This is a follow up to my original post about Rachael Ray’s Nutrish dog food. I put a call into the Nutrish 800 number yesterday morning and got voicemail. I left my questions on the voicemail but hadn’t heard back yet so I just called again and got a very pleasant woman on the phone.
I asked her the two questions I had about Nutrish nutrition, but both of the responses I received were somewhat disappointing and I get the feeling that the level of training for customer service may be a bit lacking.
Q: Can you tell me the digestibility of the Nutrish products?
A: Oh yes, our products are 100% digestible.
Q: Can you tell me if any feeding trials were conducted with the Nutrish products?
A: The only feeding trials we conduct are putting a bowl in front of the dogs and seeing if they will eat it. My dog loves it.
Oh dear. As someone who is very new to the dog food nutrition discussion I found these overly simplified answers to cause more confusion than comfort in the Nutrish product. While the woman was very pleasant and obviously excited about the product, I got the feeling that she didn’t really understand what I was asking.
On the digestibility point, it’s my understanding that if a dog food has 100% digestibility that means that there is zero poop. Sounds fantastic, but is that really possible and if so, is it healthy? I did a quick google search on “100% dog food digestibility” and found this article at Earth Blend Dog Food. I’m taking it with a grain of salt too cause it’s a dog food brand site but it did reinforce my confusion by saying that 100% digestibility is not possible or healthy. If this is true, I can only assume that the Nutrish woman was trying to reiterate that the dog food is healthy.
On the feeding trials question, I couldn’t tell if she knew that I was referencing the AAFCO feeding trials but it was a little strange that she clearly said “only” as if to distinguish their approach from something else.
On the AAFCO topic, I read some new information today on Wikipedia that raised some doubt about the value of AAFCO feeding trials. Apparently the AAFCO standards may be too relaxed. “Generational studies conducted by researchers at University of California, Davis have shown that some foods that pass AAFCO’s feeding trials are still not suitable for long term use and estimated that of 100 foods that pass the nutritional analysis, 10 to 20 would not pass the feeding trials.”
This is all so confusing. What is a loving dog owner with admittedly low aptitude for understanding detailed nutritional requirements (or anything else very scientific) to do? I’ve looked at a lot of sources of information and it seems that everyone has a different opinion. I’d love to find one source that lays it all out clearly. While that may be impossible, I’ll definitely keep looking.
Dog Food Review: Rachael Ray’s Nutrish
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1036382/dog_food_review_rachael_rays_nutrish.html?cat=53
There appears to be a post from Nutrish in the comments section of this blog….
http://flip195.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/celeb-dog-foods-and-fillers/
I wouldn’t recommend her food. However, if you are looking for a celebrity food, Cesar Milan has a line of food whose label I’ve looked at. It doesn’t contain the grain/grain fragments or other questionable items found in a lot of kibble. Petco carries it, I don’t know if anyone else does or not.
Hi Penny
Thanks so much for your recommendation! I’ve heard about Cesar’s line of dog food and I’m a huge fan of his so I’ve been meaning to research it. Do you have any info on the Halo food line by Ellen Degeneres by any chance? Love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks again!
interesting material, where such topics do you find? I will often go