hello all,
first time I post on this sub forum (animals)
I have a feeling this has been discussed in the past and because Im in a hurry I'm just disobeying the rules of first doing a word search and asing my question right now:
Recently I cupped the dog food in my hand (Vibarc, French brand bought from the vet) because I was in a guest house with no bowl for my dog and noticed that the bits were all shimmering like with sand grains. I looked closer and saw that it looked like sea salt crystals. I mean: about 5 salt crystals for each 4 milimetre grain (size of a pea)! I went courageous and tasted one crystal: indeed, SALT.
On the packet it mentions "sea salt" as one of the ingredients but doesnt give the amounts. also noticing on no brand at all there s the "fat = ; sugars = ; salt = ..."like for human food.
I went back to the vet and complained. Gave me another brand for free. Not salty, no salt mentioned this time. which makes me wonder at why on earth would the other brand (ranked first for healthy pet food in France) overdo it with the salt??? and we tried different packets in case it was one mistake and they re ll full of salt.
So the second brand seems ok until I read "gluten. Soy oil. ". Jesus, isnt gluten something we could do without and soy some controversial food (ok, Im strethcing my point here as I only became aware of the soy debate ...er..today!).
When I mentioned malicious intentions from the Pet Food companies to the vet assistants, they laughed, of course. But then one of them told me her dog had a breathing attack after trying the salty brand..!
Ive started cooking rice-chicken-green veg for my dog as an alternative but honestly this is slavery.
Anyone s got an opinion on this problem ? many thanks.
I don't recall previous posts about salt in animal food, and it's not a forum rule to use Search, just a recommendation really. 🙂
However, my first thought was that perhaps sea salt contains some minerals that might be beneficial, and a Google search on 'salt in pet food' gave a lot of results, this one was at the top of the list:
[DLMURL] http://www.petfoodindustry.com/ViewArticle.aspx?id=20326 [/DLMURL]
which seemed feasible to me.
I don't know if either of these makes is available in France, but you could have a look at their websites, as I've seen both of them recommended, here on HP and on dog-specific forums:
I haven't had a dog for a few years now, but the one thing I tried to avoid at all costs was artificial colouring, put there to appeal to the owner/buyer - not the dog - it made mine hyper 🙁
Holistic
I can also vouch for James Wellbeloved dog food. Read the packet and you will be convinced! Our dogs have been on it for years. It's quite expensive but you can't put a price on health can you?
thank you you two.
Ive read the first article and it seems salt is not poisonous for pets but the issue is different in my case: the pea-size grains are covered with sea salt! that makes a whole different amount than the daily requirement, I'd think. Anyway Im going to research that company and write to them...