Please note:



This page covers the following information under these headings:



About dog food recalls of 2007

Ingredient lists for Diamond Naturals foods

Dog Food companies offering non-corn, non-wheat and non-soy foods

LOCAL SUPPLIERS

About human (and therefore dog) nutrition

And if you're still apprehensive

Summary

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ABOUT THE 2007 DOG FOOD RECALLS:

April 2007 brought many deaths to the doorsteps of pet owners who spoiled their dogs with canned dog foods. And April 2007 brought many headaches to dog food producers as they pulled tons of tainted dog food from the market.

The public became aware that mass manufacturing companies made almost all the "wet" dog foods, but did they realize the mass manufacturing companies made almost all of the dry foods also? It wouldn't be a problem unless it then produced a mass, across-the-company recall of 98% of the dry dog food on the market. That is, if the dry dog foods were recalled similarly to the mass wet dog food recall of April 2007, it would cause colossal difficulties. This is very bothersome to me.

And in this process of mass wet dog food production, a toxic chemical called "melamine" was introduced into the wheat gluten used to thicken the canned gravies.

Unknown numbers of dogs were effected by these wet dog foods, including many, many puppies being wiened on the foods.

It is the job of CEO's, COO's and CFO's to troubleshoot various scenarios such as this and circumvent them before they happen. I am bothered that this problem wasn't side-skirted prior to the event.

Think about it...25 major dog food companies having their dog foods (wet as well as dry) being made from a major manufacturing company with different food formulas, all sharing the same container of, say, sub-human grade wheat gluten! If a product was contaminated, anything using that container of, say, wheat gluten, would all be contaminated.

And that's just what happened in April of 2007.

I want my dog food to be made by a private company which makes, say, 2 percent of all dry dog food out there. If another contaminant found it's way into the dog food, I could switch to another food from the 98% available to me rather than the more scarey thought of switching from the 98% available to the 2% available, competing with all those other people who were also trying to save their dogs.

I drove many miles trying to search for a private company's dog food and found shelves empty. I had more difficulties than I care to share with you today. This was when "wet" food had its contaminant and people had to switch from wet to dry. What would happen if they had a contaminant with dry dog food and it caused 98 percent of all dry dog foods to be recalled?

If a dog has an allergy (skin irritations, continual crankiness, weepy eyes, constant itchiness...), it is usually because of allergies to the dog food, allergies to corn or wheat or soy in the food. So it had already been my goal to get a corn-free, wheat-free and soy-free food, but add that to a privately manufactured dog food company and then I'm left with ten or so expensive, holistic dog foods as my choices. Being a country girl at heart, I am a firm believer that you can get good nutrition without busting the budget!

There are several QUITE over-priced dog foods which fit my criteria of non-corn, non-wheat and non-soy food. These quite over-priced foods have carrots and peas and green beans and spinach and apples. Some dog foods claim to use human-grade foods. All that's great, if you have one or two dogs and you can afford such excesses. But I'd rather leave a little more money for my children when I die then spend it all on the dogs!!! ((Don't be offended, here, I'm just being cute.))

I'll give you a list of dry dog food companies which offer corn-free, wheat-free and soy-free foods, though not all their foods are. YOU choose which fits your budget! I am choosing a "Naturals" brand for Small Breed dogs made by Diamond.

In 1995, Diamond had a product recall because a toxin was on their corn-based dog food, a toxin from a corn fungus. Diamond had a hard time overcoming their bad rap, and when I ask people WHY they think Diamond is a bad food, they can't tell me why, other than the 1995 recall. That clues me that there is NO real reason; just a rap.

Diamond responded humbly to their 1995 corn fungus toxin, creating a 151 check system to keep any future contaminants away from their product lines, which, by the way, was sufficient to catch the Rice protein contaminant of April 2007 BEFORE the contaminant went into any Diamond dog food.

This humble company pulled their "wet" products from the shelves, and tested them for rice protein contaminants. There were no contaminants, yet their products were pulled. Their 151 check system worked in April 2007 and that's enough to make me take a close look at Diamond!

As I'm purchasing a corn-free, wheat-free and soy-free dog food (and now, Rice protein-free too), I don't expect any future contaminants to grace my doorstep!





Diamond currently makes a "Naturals Brand" of dog food which I like. You wont see green beans nor peas sticking out of the Naturals Brand dog food, but they use the basics in their Naturals Puppy Food...chicken, chicken meal, cracked pearled barley, egg product, whole grain brown rice, beet pulp, fish meal, flaxseed, fish meal,... ((See complete list below, taken from their web page.))

Diamond Naturals is an inexpensive, more-holistic dog food than regular Diamond dog food, and I can get it around 65 cents a pound. I can always add cut apples (for joints) and carrots (for eyes and anti-oxidants) and peas, if I really wanted to, and still keep the budget in check. Besides, a fresh carrot to chew on is much better than a dried carrot stuck in the dog food and dried any number of times.



Diamond makes a Diamond Naturals, Small Breed Adult Dog Lamb & Rice which contains this partial list...Lamb, lamb meal, cracked pearled barley, whole grain brown rice, egg product, millet, beet pulp, potatoes, flaxseed, fish meal.




Diamond makes a Diamond Naturals, Small Breed Adult Dog Chicken & Rice which contains this partial list...Chicken, chicken meal, cracked pearled barley, whole grain brown rice, egg product, millet, beet pulp, potatoes, flaxseed, fish meal.

INGREDIENTS LIST FOR


DIAMOND NATURALS SMALL BREED LAMB & RICE ADULT
DIAMOND NATURALS SMALL BREED CHICKEN & RICE ADULT
DIAMOND NATURALS SMALL BREED PUPPY

Diamond Naturals, Small Breed Puppy Formula:

Chicken, chicken meal, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), egg product, whole grain brown rice, beet pulp, fish meal, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, fish meal, salmon oil (a source of DHA), potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, yucca schidigera extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.




Diamond Naturals, Small Breed Adult Dog Lamb & Rice:

Lamb, lamb meal, cracked pearled barley, whole grain brown rice, egg product, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), millet, beet pulp, potatoes, flaxseed, natural flavor, fish meal, potassium chloride, choline chloride, dried chicory root, yucca schidigera extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, L-carnitine, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin,vitamin D supplement, folic acid.




Small Breed Adult Dog Chicken & Rice:

Chicken, chicken meal, cracked pearled barley, whole grain brown rice, egg product, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), millet, beet pulp, potatoes, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, fish meal, potassium chloride, choline chloride, dried chicory root, yucca schidigera extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, L-carnitine, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

DOG FOOD COMPANIES OFFERING

NON-CORN, NON-WHEAT AND NON-SOY DOG FOODS
AND IN MOST CASES, NON-RICE PROTEIN FOODS

Go to the Diamond web site at

http://www.diamondpet.com/products/diamond_naturals/dogs/dry_food/

to check out information on the NATURALS dog food I use. Compare the information I gave you today to the below dog food companies, all of which, I THINK, are privately producing their own dry dog foods, though I do not know if they are producing their own wet foods.



Here are names of dog food companies you should compare for corn-, wheat- and soy-free foods. I THINK all of them are privately owned, though I just discovered some of them have other companies make their wet foods.

Merrick, Wellness, Innova, California Naturals, Canidae, Diamond, Eagle Pack.



Of special note:

1) I had Natural Balance on this list, too, but their dry foods were involved in the rice protein recall of April 2007 so I have removed them from the list.

2) Diamond Naturals had the contaminated rice protein BUT none of it got into their foods because of their 151 check list, and they promptly got rid of the contaminated rice protein. In other words, Diamond caught the rice protein problem before it went into their dog food.

3) Merrick deserves a closer look!, look at their web page before you go to Innova or California Naturals.

LOCAL SUPPLIERS:

These local stores have agreed to carry the Diamond Naturals Small Breed Adults and Diamond Naturals Small Breed Puppy for you.



IN MORGANTOWN:

EXOTIC JUNGLE, 1716 D Mileground, Morgantown, WV, 296-8552.
10:00-7:00 Monday-Saturday, 12:00-5:00 Sunday! GREAT HOURS.

Exotic Jungle has been particularly helpful and supportive throughout the April 2007 dog food crisis, answering questions for their customers even when they absolutely had no time. I am, particularly, impressed with their go-getter attitude and customer support. They are located off the "Pierpont" exit of I-68, just three exits from I-79 in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Exotic Jungle also sells the higher priced Merrick and Wellness dog foods containing carrots and other "good-for-you" stuff. Both Merrick and Wellness have very low fat which might be a concern for Chihuahuas. If your Chihuahua is expected to be under 4 pounds (adult weight) or is under one year, I recommend you use a higher fat food than Merrick or Wellness, closer to the 24Protein/15Fat for adults and 30Protein/19Fat for puppies.

As I am told, the slightly higher fats are necessary for Chihuahuas. And if it were my dog, I would feed Diamond Small Breed Puppy until they were a year, and consider switching to Merrick on their first birthday!

For your use, Exotic Jungle stocks:

Diamond Dog Food:
"Naturals Small Breed Adult, Lamb & Rice"
"Naturals Small Breed Puppy"


Merrick's
"Cowboy", dry 30 pound bag for $35.99 ($1.19/pound)
"Grammys" dry 30 pound bag for $36.99 ($1.23/pound)
"Turducken" dry 30 pound bag $37.99 ($1.27/pound)
"Wilderness" dry 30 pound $39.99 ($1.33/pound)



IN BRIDGEPORT / CLARKSBURG:

Eastern Pet, 1400 Johnstown Avenue, Bridgeport, 842-4194
Open: 9:00-8:00 Monday-Saturday, 11:00-6:00 Sunday! GREAT HOURS!

Easily seen and accessed from I-79, Eastern Pet is at the Meadowbrook Mall exit, which is just one exit north of Highway 50 at Bridgeport/Clarksburg; and is nicely tucked in between two doctors' offices near the GoMart. When you take the exit ramp, head towards the GoMart (not Toys-R-Us) and just a couple of buildings later, Eastern is tucked off to the side before Medbrook Medical.

ABOUT HUMAN ((((AND THEREFORE, ABOUT DOG))))) NUTRITION

We hear a lot of information about nutrition everyday, seemingly from every side about every topic, and much of it contradictory. And people will tell you that dog food is not the same as human food so they can't be thought of as the same. But it's in my nature to question, especially when I don't seem to be getting the "why" behind the issue at hand!

Of course there are differences in nutritional needs between humans and dogs, but an apple still offers joint relief, barley removes fat floating in the blood system, and corn is a pig and cow fattener! So WHY do we feed our dogs corn-based foods??? To fatten them??? Corn offers a "wonderful protein", they say. OK. But there are many, many products with protein including potatoes.

My German Shepherd and I have come to a meeting of the minds. He sneaks potatoes out of the potato bag and I allow him. And he will chew on a carrot or apple any time we give it to him. As dogs have lived so long in the wild eating somewhat similar to humans, though I must admit, they never roasted a rabbit over an open fire, then WHY can't they follow some of the same dietary rules we follow? He just loves it when I go to the refrigerator and drag out some "morsel" from the crisper bin, though he complains when I give him a biscuit treat. Hummmm.

Do you know that a chicken with 1/4 of it's feed changed to barley will have 1/4 of its cholesterol reduced in both the chicken and the egg? And I bet if somebody were to look at the charts and graphs stored in our libraries, they would see a parallel between the increase of cholesterol in eggs to the switch of "corn" as the main feed of livestock of all kinds.

Barley has always been considered a "lesser grain", but barley actually gloms onto floating fat in the blood system (as it was described to me) and actually removes that fat out the human digestive system and straight into the "dross". That means, barley, the lesser grain, should be in our foods daily or at least several times a week.

Humans can place 1/4 cup barley flour into any bread recipe in your automatic bread machine and eat it for breakfast or dinner. It is, BY FAR, better for you than that aluminum-ladened, pre-shaped breakfast cereal you eat! I can't imagine having to add a few basic vitamins to cereal to be touted as "good for you" when a couple cups of flour and liquids could make bread overnight each night!

Nutrition isn't complicated!

Pre-1920's farmers used a blend of grains for livestock and family because they could only hand-plant and hand-harvest a few acres of each grain at a time without machinery. Fall-planted Rye, early spring planted wheat, frost-date-planted corn and summer-long plantings of millet. So pre-1920 farmers used a variety of grains for their livestock which made healthier, leaner cuts of meats.

Today, hundreds of acres of one crop is planted and harvested, purchased, blended with a few other grains and re-sold to the livestock grower. It isn't easy to get a proper balance of grains because they aren't mixed as such.

Nutrition doesn't have to be complicated. Balance and moderation are still the keys in both human and dog foods. And what's good for the cow (as fatteners) might not be good for the dog!

And, before the 1920's, farmers raised their food on their own garden by collecting manure and manured-hay from their barns and fields and tilling that into the garden. It was a LOT of work, but the farmer didn't use the soil up.

The microscopic bacteria reproduced wildly, using the manure to break down the hay and turn it all into highly bacteria-ladened soil with loads of nutrients ready for easy absorption into the plants. The plants absorbed those nutrients and the farmers family ate micronutrients; all because the farmer used manure and hay in his garden. People were hardworking and healthier if they ate their own food, though we needed machines to make it less labor-intensive.

After progress happened, farmers were able to till more land but didn't have enough manure to shovel into larger pieces of ground, so they used chemical fertilizers. These chemical fertilizers locked up the micronutrients, didn't allow the soil to be enhanced, they simply placed three nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium) into the plant roots for quick absorption. People were getting pretty food but without the balance of nutrients. Small farms closed as larger farms produced more and more; but the balance of nutrients wasn't there.

As nutritionists, we now have to go elsewhere to get the most basic nutrients. We began adding this, that and a little MSG to the over-processed foods, calling it "good". Now everybody calls their products good and often it's because MSG (monosodiumglutimate) was added to the food.

If water kills some nutrients, and various heat temperatures will kill others, then how nutritious could our dry dog foods be if they are high-heat processed AT least once, and, in some cases, three times?????

Chicken byproduct is heat processed to reduce water and increase the end result...protein. Read the web pages from the dog food companies I listed herein.

I've chosen to use a holistic vitamin for me....www.DrCherry.com from Natural Alternatives, and I have, sincerely, had great success at $60.00 per month, even though I don't always take them twice a day.

When I begin the vitamins, I have an increase of energy, not because of a chemical being added to my body, but because of properly processed vitamins being utilized in my blood system. Dr. Cherry also offers menopause support, digestive help, immunity support, sleep support, and any number of other holistic products touted to be processed at the optimum for best vitamin results.

And I frequently feed my dogs holistic supplements whenever I see or feel the need https://www.nuvetlabs.com/order/default.asp?sponsorid=15972

You simply CAN'T get the nutrition for your dog the way you want to when you place pre-dried, ground up food into a liquid base and cook it at ultra high temperatures. It doesn't work well with human foods and it doesn't work well with dogs!

If you dry human foods, they frequently turn into starch, a fattening agent when consumed in large enough quantities. I'm sure it's the same with dogs. Wouldn't you think so?

I don't support eating like a rabbit, I can't stand all those "fresh" veggies! But I can eat larger quantities of (pre-frozen) cooked vegetables and fruits along with whole grains and natural foods from a healthier state than pre-processed.

Deep grease-fried doughnut treats shouldn't be a frequent item on our shelves; that's why they are called treats! So why do I give that grease-ladened dog food to my dog? Because they won't eat the food unless the dog food companies purchase oils and top-dress the dog foods.

I have heard that to cut financial corners, dog food companies purchase used fryer oil from restaurants and factories, placing those oils on the dog foods. Problem is, oils fried at high temperatures for a short amount of time create a toxin in the oil. Is that what your dog food places on the kernels in order to get the dogs to eat it?

Do I need to purchase the highest priced food to avoid all these difficulties? No. But look at the percentages. Human canned foods contain somewhere around 30 percent of the nutrients their fresh countermates have. Human frozen food have somewhere around 80 percent. A fresh cut broccoli will quickly lose nutrients depending on shelf life.

Let's say it's loss is 10% in 2 weeks. It took 1 week to cut the broccoli, re-sell it several times, and get it to your store. It's now 2 weeks old but has been optimumly stored so we'll give it a 7 percent loss. If you let it sit in your refrigerator another 2 weeks because you forgot it was there, then you will lose nutrient values.

Honestly, frozen broccoli would retain the same as that fresh by the time you use it, and in some cases, more. So our house uses a lot of frozen vegetables without guilt.

There are lots of rules and lots of rule-breakers. And there are no, REAL, simple answers. You have to choose the lesser of the evils and go with that, knowing the useages of your own house. "It's the masters' eye that fattens the cattle" is an old, old saying which basically means, the owner of the animal watches his animal closely to see if it is developing any problems.

If you switch to another dog food, don't throw away your common sense. Switching away from the large manufacturing companies to a privately-operated company makes sense because if they didn't catch this 2007 problem they probably don't have enough "controls" to catch the next. Avoid corn and wheat and soy as they can cause allergies to develop. If wheat gluten and rice protein are thickening agents and showed up in 2007 poisoning the product, consider choosing a product without these ingredients so you don't have a repeated problem. Avoiding corn for the fungus-related problems is a great idea.




AND IF YOU'RE STILL APPREHENSIVE,

1) purchase dog foods from three different privately-operated companies and blend them together into the same bowl. This way, IF one of those companies had a problem with a future contaminant and you had your dog on that food, 2/3's of that food would be safe, leaving your dog with a higher chance of survival. During April 2007's scare, I am using Diamond Naturals and Wellness Lamb SuperMix5; two different privately-operated dog food companies. Merrick would be the third ingredient but I have not found it in my state.

2) educate yourself on the points brought up in this communicae. For as long as I have been thinking about dog husbandry, these points were NEVER the focus of the dog food conversations with other suppliers, breeders and vets, yet, they should have been! Conversations always revolved around name brands with breeder "kick-backs" so the breeder gets a reward for selling the dog food and occasionally covered corn as a common skin irritant.

3) feed your dog treats of apples (for joints), carrots (for eyes and antioxidants), and other natural, human treats, and consider eliminating that box of "treats" made with the same ingredients contaminated in 2007. Raw carrots are better for your dog than overly-expensive dog food with twice-dried carrots and peas! And doesn't he follow you to the refrigerator for a human treat anyway?

4) pray. I can prove to you from my OWN life that prayer certainly DOES work, and that actual, radical miracles ARE prevalent all around us, including in my own body and life! I prayed and Jesus healed me! Prayer does work! Prayer does work often!; you just have to know the keys to getting those answers.

5) God gave every human being common sense and expects us to use that, too!

IN SUMMARY

If you pick a dog food from a company which mass produces (90%) of the dog food for twenty-five (or so) different large companies, and if something goes wrong at that mass production plant as it did in 2007, then all those dog foods could be effected. That could translate into large vet bills and great pain for your dog.

Fortunately, the 2007 difficulty was limited to canned and a few dry products.

But if you choose a self-manufacturing private company to make your dog food, you have a greater chance of avoiding future dog food contaminants because the smaller dog food companies have realized their need for strict quality controls.

And you could even mix two or three different dog foods from different self-manufacturing, private companies, then you have an even less chance of having an injured dog, should one of those small companies (from the 10% of the dog foods made) encounter a problem.

That is, purchase from the 90% supplier of all dog foods or purchase from the 10% (privately-owned) suppliers.

You can purchase a high buck dog food containing carrots, apples, peas, and any number of unusual ingredients, or you can purchase lower-end products and give your dog a carrot and apple now and then instead of a dry dog biscuit. They usually like human foods better, anyway.

Diamond NATURALS Small Breed Adult and Diamond NATURALS Small Breed Puppy are lower cost foods without the fancy frills (whole green beans and peas), made from a broader range of products than the traditional corn-based food. They are certainly better balanced in nutrition than most of the dog foods available but are still at an affordable cost. You can find Diamond Naturals Small Breed at around 80 cents per pound here in West Virginia at a price of $14.43 for 18 pound bags. And you can do as I do, skip the biscuits and give them raw carrots, potatoes and apples, which they love much, much more.



There are many, many dog foods your vet and your other friends will use and recommend, most of which are from those 90%'ers. Contaminants in dog foods will most likely reoccur because the legal safeguards are not what they should be. If you switch to the most popular dog foods, it will be readily accessible to you and your vet will probably give her approval to you.

The problem comes in that these dog foods are almost ALL mass produced by a couple of large companies, then shipped to approximately 25 large companies which didn't catch the problem in 2007 before the dogs lapped up the food. Large companies shipping to large companies without proper quality controls bothers me.

Going against the main stream to purchase from a private company is probably healthier for the dog and a little further drive for you. It's a safety measure worth the effort, in my mind.

The dog food I used several months ago, gave breeders great kick-backs to use and recommend their foods, bringing the cost of the food to breeders down closer to 50 cents per pound. I'm assuming the effected companies will have to change kick-backs to breeders to encourage breeders to solicit their names.

Not I, says the little brown hen! I get no kickbacks for the dog food I recommended today. I can purchase in bulk and get a few pennies off per pound, but that isn't because I'm recommending Diamond Naturals. So you can trust that I, sincerely, think Diamond Naturals is a good alternative rather than a sales pitch to decrease my costs.

While everybody was looking at contaminated wheat gluten in 2007, Diamond Dog Food caught the contaminated Rice Protein with their 151 check list BEFORE IT WENT INTO THE DOG FOOD. Diamond had already increased "quality control" in their 1995 dog food recall so the contaminated 2007 batch was caught before it went into the food. They then removed the dog food from the shelves even though they were quite sure the tainted Rice Protein was still in the original packing crates. No contaminants were found in their dog foods because of their pre-testing control.

A wide variety of nutrients, a non-corn, non-wheat and non-soy food with a modest price are factors I am looking for in my dog food. I've asked Exotic Jungle and Eastern Pet to carry that dog food for you, should you choose it. And I know what dog food I'll use. The one with the best quality controls!

CONTACT INFORMATION

WeeSmall Pomeranians