The protein and fat is considered an average amount for the typical couch potatoe dog, so it's good. That's the same balance that I feed my Eskie who is more active then a chi and she is a perfect weight, but not on this brand
I don't think the difference in the chicken is the key when comparing it to the Blue Life for toys, since both have the same protein and fat content. They say it's the first 3 ingredients that are important, after that the rest are just filler foods, whether it be rice, corn, potatoes, oatmeal, veggies etc. which is where the weight gain comes in and of course the calories. I found the comparisons of there foods very interesting, but at the same time, I am not so sure just what so much in peas does for a dog. A dog certainly wouldn't look for peas in the wild, but I don't see anything that would make any of there foods unsafe. Personally, I think that all of these food companies have to look for some type of filler food, since they claim so many dogs are allergic to grains. What is interesting to me is that when I was a kid, all our dogs were fed Purina which was a corn based kibble and they also got all the table scraps every night, including cooked bones of all types. None ever went to Vets, except for one. In those days a lot of people didn't believe in giving annual shots either. A dog got good old Hartz Mountain over the counter worm pills and their flea collar if they had either of those things, and they all lived to ripe old ages, and never had skin allergies, or ear infections, or breathing problems. All of our dogs were big breeds too and surpassed the average age of 12. Even when I had my malteses, they were fed Purina One for most of their whole life, until Purina changed the formula and added that dental stuff to it and they both passed out and threw up blood every time I fed it to them. So I switched to Iams when they were about 12 yrs old. They only had their teeth cleaned once, never lost a tooth, had beautiful coats, no skin allergies and never needed vetting for anything until the last year of there old age of 14 and 16, and these were PM puppy rescues too! So I don't get it with todays dogs and all the issues that they have. The comparisons are interesting: The Freedom for toys has: deboned chicken, chicken meal, potatoes, peas, pea starch, pea fiber protein 26% fat 16% 408cals/cup Life Protection Chicken/rice for toys: deboned chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, oatmeal, barley, peas. protein 26% fat 16% 480cals/cup Life Protection chicken/rice for adults: deboned chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, barley, oatmeal protein 24% fat 14% 442cals/cup The Life Protection Chick & Oatmeal: deboned chicken, chicken meal, oatmeal, peas, barley protein 29% fat 16% 460cals/cup The Life Protection Formula Healthy Weight chicken and rice has a fat content that is way too low, of 9% and protein 25%,. Guess barley is a very non fatting compared to rice, potatoes and oatmeal or corn. Looks like oatmeal must be a much higher protein food then rice and potatoes, and yet not fatty. I like their food blends, but I cannot feed it to Gigi since they all contain Rosemary oil and she gets seizures from that. So just to play it safe, I won't feed Princess anything with Rosemary in either. Plus Gigi is on a much lower protein/fat kibble, of 21% and fat 12% due to liver issues. She has been doing much better on this and so far has lost half a pound, she still needs to loose another half pound. Each dog is different today, so I think that it's trial and error to see which food gives the best results for each of our babies. One thing that I have noticed that a lot of hyper chis have in common is that they are usually on a higher protein of 26%, and I think that those dogs would wind down a lot if they were on a lower protein food and lower protein treats. All the natural treats of chicken and liver have a very high protein content, so when you add all that protein together within a 24 hour period, the average in house dog's body could not possibly burn off that much protein. High protein is good for very active dogs, not lap dogs. JMO Peggy & The Girls -------Original Message------- From: Randi Grennan Date: 3/27/2012 11:02:12 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Chihuahuas] blue freedom dogfood new safe for chis is BLUE Freedom Grain-Free Chicken Recipe safe for small breeds better than the non grain free. I see they have it in the bite size and I like it has no grain this is what they say is in it wasn't sure if the protein is to high thanks Randi Guaranteed Analysis Crude Protein26.0% min Crude Fat15.0% min Crude Fiber7.0% max Moisture10.0% max Calcium1.2% min Phosphorous0.9% min Omega 3 Fatty Acids*0.25% min Omega 6 Fatty Acids*2.5% min L-Carnitine*100 mg/kg min Glucosamine*400 mg/kg min Chondroitin Sulfate*300 mg/kg min
