# Norwegian Food - Something many North American brands could learn from



## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

http://www.appetitt.com/no/objekter/Appetitt_brosjyre06.02.12.pdf
This is a new'ish premium Norwegian kibble sold in northern Europe. Note the high inclusion of animal products without compromising best practices for a healthy composition. This is a non GMO product too, 90% Norwegian sourced ingredients. All the various formulas use the same ingredients. Scroll down to page 7 to find the ingredients and other nutritional information. Here's the ingredients translated to English:

Chicken meal, Salmon meal, Lamb meal, Dried egg products, Hydrolyzed chicken liver, Brewers yeast (MOS), Whole wheat, Whole corn, Rice, Pea starch, Beet pulp (sugar removed), FOS, Chicken fat, Pork fat, Salmon oil, Glucosamin, MacroGuard fermentation product, L-Carnitine, CLA + vitamins & minerals.

The energy varies from 3700 kcal/kg for the light version to 5159 kcal/kg for the Extreme version. The adult maintenance small bites many would use have 4108 kcal/kg. Highly digestible and potent stuff. Ash levels are 5% to 7.5%

It's a Norwegian Co-op brand.


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## Losech (Jul 10, 2012)

Huh, looks alright. I'd probably only feed the extreme one though... But my Shiba couldn't have any since there's wheat and corn in it. I generally avoid foods with those in them because of that, even if I am feeding it to Mom's dogs.


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## monster'sdad (Jul 29, 2012)

Looks good. Shows that the use of corn is not limited to those money-grubbing American companies that use whatever is closest and cheapest. There are a variety of high-end European brands that use corn, and not because its cheap.

Pork fat is nice too.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

Losech said:


> But my Shiba couldn't have any since there's wheat and corn in it. I generally avoid foods with those in them because of that, even if I am feeding it to Mom's dogs.


If he or she is one of the 1% that is allergic to wheat or corn it's obviously a no go. For the rest, there is no other carbohydrate that makes more digestive and nutritional sense to add to a kibble formula than rice, corn and wheat, none. Add to that guaranteed GMO free. Not considering foods with any combination of rice, corn or wheat on pure principle is doing your dogs a big disservice because many of these foods are really good, highly digestible, properly formulated and have a high percentage of animal sources of high biologic value. Biologic value, or the quality of the ingredients, which manufacturers are not allowed to say anything about per AAFCO, plays a big big role.


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## monster'sdad (Jul 29, 2012)

DaViking said:


> If he or she is one of the 1% that is allergic to wheat or corn it's obviously a no go. For the rest, there is no other carbohydrate that makes more digestive and nutritional sense to add to a kibble formula than rice, corn and wheat, none. Add to that guaranteed GMO free. Not considering foods with any combination of rice, corn or wheat on pure principle is doing your dogs a big disservice because many of these foods are really good, highly digestible, properly formulated and have a high percentage of animal sources. Secondly, the quality of the ingredients, which manufacturers is not allowed to say anything about per AAFCO, plays a big big role.


Being GMO free is a nice touch but I would try it anyway. I couldn't agree more about rice, corn & wheat being optimal, and you are right on about the allergies. But...when you say 1% that is 1% of food allergies not overall allergies, or 1/1000.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

monster'sdad said:


> Being GMO free is a nice touch but I would try it anyway. I couldn't agree more about rice, corn & wheat being optimal, and you are right on about the allergies. But...when you say 1% that is 1% of food allergies not overall allergies, or 1/1000.


You are correct about 1% (or was it 2%, honestly don't remember right now) food allergies. There is probably some gray areas plus various sensitivities and intolerances. Still at the end of the day it's a relatively small percentage compared to environmental allergies plus stress related sensitivities. Stress sensitivities is often overlooked because it is a touchy topic. Stress sensitivities, and I am not talking about high activity type of stress, is the big elephant in the room.


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## monster'sdad (Jul 29, 2012)

There is not much data on allergies and reactions in neutered vs intact dogs but there is some with respect to vaccinations. From where I sit, I see the same thing with food issues, intact male and female dogs have fewer problems.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

monster'sdad said:


> There is not much data on allergies and reactions in neutered vs intact dogs but there is some with respect to vaccinations. From where I sit, I see the same thing with food issues, intact male and female dogs have fewer problems.


Yes, fixed dogs and over-vaccinated dogs comes with some issues, many of those we don't understand to well. Pure anecdotal but I have some qualifications for saying this; cultures where fixing dogs is not the norm and where puppy mills and over the counter sale of dogs is not a factor seem to have a healthier population of dogs, fwiw.


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## monster'sdad (Jul 29, 2012)

DaViking said:


> Yes, fixed dogs and over-vaccinated dogs comes with some issues, many of those we don't understand to well. Pure anecdotal but I have some qualifications for saying this; cultures where fixing dogs is not the norm and where puppy mills and over the counter sale of dogs is not a factor seem to have a healthier population of dogs, fwiw.


All true, but its more fun saying its Purina's fault.


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## Sapphire-Light (Aug 8, 2010)

DaViking said:


> Yes, fixed dogs and over-vaccinated dogs comes with some issues, many of those we don't understand to well. Pure anecdotal but I have some qualifications for saying this; cultures where fixing dogs is not the norm and where puppy mills and over the counter sale of dogs is not a factor seem to have a healthier population of dogs, fwiw.


That will depends in wish country too, mostly if they have education in caring of animals and money issues.

Here people see spaying as cruel like cutting a leg or taking an eye on purpose, but many dogs barerly get to 10 years old and many have serious health and behavior issues, Pompadour is now 3 years old and still looks like a bouncy puppy.. some people are even shocked to know he is an adult and not a tiny puppy, while the dogs I know many dogs from family members and friends that died before that age from illness, lack of care, accidents and while giving birth to a huge litters.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

Sapphire-Light said:


> That will depends in wish country too, mostly if they have education in caring of animals and money issues.


Absolutely, social factors will play a big role too.


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## Sapphire-Light (Aug 8, 2010)

DaViking said:


> Absolutely, social factors will play a big role too.


Agree, another of the main problems of the poor countries is feral dogs, they spread a lot of diseases to house pets, mostly when many owners don't care and let their pets to roam at streets.

So that cute neighbour's dog Romeo who roams all the nights because his owner is too lazy to clean his poop suddenly finds a sweet feral bitch in heat and he mates.. other dogs of nearby houses join too, a couple of days later he gets a huge tumor in his manhood because this female never had vet care before and now the other dogs of the area have it as well... now Romeo's owner trow him to the streets because their vet was asking a huge bill of cash to remove the contagious tumor and he didn't had the money, so he got rid of Romeo and got a new puppy instead.


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

Sapphire-Light said:


> Agree, another of the main problems of the poor countries is feral dogs, they spread a lot of diseases to house pets, mostly when many owners don't care and let their pets to roam at streets.
> 
> So that cute neighbour's dog Romeo who roams all the nights because his owner is too lazy to clean his poop suddenly finds a sweet feral bitch in heat and he mates.. other dogs of nearby houses join too, a couple of days later he gets a huge tumor in his manhood because this female never had vet care before and now the other dogs of the area have it as well... now Romeo's owner trow him to the streets because their vet was asking a huge bill of cash to remove the contagious tumor and he didn't had the money, so he got rid of Romeo and got a new puppy instead.


And in situations like this, perhaps spaying and neutering is the answer. But if ppl are too lazy to even get vet care until its too late the chances of them doing it in advance is probably slim to none.

While I like the idea of leaving a dog intact, I know wayyyy to many dog owners that could not take on the responsibility properly.
I think if I ever get a dog from a puppy I will wait to get them done, but in the long run will most likely end up having them altered...But perhaps my opinions will have swayed even more by then, I know when I first got to this forum I would have never considered leaving a dog intact..Ever.

As far as the food goes, I know that vets will say the same thing about food allergies being the cause of about 1% of all allergies. But from what I've seen lately it seems much higher. Although a good quality product (like this one, with no GMO's and the like) is probably less likely to cause allergies than a very poor manufactured pet food with a similar ingredient profile.


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## monster'sdad (Jul 29, 2012)

lauren43 said:


> And in situations like this, perhaps spaying and neutering is the answer. But if ppl are too lazy to even get vet care until its too late the chances of them doing it in advance is probably slim to none.
> 
> While I like the idea of leaving a dog intact, I know wayyyy to many dog owners that could not take on the responsibility properly.
> I think if I ever get a dog from a puppy I will wait to get them done, but in the long run will most likely end up having them altered...But perhaps my opinions will have swayed even more by then, I know when I first got to this forum I would have never considered leaving a dog intact..Ever.
> ...



Food allergies are about 10% of all allergies. Things like rice & corn are about 1% each. Wheat is a bit higher. 

Beef, Dairy, Chicken and Eggs are responsible for about 75% of food allergies. The biggest offenders by far are common meat proteins.

Grain allergies are statistically insignificant. Nothing to do with GMO, allergies are caused by proteins.


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## NewfieAussie (Feb 19, 2013)

I am for any dog eating Dr Tims, Horizon or Joars team. Why, because my fabulous dogs just finished a bag of Dr Tims Pursuit and we just opened a bag of Horizon Pulsar. Thanks DaViking.

That is absolutely crazy about what someone said was in Dr Tims food. I can't even bring myself to type the word. I put water in my dogs Dr Tims and there must be a misunderstanding, it is wonderful clean kibble.

Joar Ulsoms dogs are amazing looking, the leg muscles and their broad chests are gorgeous. I want one!


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

NewfieAussie said:


> I am for any dog eating Dr Tims, Horizon or Joars team. Why, because my fabulous dogs just finished a bag of Dr Tims Pursuit and we just opened a bag of Horizon Pulsar. Thanks DaViking.
> 
> That is absolutely crazy about what someone said was in Dr Tims food. I can't even bring myself to type the word. I put water in my dogs Dr Tims and there must be a misunderstanding, it is wonderful clean kibble.
> 
> Joar Ulsoms dogs are amazing looking, the leg muscles and their broad chests are gorgeous. I want one!



Are you referring to me saying that someone said there is sand in it?


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## NewfieAussie (Feb 19, 2013)

I don't have a name, just "she" said there was a "ton of sand". I just think there is a misunderstanding, why would a musher feed a "ton of sand" to their dogs racing in the Iditerod. Just doesn't add up. Not trying to fight, just doesn't make sense


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

NewfieAussie said:


> I am for any dog eating Dr Tims, Horizon or Joars team. Why, because my fabulous dogs just finished a bag of Dr Tims Pursuit and we just opened a bag of Horizon Pulsar. Thanks DaViking.
> 
> That is absolutely crazy about what someone said was in Dr Tims food. I can't even bring myself to type the word. I put water in my dogs Dr Tims and there must be a misunderstanding, it is wonderful clean kibble.
> 
> Joar Ulsoms dogs are amazing looking, the leg muscles and their broad chests are gorgeous. I want one!


Horizon Pulsar is a good food at a reasonable price. I don't remember who right now but there is one of the regulars here who struggled with multiple issues in their dogs but once she switched to Pulsar things cleared up and they are doing good.

Yep, Joar's dogs are great. He brought most of them over from Norway, supplemented with a few from local Alaska kennels. Several of them come from previous Iditarod winners. His tumblr account is here. His team post frequent updates. Latest is that he kept a good speed into the Iditarod checkpoint and gained a cpl of spots, currently at 11th place. Martin Buser and Aaron Burmeister are the two bullets atm.

This is Mikhail and his dogs, Joar's racing/kennel teammate.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

I like horizon. I feed it to my ferret (cat Legacy formula) cause she could never keep weight on raw. That Norwegian food looks good, though I would prefer white rice over wheat and corn as a starch. Or oats.

Incidentally the only food allergy here is to beans! Josie will get red and itchy on beans- found that out by feeding leftovers. Our old Basset willow couldn't have turkey and wheat.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

NewfieAussie said:


> I don't have a name, just "she" said there was a "ton of sand". I just think there is a misunderstanding, why would a musher feed a "ton of sand" to their dogs racing in the Iditerod. Just doesn't add up. Not trying to fight, just doesn't make sense


I'm confused. I mentioned something on another thread that my friend had told me. So I'm confused as to why you are being vague about it lol.


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

DaViking said:


> Horizon Pulsar is a good food at a reasonable price. I don't remember who right now but there is one of the regulars here who struggled with multiple issues in their dogs but once she switched to Pulsar things cleared up and they are doing good.


I think that's me! Tess is doing excellent on Horizon Pulsar. Before Horizon she had consistent ear infections and they've cleared...


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

The new Norwegian food looks really interesting. It's unlike so many of the formulas in the U.S. and Canada in that the use of corn is only one time and further down on the ingredient list. That it is a non-GMO food is a big plus in my book.


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