Before Grain Salmon dog food is a food you may be especially interested in if you have a sensitive or allergic dog. This food isn’t strictly salmon, so you do need to be aware there are a number of other protein ingredients.
This food is a more natural food with no grains, by-products, or fillers that you may see in lower quality foods. It has been proven more recently that dogs are very susceptible to developing allergies over the course of their lives, especially to grains or other carbohydrate sources. This can be sudden or gradual. In response to this, there has been a push to get back to more natural foods, and this is a good product to try if this is something you want for your pet.
Quick Look
Nutritional Content Information
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Kcal Information – Calories Per CupThis dry dog food provides 3586 kcal/kg or 1625 kcal per pound of metabolizable energy (ME). One cup (100 grams) provides 383 calories. |
Cost
A 6.6 lb bag will be approximately $18, an 11.1 lb bag will be $26, and a 25.3 lb bag will be approximately $49.
| January 17, 2013 |
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| Before Grain Salmon Dry Dog Food |
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Ingredients
Main Ingredients
- Deboned Salmon – While this doesn’t include the weight of bones, the fact that this isn’t dehydrated or a meal product means that much of the weight is liquid. If you want a product that is mainly salmon, you’ll have to look elsewhere. This one has some, but it is probably not the main protein in the food.
- Chicken Meal – This ingredient is chicken with the water removed. It is greatly condensed to make it a very high quality protein source. Chicken is highly digestible, and considered to be a very good quality protein source for dogs. Since this is the second ingredient, it is the second heaviest ingredient. Since the salmon above is not dehydrated, you are really purchasing a salmon flavored chicken protein food.
- Dehydrated Potato – This is an alternative carbohydrate source. This non-grain alternative is a lower value nutritionally, but it is not likely to cause a reaction in sensitive pets.
- Turkey Meal – This is another meal product. Turkey meal is a dehydrated form of turkey, so it has a higher value as a protein source. It is highly digestible and considered a low allergy ingredient. It’s still a poultry ingredient, so it has similar nutrition as chicken.
- Canola Oil – A dog does need fat in his diet, especially for skin and coat. Currently, there is some debate whether Canola is good for dogs, as is reported for people. We would probably want to see a chicken fat ingredient here rather than the oil, but we don’t yet know whether the oil is good or bad.
Other Ingredients
- Dehydrated Sweet Potato preserved with mixed tocopherols (source of Vitamins E and C)
- Yeast Culture
- Natural Dried Chicken Liver
- Dicalcium Phosphate
- Lysine
- Guar Gum
- Sea Salt
- Alfalfa
- Salmon Oil
- Choline Chloride
- Acai Berry (freeze dried)
- Blueberry (freeze dried)
- Yucca Schidigera Extract
- Dried Venison Broth
- Zinc Amino Acid Complex
- Chondroitin Sulfate
- Glocosamine Hydrochloride
- Natural Venison Flavor
- Chickory Root
- Marigold Extract
- Rosemary Extract
- Lactobacillus Plantarum
- Enterococcus Faecium
- Lactobacillus Casei
- Lactobacillus Acidophilus
- Natural Celery Flavor
- Iron Amino Acid Complex
- Vitamin E Supplement
- Manganese Amino Acid Complex
- Natural Color (turmeric)
- Vitamin A Supplement
- Vitamin B12 Supplement
- Copper Amino Acid Complex
- d-Calcium Pantothenate
- Vitamin D3
- Niacin
- Lecithin
- Riboflavin Supplement
- Biotin
- Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide
- Pyridoxine Hydrochloride
- Cobalt Amino Acid Comples
- Folic Acid
- Thiamine Mononitrate
- Sodium Selenite
AAFCO Statement
Before Grain Salmon is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food nutrient profiles for all life stages.
Product Overview
Before Grain brand Salmon dry dog food is somewhat of a misnomer. If you look at the ingredient analysis, the first ingredient is deboned salmon, but the second is chicken meal. The fact that the meal protein is so much more condensed than the salmon reveals that you’re getting a chicken based product with some salmon included. This isn’t necessarily a problem because chicken is a good quality protein ingredient for dogs, but you are not getting a product that’s mainly salmon.
With that being said, the ingredient list looks good with the exception of the Canola oil. While this is a good oil for humans, there is a great deal of debate whether this is ideal for dogs to eat. They do need a fat or oil in their food, but it may not provide as much health benefit as some other oils or fats that are available. A benefit to the salmon content is that you do get some healthy omega 3s that you wouldn’t otherwise have. While these are great, it’s very difficult to tell just how much omega 3s your pet may be getting.
Overall, this is a good food based on the ingredient review, and there are no known allergic ingredients. The addition of any kind of digestive aid to the contents—you may recognize acidophilus for instance—is good for any dog’s diet. There are no grains or fillers, and this looks to be an appealing food that a dog should enjoy at feeding time. This is a product that should provide good nutrition for your pet.
