Menu Foods Rep: I don’t know how you guys do it, but your protien levels are consistently higher than the competition.
If mom made dinner the same way.
Son: Mom, what’s for dinner?
Mom: A complete balanced diet that contains all the ingredients to grow and maintain a healthy boy for 19 years! It’s 68% protein, 18% moisture, 12% fat and 2% ash! I’m going to feed you the same thing for years!
Son: But what is it really?
Mom: It’s 68% protein, 18 % moisture, 12% fat and 2% ash, honey!. Try it you’ll like it. It has everything you need. Made from the finest ingredients available. Choice cuts of beef, lamb stew, ocean fish.
Son: But it looks, smells and tastes like shit.
Mom: Oh, I forgot to add the flavoring, here, (sprinkles chicken flavor on).
Son: Well, it taste better, but I still think it’s shit.
Mom: Well, son, shit is 68% protein, 18% moisture, 12% fat…
Um, yes, yes I did. Did you? I didn’t say it was necessarily true, I said there WERE accusations. (Besides, our vet wasn’t too impressed with Iams)
I will say that Science Diet has been good for our cats. Their coats are great (Noel’s was so thick you couldn’t even use a brush – it would sail right over it. You had to use a comb. The vets were skeptical that she wasn’t an outdoor cat, it was just so lush.)
It was corn gluten. It’s pretty widely used to boost the protein level in pet food. In the case of the canned food it was used as a thickener for the gravy style varieties. You have the origin correct but it wasn’t a single company that used the contaminated corn gluten. There were several companies affected. There was a lot of different canned food out of 2 Menu plants and a handful of dry food mfgs that got hit. I believe it was all traced back to a single domestic importer and a single source in China. Melamine has since turned up in other products in other parts of the world. The big one was the baby formula in china but there was some toothpaste in Panama that killed several people. This particular contaminant will never be a problem again. Everybody involved in it’s use tests every batch now. That’s not to say that there won’t be something else that comes along.
Menu foods is a huge cannery company. They have factories all over north america. Each facility can produce a number of different products. I wouldn’t read too much into the fact that Menu does a particular can. They also do Wellness and Innova cans. This is similar to Diamond in the dry food business. Almost all canned pet food in the US is either made overseas or by Menu. The one exception I can think of is Fromm foods who will be opening a cannery in South Dakota at some point. I think Evanger’s might be domestic as well.
For the Beagle:
If you have never tried a food without any by-product, corn or wheat give it a try for 60 days or so. In most cases it feeds better than the big nationals and mass market brands. Pricing has really started to equalize as well. You are paying just a few dollars more and the higher quality feeds usually pack more calories by volume so you feed less. Remember that any food you’ve seen a television ad for has the cost of that ad rolled into the price of the final product. The little specialty lines tend to give more bang for the buck.
For weight loss try cutting back the volume gradually. Maybe a tablespoon a day. If you go really slow sometimes you can keep the dog from noticing. The other alternative is to add volume with vegetables. You could try green beans, carrots or something like plain canned pumpkin. I actually know a woman who gives her beagle every meal frozen inside a kong toy. It slows him down and provides a little extra stimulation. Might be worth a try once or twice just to see how it goes.
Good luck.
It took some trial and error, but I finally found a local brand that’s reasonably priced a “premium” dog food which doesn’t contain corn or wheat fillers. Unfortunately, though, it’s only sold retail in my region through a particular supermarket chain.
We didn’t start paying attention to our dogs’ food until our little dog developed several allergies out of the blue. Our vet diagnosed one of them as soy. We also suspected corn (which, along with wheat, is usually the first ingredient in most commercial dog food), so we became rabid label readers. For awhile Ember did wonderfully on California Natural. Because of budget restraints, we sometimes had to bounce back and forth between CN and regular food – yep, every time we reintroduced the regular, Ember became horribly sick.
Oh, and at one point we tried a raw diet. Ember did OK with it; our big dog didn’t, and to this day we’re not quite sure why.
Yes. But you said “Iams is controversial because*** they*** allegedly mistreat the animals they test their food on.” bolding mine
But the link indicates
- This abuse wasn’t done by Iams at all, but a third party hired by Iams
- This 3rd party was only hired because Iams “requested oversight for the care and welfare of the animals at the site…”
- Once the abuse became known (and the link says nothing about the type or how pervasive it was) “P&G and Iams immediately ended its relationship with that research center, stating the activity was against the company’s strict, long standing animal studies policies.”
- On top of that, the link states, “To offer additional insight and transparency about Iams’ research, Iams created the Iams International Animal Welfare Advisory Board, comprised of leaders in animal welfare. Organizations like the ASPCA and Helen Woodward Animal Center participate on the board and help conduct unannounced site visits to Iams’ research facilities on a regular basis.”
- If that wasn’t enough, Iams “developed an informational Web site called Iams Truth that includes its Animal Studies Policy, animal care video and details about what industry experts say about its industry leadership in animal welfare issues in an effort to offer continued transparent insight into the pet care company.”
That link is very flattering to Iams. It not not only shows Iams didn’t abuse animals, but didn’t tolerate anyone who did. Not only that, it is offering a high level of outside involvement and transparency in it’s research activities.
I just scanned your link, but it doesn’t look like what is there is particularly true from what I know about raw diets, and where the original idea came from. But then I don’t get into politics, I’ve just been feeding working dogs a raw diet for the past 9 years! 
I’ll second any comments about quantity of food being the actual culprit - my 16" (at the shoulder) Pyrenean Shepherd is a whirling dervish - on the go a lot. She gets 1 cup TOTAL per day, and maintains a healthy, muscled 20 pounds. My 19" Border Collie gets 1.75 cups per day. 2 cups a day for a sedentary Beagle is WAY too much.
Give the beagle pumpkin, green beans, carrots and a good, quality food without a lot of grains, and I’ll bet the issue is resolved.
YMMV.
For a 70lb dog, Iams recommends 2.5-3 cups daily. So their suggestion seems to be spot on target for your dog.
I have a very active 55lb dog that will lose weight if fed less than 3.5 cups of Iams daily. That is 50% more than what their guidelines state, but experience has demonstrated that it is needed. Sometimes their recommended serving is far less than what is required.
If my dog were driving the shopping cart, that’s one microingredient he’d pay out the wazoo for. “OMG, mom, that one has REAL PEOPLE SHIT in it! Can we have it? Can we have it?”
I disagree. If your dog is overweight, then by definition you over feed. I feed my dog Evo. It is a bit pricey, but I constantly have strangers approaching and telling me how great she looks.
My vet and I scoff at anti-IAMS claims. He says the most dangerous thing about dog diets is overfeeding. Your beagle most likely doesn’t need any special weight reduction food. He just needs less of what you were feeding him. Cut back on his daily ration, and take him for a walk every day.
By the way, my vet’s clinic sells pricey special foods, but he says dogs don’t need them unless they have allergy issues, or they’re recovering from some sort of digestive illness.
The pet store guy who said he should be in jail for selling most brands was lying in order to sell his most expensive brand. Don’t ever believe his advice again.
We have always raised larger, heavier, and very active dogs. (Siberian Huskies, German Shepherds, English Bulldogs) both my parents have been in the breeding business (boutique, not puppy farm!) at various points.
I’ve found that the commercial foods make a good basis for the dog’s diet, and our food makes a good additive. (I should add that we eat a largely vegetable based diet.) Whatever we have leftover, veggies, rice, potatoes, scrids of meat or drippings, goes into the bowls with the kibble. (Usually Science Diet)
We have always fed once per day in the evening, and approx two cups per dog (plus the leftovers).
Many people have said to me that giving them our food is a bad idea. I don’t see it. We’ve had healthy long-lived, active and championship dogs. I think the people who have problems are probably feeding the dogs a lot of cheese or hamburger-helper type processed foods; or they are buying poorly bred dogs in the first place. You do have to watch the sodium.
RE: the raw food, I think it’s a bit like saying that natural childbirth is better for dogs. Fact is, we’ve bred the English bulldog to the point where that would kill them. I’m guessing that the working dogs referred to above are probably not as far from their original lineage as most companion dogs are. I don’t think teacup poodles will do well on a straight steak diet.
Re: the Beagle, I would suggest greatly increasing his chew toys. Get all different types and flavors and switch them out so that he’s on a constant easter egg hunt. He needs to find interest in his life other than his food. And try to find an active game he likes, he needs to exercise. (it’s inconvenient, but necessary.)
Here’s the thing, though…we adopted her from a beagle rescue, and her fosters were feeding her the same amount of the same food, and she was slimmer – almost skinny, actually. And just as lazy. (Her description on the web site described her as a “couch potato,” which she really is…) But by the time winter hit, she gained weight, and has shed none of it since, even after we try to force her to be active (we take her on a mile-long walk almost every day in addition to her regular walks), and sometimes I even cut a little out of her food…
I dunno…it might be that when she was rescued, she was severely malnourished and the 1 cup per meal might have been good at the time but as she got healthier she might not have needed much?? I dunno…vet sez we’re not overfeeding her…just puzzled. 
Re-read the post. 
Another thing to consider:
http://www.geocities.com/aladarbeagles/thyroida.html
Am I the only person who keeps reading past this thread title on the forum’s thread list and thinking it’s about people who are fleeing law enforcement?
Stupid lack of serifs.
We only feed the ultra-premium stuff to our pets, but it’s because of allergies. The only food that hasn’t made Minnie sick is the Natural Balance Duck and Green Pea. I would recommend their food to anyone, it has been a miracle in our house. She went from a gassy, bloated, stinky, nasty pooping mess to a “normal” happy cat in just 2 weeks on the food.
My vet recommended this brand over the prescription brand they sell in their office.
But I also do believe that a lot of differences between most brands and formulas of pet food is hype. Most animals will get by just fine on normal dog and cat food. My first cat shunned expensive foods in preference to the cheap stuff.
Cat:
Fish heads? Your feeding me fish heads? I can actually see their dead eyes staring at me. What the hell was wrong with the unrecognizable jelly that came out of the can? Your too cheap for that so you feed me dead fish that hasn’t even been processed to a paste? The least you could do is give me the dehydrated pellets that come in that huge bag, but no your feeding me fish heads today and last night you tried to give me raw chicken. Don’t think I don’t know that you didn’t even bother to cook that crappy cut up chicken breast. Don’t think I didn’t know that was a just a breast breast either . No liver, no kidneys, no brains or even intestines, just the least tasty part of the bird, the breast.
No kidding.
Actually, the delicacy my dog seems to crave over all others is horseshit. The fresher the better.
A nice fresh pile is a magnet for her. If there is one around, she’ll find it, and as soon as she does, she’ll tuck in with gusto.
Shudder
My dog also has a fondness for catching and eating bugs. Shrug A lot of people do that, too.