Bright Minds dog food

[aschlemm]

Hi,

     Has anyone fed Bright Minds dog food (made by Purina) to their senior dog?  Any comments (good and bad.)  I'm not sure if it is worth changing my 14 year old dogs food.

[D'Elle]

I'd be reluctant to change a dog's diet at that age unless it were necessary.

Also, the first ingredients of this food are:  "Chicken, poultry by-product meal, rice, whole grain corn, corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat, corn germ meal"

To me, that is not a quality food to give a dog. for one thing, the first ingredient being chicken but not saying that it is deboned means it is probably weighed for the ingredients list with the bone in, which is kind of a scam if that is so. Second, the meat is then dehydrated into meal in order to make the kibble, which means all the moisture is lost, meaning further loss of the weight, making it not the largest percentage of the food at all.  Instead,  there's a whole lot of corn in this food.  If you really analyzed the content I would bet that there's more corn in this food than any thing else. Corn is used as a filler and has very little to offer a dog nutritionally. It is over used in the dog food industry because it is cheap. I don't give my dogs anything with corn in it. I personally would never feed my animals anything that has by-products in it because that can mean literally anything, and is not by any means necessarily healthy or nutritious.   The Dog Food Advisor online will give you more details on how to read ingredients and what they really mean.

All this just being my opinion! You of course need to make your own considerations about what you feed your dog, and not everyone would agree with me about this food.

[Mark Billadeau]

I find it interesting how by-products (anything that is not the deboned meat) in kibble are considered bad ingredients but in raw diets they are considered valued sources of nutrients; and these by-products are readily consumed by wild & feral canines.

How quickly we have forgotten that man eats almost everything from a pig (from snot to tail) and also other prey animals; most of which falls under the definition of by-product.

Just an observation; not an endorsement of particular pet food ingredients.

[GentleLake]

The difference between "byproducts" in kibble and in raw diets (at least DIY raw) is that in the first they're rarely defined and in the US can therefore include things like feathers, 4D meats, roadkill etc. that either provide no nutritional value or are of questionable origin.

For raw feeders "byproducts" usually refers to edible offal, parts of the animal that is not muscle meat or bone. It's almost always specifically named (e.g. beef spleen, lamb kidney, etc.) in a prepared product and provides valuable nutrients that are missing in muscle and bone.

As for the Bright Minds dog food, their claim to its benefits for senior dogs is the inclusion of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) said to support aging brains.

This can also be accomplished by adding MCTs, such as coconut or palm oils (I've also seen bottles of "MCT oil" available in stores), to a dog's existing diet, preserving the option of being able to choose a food with more wholesome ingredients.

 

[Mark Billadeau]

Where is the evidence that species specific by-products come from 4D meats and road kill?  Just because it is posted and reposted on the internet does not make it fact.  Show me the verified study proving this oft repeated statement.

[D'Elle]

19 hours ago, Mark Billadeau said:

Where is the evidence that species specific by-products come from 4D meats and road kill?  Just because it is posted and reposted on the internet does not make it fact.  Show me the verified study proving this oft repeated statement.

I can't do that and doubt anyone here can. But what I do know, and you do too if you have paid attention (and no doubt you have) is that high levels of damaging substances  such as plastic and other things have often been found in low-quality dog foods, along with ingredients that are not good for dogs (like a kibble that is mostly corn).

Knowing that, I find it very hard to believe that these companies are careful about what they call "by-products", that they put into the foods and I suspect that if any of us were to see what that consists of it would make us nauseous. Personally, I value my dogs and their diet about as much as I value my own diet. I don't eat things that have questionable ingredients, and am not going to take that chance with my dogs either. I don't need some sort of scientific proof to tell me that it's just not a good idea.

[Mark Billadeau]

Dogs are able to digest and utilize the nutrients in corn meal (and other grains).  Proven in studies where only corn meal is fed and measuring the differences between the nutrients in the feed and what comes out after digestion; also proven by the presence of multiple copies of amylase genes in dogs which produces enzymes that digest the starch from grains.

Grains are not good for dogs that have allergies to those grains.

Species specific meat meals are manufactured from what usda slaughter houses (animals must be able to walk in on their own power to meet usda inspection) provide because of how much raw ingredients the rendering process needs (this equipment processes 2-16 tons/hr https://mavitecrendering.com/rendering-equipment/processing-section/supercookor/); obtaining species specific carcasses from low volume sources would be disruptive to their supply chain (no one could sort animal parts by species when they arrive at a rendering plant).  Species can be (and have been) identified in meat meals (or kibble) by dna testing.

Non species specific meat meals likely utilize non usda inspected sources.

[SS Cressa]

I know purina does a lot of research on their food. I’m curious to know if it does seem to help them. 

[aschlemm]

     I think I will try supplementing his regular food with MCTs instead of changing the food.  I'm not a big fan of corn.  My other Border Collie is on Hills H/D and on occasion the canned food has whole kernels of corn in it.  (I thought it smelled like corn!)  She was never an itchy dog but she is now.  Not horribly itchy or having skin infections but just a bit itchy. 

     My boss had two of her ancient terrier mixes on Bright Minds but they were also on Anipryl so it was difficult to say what helped. I was hoping someone on the Boards had tried it.

     My old Border isn't anywhere near as senile as my boss' two terriers were, I was just hoping to delay (or avoid) that.