Digestibility of Performance Dog Foods

Today's dog food world can be compared to the American wild west of a begone era. There are very few laws and even fewer law enforcing regulators. Fact is, even federal agencies charged with providing product assurance do not require pet food manufacturer's to list how high or low the quality of their ingredients are on their labels. This makes it difficult to compare products of differing brands. However, many high quality food manufacturers are more than welcome to run independent "digestibility studies" to verify the quality of their ingredients and food formula's. Make note: if a company does not run these type of studies or is apprehensive about making these quantitative digestibility numbers public information...please rise now and raise the red flag of concern.

Here is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. There is an inverse relationship between a food's digestibility and the resulting fecal volume.

• Factoid: The HIGHER the digestibility of a dog food, the LOWER the fecal volume.

A dog(and any other living organism) can digest and utilize more nutrients in a higher digestible food therefore less stool is eliminated. I think this is simple science everybody can easily understand. To research the digestibility of your own dog's food normally requires a call to the manufacturer to get their foods combined protein digestibility percentage(although not required to be put on bags some high quality, reputable manufacturers display this information readily on their website)

There is a basic mathematical formula to determine the overall digestibility of the protein source. Take the crude protein percentage(found on bag) multiplied by the digestibility percentage(found by calling manufacturer) equals the true digestibility of the protein source. For example if the crude protein is 30% and protein digestibility is 84.6% multiply: 30 x 0.8460 = 25.38%. There you have it! A very quick and efficient method to discover how truly digestible the protein portion of your dog's food really is.


If you're feeding multiple gun dogs it is a good idea to know how digestible the food really is. It will save you a ton of money in the long run! The more they absorb during digestion, the less you need to feed!


Individual protein sources contain different levels of amino acids and each protein is different in its ability to be broken down into these amino acids. Hence, not all proteins are created equal as some are better than others. The ability of a protein to be used by the dog and its amount of usable amino acids is summarized as protein quality  or Biological Value, BV for short. Egg has the highest BV and sets the benchmark standard for which other proteins are judged at a 100 score. Fish meal are close behind with a value of 92. Beef is around 78 and soybean meal is 67. Meat and bone meal and wheat are around 50 and corn is 45.  These are just a few examples of the individual digestibility of common ingredients.

The bottom line is certain proteins are hard for dogs to digest therefore they pass them without absorbing the needed nutrients in a timely manner. The result can hit your wallet or pocket book as well. The lower the digestibility of the food the MORE your have to feed to fulfill your dogs needs. The higher of course, the less! Hopefully by using the basic formula posted above and doing your own research and due diligence the conscience gun dog owner can get to the "meat" of the food he or she is shelling out hard earned cash for every month. Sorry, Pun completely intended.

Best of Luck Out There. -Mark

True Performance

As gun dog owners I believe we all strive for the same collective results. A dog that works hard and covers a lot of ground. A dog that is well trained and highly motivated. A dog that is fit and physical. A dog that truly loves to hunt for us and share the thrill. At the end of the day when the last feather floats to the ground, our gun dogs are truly our most faithful and trusted companions. But what are we doing to return their hard work, devotion and commitment? Better yet, what are we doing to make our good dogs great?

Like all living organisms, it starts and ends with nutrition. Food is the fuel that steams our dogs engine and stokes the fire within. Without quality food your dog will never reach his or her full potential in the marsh, woods, or field. These days more and more manufacturers are focusing on producing high quality dog foods. Unfortunately, there are still those owners who believe dog food found at a grocery store is just as good. This simple is not the case. Canines specifically produced and trained to hunt are animal athletes. With any athlete, the quality of their diet dictates their overall performance on the field of play. Over the past year many of my blog posts have hopefully shed some light of the positive and negatives effect of both proper and improper nutrition. Fall is upon us and most hunting seasons across this country are only days away from opening. Unfortunately, for a dog to fully adjust to a food change it can take 4-6 weeks to see any results in the field. But it is never to late to switch from an inexpensive "grocery store" brand to a premium food. If this is your first visit to my blog I urge you to read past posts titled,  Pocket Guide For Dog Food Consumers, The Holistic Gun Dog, and Performance Dog Foods for a more in depth look.

But you may ask, what makes a dog food low or high quality? Great question but one you can answer for yourself very quickly by following these helpful red and green flags. Here is my blue collar round up on things to watch for...

Red flags for low quality dog foods contain:

• ANY Grain source as #1 ingredient
• High amounts corn, soy, and/or wheat grain sources in ingredients overall/any combination
• Grain Gluten in ANY form(low grade protein source)
• Unspecified mystery "Meat" ingredients such as Meat Meal, Meat By-product, etc
• Synthetic preservetives such as, BHT(Butylated Hydroxyanisole), BHA(Butylated Hydroxytoluene), Propylene Glycol, Ethoxyquin
• Food coloring agents aka; color #whatever 

Green flags for high quality dog foods contain:

• Whole meat or whole meat meal proteins such as chicken, duck, beef, bison, fish, lamb, etc as the first ingredient
• Low overall grain ingredient content and gluten free
• At least 2 meat type proteins in top 5 ingredients(including meat protein meals which are a very high source of quality protein)
• Natural preserved with mixed tocopherols(vitamin E)
• Powerful antioxidents such as blueberries, cranberries, etc
• Contain Prebiotics and/or Probiotics aka; Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecium



Nothing better than seeing a well fueled, hard charging dog having fun hunting birds!

  The above mentioned red or green flags are a great way to quickly establish whether or not a dog food is grocery or premium. But be advised, some manufactures who are considered "premium" producers slip red flags into there formula's to cut costs. Do NOT be fooled. Do your due diligence and read the label in it's entirety. Do not be fooled by the disclaimer on every bag of food in this country: Approved by AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for all life stages. The AAFCO has in most nutritionists opinion regulate and allow a very low level(base minimum) of acceptance on what they consider a food "formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the the minimum nutrients in dog food". In other words, all dog food for sale in America must reach these low standards before they can even be allowed to bring the product to market. Yep, even Ol' Roy met AAFCO approval so that is not saying much!

I hope this brief round up helps you make a more educated decision when shopping for your gun dogs next bag of food. There are some really wonderful manufacturers out there doing the right thing for our dogs. I don't guarantee many things but I will guarantee this; switching your dog to a high quality diet will vastly improve their performance in the field and in the home. Don't be scared away from the higher prices. If the health and wellbeing of your fourlegged hunting partner is important to you, price should not be the first concern.

Best of luck out there. -Mark