# What makes a dog food balanced?



## Muck (Nov 16, 2010)

Someday I have this (possibly silly) dream of making/possibly selling my own grain free dog food.

I was just wondering what exactly makes a dog food (kibble and canned) "balanced"? 

If you have any possibly helpful sites please share too.

Thanks


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

Here you go!
What Is Complete And Balanced Nutrition For Dogs

I use the NRC numbers found in Optimal Nutrition by Monica Segal. An older chart is here.
Nutrient Requirements of Dogs, Revised 1985
AAFCO numbers are here.
Dog Food Standards by the AAFCO
and use this site to add up the numbers for me.
Nutrition facts, calories in food, labels, nutritional information and analysis – NutritionData.com


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

considering that even the cheapest garbage has the AAFCO stamp on it....

what makes a food balanced?


I'd say about anything... though I'm sure you'll have to abide by something to conform.


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## harrkim120 (Feb 2, 2010)

Oh man...my brain hurts with that one. :wacko:


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

The added vitamins and minerals supposedly make the commercial dog foods balanced. There needed because of the nutrient deficiencies in commercial dog food.


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

here's a food with the AAFCO stamp on it. 

Its called Doggy Bag food and you can get it at Tractor Supply for about $14 for 40 lbs. 

I'd like to see a food that DOESN'T meet up to AAFCO standards. Christ, it would have to have outright Cow manure in it to not qualify. 



Ingredients:
Wheat Middlings, Ground Yellow Corn, Meat and Bone Meal, soybean Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Animal fat (preserved with BHA and citric acid), Animal Digest Salt, Choline Chloride, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate , Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Biotin, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of vitamin K activity), Riboflavin Supplement (source of vitamin B2), Vitamin D Supplement, Cobalt Carbonate, Folic Acid.


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## RachelsaurusRexU (Sep 4, 2010)

kevin bradley said:


> here's a food with the AAFCO stamp on it.
> 
> Its called Doggy Bag food and you can get it at Tractor Supply for about $14 for 40 lbs.
> 
> ...


EWWWW. Poor dogs 

And WTF is "animal digest salt"?!?


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

No clue, Rachel. 

But one night I was bored and started looking at all the retail dog food outlets... as I recall, every bag of food I could find had that stupid AAFCO stamp on it. Including the wonderful food I listed above. 

Ever since then, I find the AAFCO stamp a laughable joke. 

I'm not even sure what it means. I suppose that it won't kill your Dog within 24 hours.


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

So its true! Some dogs can eat saw dust! My hubbys into doing wood working , so I will just throw the wood shavings on the ground and see if the dogs eat it up LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why bother even buying dog food when I can just sweep the garage floor and feed them it!!!!!!!!!!!!:biggrin:
Is this dog food free??????????????????????:tongue1: If not it should be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:heh:


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## dogmom (Aug 14, 2010)

In case anyone wants to watch, there's a documentary being aired on CNBC to examine the dog food industry. The following is from their web site:

_When a major recall rocks the $16 billion dollar pet food business, pet owners and governments take notice. "Pet Food: A Dog's Breakfast" takes you inside the industry and looks at what caused 50,000 pets to fall seriously ill in North America.

"Pet Food" shows you what is being done to regulate what our dogs and cats eat and tries to answer the ultimate question, is your pet's food safe?

"Pet Food: A Dog's Breakfast" will premiere on Thursday, February 10th at 10pm and will repeat that evening at 1am.

The documentary will also repeat on Sunday, February 13th at 10pm_


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

You don't have to wait! It is also online.
Viddler.com - Pet Food - A Dog's Breakfast CBC Doc Zone-1 - Uploaded by jennifergoodwin

Yup, just sweep the floor and add a vitamin and mineral supplement and you have a tasty AAFCO approved food.


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## dogmom (Aug 14, 2010)

Thanks, I'll check it out. I programmed Tivo to record it but it seems lately it's bad at recording the wrong channel and I didn't want to miss it.


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## xxshaelxx (Mar 8, 2010)

I watched it, and it was really good. It really made me happy to hear them condemning the pet food manufacturers. Only thing that disappointed me was that they didn't touch on what KIND of foods are good to buy, only that "premium" is no better than grocery store brands. They should have talked about high quality foods a bit more, like what our kibble feeders here feed.

I really liked how they touched on a raw food diet, and the one veterinarian lady was talking about how you should add table scraps to your animals' diets. It really opens peoples' minds to that a bit more.


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