Could someone post what this Ol' Roy Maxximum Nutrition looks like.. like a cover of the bag?
I stopped at Walmart today to check out Ol' Roy and found one that said Ol' Roy Maximum Nutrition but the order of ingredients was: fat, chicken by-product, corn gluten, corn meal, rice flour and then a bunch of others... THAT doesn't look particularily good.
C
P.S. great website
http://www.dogs4dogs.com/ and
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=betterproductsFrom the site
Top Rules for Choosing Commercial Foods
for Dogs and Cats
By Jan Rasmusen and Jean Hofve, DVM
1. Read labels. Call the manufacturer's toll-free number posted on the label with any questions. Check out ingredients with this cool wizard developed by a pet food company
http://www.naturapet.com/tools/ingredient.asp to get definitions for ingredients. Find the exact legal definitions at the FDA website.
2. Buy food that’s closest to fresh. Frozen, freeze-dried and dehydrated foods are better than canned foods which are in turn better for your pet than dry kibble.
3. The first ingredient should be one or more “named” animal proteins (like lamb, beef, chicken or venison). “Meat” can mean anything. Important: manufacturers trick us by putting, say, lamb first followed by corn gluten, corn meal and brewer’s rice; the three carbs added together outweigh the lamb.
4. Accept no by-products (like meat by-products). Legally, they’re the non rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals, including but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low-temperature fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. Icky sounding, but not completely horrible if a meat source is named (chicken by-products are far better than poultry by-products) and are better if canned (where they are canned fresh, not rendered or processed) than in dry food. However, this is a cheap product with inconsistent ingredients.
-meal. Because of “mad cow disease” scares, meat meals are banned in countries like Japan and France. These are the worst ingredients imaginable.
6. Accept no "animal" products, such as "animal digest." Digest is a flavor enhancer which can contain varying parts from animals of unknown origin. Yum.
7. Reject all corn products and gluten meals. Corn and gluten are common allergens. Wheat gluten was contaminated in the 2006 major pet food recall in a attempt to boost protein content with melamine. FROM Cathy _ sorry but Ol Roy no matter which one i looked at was loaded with corn and gluten meals.
8. Reject chemical preservatives (like BHA, BHT, propyl gallate, ethoxyquin, propylene glycol).
9. Avoid "light" or "senior" or "special needs" or "breed-specific" foods. These variations on regular pet food are mostly marketing gimmicks, sold at a premium, with little or no real benefit to your pet. "Natural" or "human grade" foods are terms generally seen on better-quality foods but have no legal definition.
10. Feed several brands and flavors with different protein sources your dog or cat tolerates well, and rotate them frequently.
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Here's an excellent article on pet food: What's Really in Pet Food? Read another good article on Selecting a Good Commercial Pet Food by Dr. Hofve and her great article Dog and Cat Food Labels: Marketing Tricks That Cost You Money on my blog Truth4Dogs. On my Blog4Dogs blog, read Dog Food: 10 Scary Truths
Dr. Martin Goldstein on feeding pets.
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Kibble and Grocery Store Foods
The term "super premium kibble" may be an oxymoron, with few exceptions. Kibble, because of the way it is made, is overcooked. Vitamins and enzymes are destroyed and cheap vitamins are added back. This can lead to dehydration and bloat. It is too often polluted with toxins and can become contaminated. My preferences, established by extensive research are, in order of best to worst, fresh, frozen, freeze dried or dehydrated, canned, kibble.
4-D meats (from dead, dying, diseased and disabled) are a mainstay of the pet industry. And, of course, antibiotics, steroids and hormones pollute even our own food. Clearly the worst go into kibble where they can be well-cooked and the taste can be disguised with extruded fat. Yum!
Calling the manufacturer in question can give you some sort of answer to the quality issue. I go organic for my dogs and myself.
There is no upper limit for pesticide contamination levels for corn used in pet food.
Pet food marked "human quality" has quite different standards than food marked as "for pets only" or not marked at all. The USDA, which inspects food for human use, has strict standards about animal health. Unfortunately, the standards don't apply to antibiotic, steroid and hormone use. Only a label marked "organic" addresses those issues. Still, USDA inspected does mean something.
Bernards are AWESOME!!!!! Our Emma is the sweetest, best dog ever! I will always have a Bernard now. She was suppose to guard the critters and be an outside dog but she is so cute she wormed her way inside and is our house dog lol. We ended up getting a Newfie male pup for outside "Elvis" 
