and fat content. I like to keep the protein at 22-26% and the fat content at least 12% until the dog reaches 8 years of age.

Nutro – Natural Choice Ultra, Eagle Natural, Eagle Large Breed Puppy, Eagle Original, Back to Basics, Canidae, Flint River Ranch, Innova, PHD, Precise, and Wellness (by Old Mother Hubbard) are good super premium foods. Most of these foods are only available direct from the company, through distributors, or "small" pet stores. Many of them have web sites that will lead you to a distributor list. If you need to feed a food different from Eagle, it is extremely important that you feed the Nzymes, 4 in 1 Probiotics, and Source ("plain" formula not Plus, available from the same company as the 4 in 1 Probiotics). Eagle adds some probiotics and enzymes that the other companies do not.

Treats are covered on the treat page.

Updated March 25, 2008