The Joys Of Dog Food Shopping

[WheatChef]

Went dog food shopping today to try and cut out the final gluten products from my house and ended up getting severely frustrated with what these companies can get away with in their labeling.

So many of the products were labeled as being "easy to digest" or "No Wheat!" and then on the third or fourth ingredient contained barley! So basically the companies are admitting that gluten products can cause digestive issues in canines as well but then don't bother cutting it out, but DO bother raising the price. Also since it's a dog food product it would be real hard to assume they're not all processed on the exact same line. Ended up buying the only brand I could find that didn't have gluten in any of their products after going through the entire store's inventory.

How obscene is it that these companies can charge extra for a "no corn, soy or wheat" product but then go ahead and put gluten right near the top of their formula?

[tarnalberry]

but they're just advertising no corn/soy/wheat, and not putting it in. some people are only trying to eliminate the most problematic grains from their dog's diet.

there are a LOT of grain-free dog foods, and if you want "celiac style" gluten free, just look for grain free (dogs don't need grains). depending on your dog's digestive system, you will also want to look at the nutritional information (the protein/fat ratio). my dog gets his food rotated at every meal, and right now we have Nature's Pride Instinct Rabbit, Nature's Pride Instinct Turkey/Duck, Orijen Red Meat, Acana Grasslands, and Acana Chicke/Poultry. He's also had Merrik's Before Grain Buffalo, Canidae Grain-free Chicken (and salmon, but he tends not to like the fish flavored dry dog foods), Evo Red Meat (turns out these have dairy, and dairy appears to bother him, so no more of this one), Taste of the Wild, Wellness Core, occasionally premade raw mixes (both frozen - Nature's Pride, Steve's, etc. - and dehydrated - Honest Kitchen, Addiction).

You will almost certainly have to find a specialty pet store, and yes, they cost more. But you generally feed less of them and they keep the dog healthier.

[psawyer]

We own and operate a specialty pet food and supply store.

All of the foods Tiffany mentioned are grain-free and therefore gluten-free.

FWIW, "Wheat free" does not mean gluten-free. It is not misleading to label a food wheat-free when it contains no wheat, but does contain barley. Barley is not wheat--it is gluten, yes, but wheat is not the only source of gluten. Many dogs have issues with wheat, but can digest barley without a problem. Cracked barley is found in a number of high-end, top-quality dog foods.