Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 1/20/2011

Question
QUESTION: Ms. Connell,
Thank you for your time.  I have a 10 week old black lab.  He was the biggest of the litter and very healthy.  I feed him a cup of dry food in the morning, One cup in the afternoon, and then another cup in the evening.  He seems to be always hungry.  Should I feed him more?  If I let him have all he wants I don't think he would ever stop!  He has been wormed several times.  Also, is it ok to give him a raw egg?  If so how often.  We have been giving him a few a few times a week.

ANSWER: If you can tell me WHAT kind of food you are feeding him I can give you a better idea of why he is still hungry.
Raw eggs are never a good idea because of two things. One, the obvious salmonella poisoning issues because our egg supply is very unclean and two, raw eggs have a substance in the raw white called avidan, which binds the B vitamins in the dog which in turn makes them unavailable to be absorbed by the dog. This can make them very deficient in B vitamins.

This can contribute to the hunger but that is usually due to a poor quality diet being fed.

Let me know what brand you are feeding and I can give you some better recommendations.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I have been giving him puppy chow.(purina)

ANSWER: OK, well that is most of the problem. Purina Puppy Chow is a very low grade food that will not give this bouncing ball of fur the nutrition he needs now or later on. You are building a dog for life and if you build him on a shaky foundation his life will be full of illnesses, injuries and short.

You need to get him on a high quality food such as Science Diet Large Breed Puppy food. The reasons are many-fold.

Eating Purina is like trying to get a ounce of steak protein out of a pound of saltine crackers. It's just not going to happen. Purina uses very low quality proteins and grains so your dog is always hungry because he is not getting the nutrition he needs.

Science Diet large breed puppy growth is designed to give dogs that will be larger than 50 lbs the optimal nutrition that they need now as well as building strong bones, nerves, skin and vision for your dog's long life.

I am going to give you a little primer on why I think Science Diet is the best food you can feed your pets. Mine live a long, long time, and they do not have health issues. My cat lived to be 19, one to 16 and my dog until she was 16 which is unheard of for a large dog.

Other things you should know about Science Diet is that they provide the following in their diets:
Superior nutrition for lifelong health
Science Diet provides a precise balance of 50 nutrients to keep your pet healthy at every stage of its life. Meeting specific needs through superior nutrition while avoiding excesses and deficiencies.

Clinically proven antioxidants
All of Science Diet products contain a proven, powerful and exclusive antioxidant formula to support a healthy immune system. A healthy immune system is essential to keep pets in peak condition throughout life.

The right product for your pet     
Pets have specific nutritional needs depending on age, size and sensitivity, that's why Hill’s offers the most complete range of nutritional products to help keep your pet at his/her healthy best whatever their life stage or need. They have developed a broad range of products to ensure that every Hill’s puppy or kitten has the best start in life, every adult stays in peak condition, and every mature pet stays vital and alert.

Low cost per day
The cost of feeding your pet Science Diet is less than you might think and works out to be the equivalent of the price of a coffee a day. And, because Science Diet is carefully made with nutritious and digestible ingredients, your pet will benefit from a meal with far more nutritional value than the ordinary bowl of pet food offers. For this reason, it costs less per feeding than other brands and your bag of food lasts much longer.

Great taste
Because they only use the highest quality ingredients, they are able to deliver great tasting products your pet will love. To provide variety, they also offer many of their products in a choice of exciting flavors.

No compromise on quality
At Hill’s they're pet owners too, which is why they appreciate the commitment you make to your pet’s health. That’s why they won’t compromise on their promise to supply you with the finest food, using only the highest quality ingredients.

100% satisfaction guaranteed
They are so confident your pet will love Science Diet that they offer a full money-back guarantee.
Now not many companies can say that!
The point is, the high quality ingredients are what make the food of Science Diet nutrient rich and thus they meet your pets energy needs with much less food intake. This is what translates into lower cost; lower stool volume and thus less clean up for you.

Ingredient Splitting:
Other diets may say that they have 'whole ingredients' but you need to be aware of ingredient splitting and other sly ways of not telling the truth about what is on your label.
Ingredient splitting is when you see whole chicken first on the label and you are led to believe that that must be the best and the largest ingredient in the food- since it does say it has whole chicken right?
Wrong. If the next five ingredients or even the next three are grains, then by weight, they will be the LARGEST amount of ingredients in the formula. There may be whole chicken in it, but if there is one pound of chicken and two pounds of grain by volume, what is the largest ingredient? It's the grain.

Feeding-Trials:
That is just one way that companies trick people. Other ways are by not having a fixed formulation or by not having feeding trails on their foods.
Feeding trials are when a food is formulated and fed over a period of time to a select group of target animals (with a control group) to verify the nutritional efficacy, digestibility, palatability and other key information about the food. This is how Hill's creates their life stages of food also. Over time (50 yrs and counting) Hill's has refined their foods to create true life-style stages for their wellness and prescription diets.
Feeding trials are essential for producing high quality, nutritious and healthy food. Most foods on the market now are NOT trial fed, but formulated to 'meet' the AAFCO standards for pet foods in the USA. What the means is that you can create the same nutritional profile with a pair of leather shoes, a can of oil, some weeds and some paper. Is that what you want your dog to eat?

Fixed-Formulation:
Fixed-formulation means that the company makes the same food the same way each time, without changing any of the ingredients in it. In other words, they use the same quality, quantity and ingredients from batch to batch. What this means is that your dog gets the same quality of food with each bag. Of late many dogs that eat other foods (such as Iams) have been getting sick from bag to bag because the ingredients are not being formulated the same so it's like giving a dog a new food very abruptly, which causes digestive upsets.

Life-stage foods:
Life stage foods are also very important. Smaller to medium breeds are usually okay with the average formulation of proteins, calcium, etc. However, large breed puppies are not. An incorrect calcium to phosphorus ratio has been shown to create a multitude of growth and bone problems in large to giant breeds. The proper balancing of these nutrients with a corrected ratio of fats and proteins has been proven to prevent these problems. Hill's was the first pet food manufacturer that created large breed puppy growth and adult maintenance foods after doing an exhaustive 4- yr study on the issue.
Most dog foods labeled 'for all life stages' are formulated for puppies in the ranges of proteins and nutrients. What that does to adult dogs is create many excesses of these nutrients that can lead to organ problems and other health issues over the long haul.
So life-stage formulas are very important to maintain your pet's health. Small breeds also benefit from the 50 essential nutrients that Hill's always puts into every formula.

Dry-weight analysis
When you buy a bag of pet food, the guaranteed analsys is always on the bag. What exactly is it?
The most accurate means of doing this is to convert the guarantees for both products to a moisture-free or dry matter basis. The percentage of dry matter of the product is equal to 100% minus the percentage of moisture guaranteed on the label. A dry food is approximately 88-90% dry matter, while a canned food is only about 22-25% dry matter. To convert a nutrient guarantee to a dry matter basis, the percent guarantee should be divided by the percentage of the dry matter, then multiplied by 100. For example, a canned food guarantees 8% crude protein and 75% moisture (or 25% dry matter), while a dry food contains 27% crude protein and 10% moisture (or 90% dry matter). Which has more protein, the dry or canned? Calculating the dry matter protein of both, the canned contains 32% crude protein on a dry matter basis (8/25 X 100 = 32), while the dry has only 30% on a dry matter basis (27/90 X 100 = 30). Thus, although it looks like the dry has a lot more protein, when the water is counted out, the canned actually has a little more. An easier way is to remember that the amount of dry matter in the dry food is about four times the amount in a canned product. To compare guarantees between a dry and canned food, multiply the guarantees for the canned food times four first.

Nature's Best

On top of all that, Hill's also has a true Natural food, Nature's Best. No artificial dyes or colors, no pesticides. It is made with whole natural foods without ingredient splitting. If you lean toward a natural diet then try Nature's Best.
From the site:
The unique combination of natural ingredients with added vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients helps to ensure that your pet receives the right balance of nutrients to keep him/her healthy and active.

Hill's Nature’s Best is a perfect balance of Wholesome Natural ingredients. Clinically proven antioxidants supporting a healthy immune system.

   * Natural ingredients*
   * Provides naturally healthy, superior complete nutrition
   * No added artificial preservatives, flavours or colourants
   * No wheat, soya or cheap fillers, no egg or dairy products
   * An effective antioxidant bundle for a healthy immune system
   * Made with high quality ingredients for great taste – 100% guaranteed

http://www.hillspet.co.uk/naturesbest/Ingredients.aspx
So those are the things you want to think about when you are comparing pet foods.
1. History of the company (yes it matters a great deal!)
2. Quality ingredients and nutrients without excessive nutrients or deficiencies.
3. Fixed-formulation and beware of ingredient splitting.
4. Feeding trails and results.
5. True life stage formulas.


When you put this precious puppy on Science Diet Large Breed Growth formula, you will see a difference in him in about 3 weeks. It takes that long for the body to process the food and give him the nutrition he needs. Right now he needs to catch up so he will still want to eat a lot at first, but after two-three weeks his food intake will slow down.
You didn't mention how many pounds he is but I am going to guess around 9-10 lbs right now. If he weighs a lot more then he has too much fat on him. Once he is on a better diet he should burn that off as he grows.

So get him a bag of Science Diet Large Breed Puppy Growth and grow yourself a healthy, happy dog.
You will not be sorry. Just so you know, I do NOT work for Science Diet, but have fed it and watched animals grow on it for over 35 yrs. These pets live long, healthy lives almost free of health issues such as skin problems, heart and kidney problems, and other health issues that are clearly diet related. Usually we would see these pets just for their annual check ups, vaccinations, heartworm tests and prevention.
You can't argue with success and I have seen pets lives change from this food for 35 years.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Go to the site:http://www.hillspet.com/products/sd-canine-puppy-large-breed-dry.html
and look around the rest of the site as well.....
Have fun with him!!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your detailed response.  What do you think about eukanuba dog food?

Answer
I used to recommend Eukanuba and Iams pet foods until they went from a fixed-formulation to an open one. Companies do that to appease the stockholders who want more profits regardless of what happens to the pets. what happens then is that instead of buying American made and grown food products for their pet food they buy whatever is cheaper on the docks that day. Some of that food comes from China and we all know the dangers of that now. Everything they use in their food-from the chickens to the grains, are grown here in America and never out-sourced.

Hills is one of the last companies that still uses a fixed-formulation which means that their food stays the same high quality and with the same ingredients batch after batch. With open formulation the food is like a new food every time you buy a new bag.

Dogs especially are prone to digestive disturbances when fed something new and even when a dog eats the same brand of food but the food companies change things it will make the dog sick.

Read the part I sent you about fixed-formulation:Fixed-Formulation:
"Fixed-formulation means that the company makes the same food the same way each time, without changing any of the ingredients in it. In other words, they use the same quality, quantity and ingredients from batch to batch. What this means is that your dog gets the same quality of food with each bag. Of late many dogs that eat other foods (such as Iams) have been getting sick from bag to bag because the ingredients are not being formulated the same so it's like giving a dog a new food very abruptly, which causes digestive upsets."

This is why I only recommend Hill's Science Diet and no other food. So hopefully you can get him some of the SD large breed food and start him out right.