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1 32319 Wed January 2, 2008
Recommended By Average Price Average Rating
No recommendations None indicated None indicated
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Description: Feeding guideline:
A 50lb dog should be fed 4 - 4-1/2 cups


Calorie Content
Nutro MAX Senior contains 3,550 kcal/kg of metabolizable energy (ME) on as-fed basis (calculated)
280 kcals/per cup


Ingredients
Ground Rice, Chicken Meal, Wheat Flour, Rice Bran, Ground Whole Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Herring Meal (source of DHA), Natural Flavors, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Potassium Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Vitamin E Supplement, Dried Kelp, Chicory Extract, Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Choline Chloride, Ferrous Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Biotin, Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Niacin, Garlic, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin (source of Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Copper Proteinate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid.

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (minimum) 22.00%
Crude Fat (minimum) 10.00%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 4.00%
Moisture (maximum) 10.00%
Linoleic Acid (minimum) 3.50%
Ascorbic Acid (minimum)** 35.0 mg/kg
Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) (minimum)** 0.04%

**Not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles.


Nutritional Adequacy Statement
Animal feeding tests using AAFCO¹ procedures substantiate that Nutro MAX Senior provides complete and balanced nutrition for the maintenance of adult dogs.



Editors

Registered: October 2005
Posts: 3953
Review Date: Wed January 2, 2008 Would you recommend the product? No | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 0 

 
Pros: Second ingredient is a named meat product
Cons: Inadequate meat content, mixed quality ingredients, fat of unidentifiable origin, controversial filler

The second ingredient is a named meat product, in meal form. This gives us very little confidence in the meat content of the product. There is a further meat meal ingredient 9th on the ingredient list, but this is too far down to make any significant contribution to the meat content of the food. This is a fish meal ingredient, but We find no guarantee on the manufacturers website that protein sources are ethoxyquin-free (ethoxyquin is a chemical preservative commonly added to fish destined for meal, and is believed to be carcinogenic).


The grains are of mixed quality. Rice is decent quality grain (and the main ingredient in the food), but rice bran is a grain fragment we consider primarily filler. Wheat is one of the most common sources of allergy problems in dog food, and in flour form (in dog food, commonly a byproduct of human food production) is a grain fragment. Corn is a difficult to digest grain also commonly associated with allergy problems. Corn Gluten Meal is the dried residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in wet milling manufacture or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm. In plain English, that bit of the grain leftover after most of the nutritious bits have been removed.


Poultry fat is a further low quality ingredient rarely found in anything but very low quality foods. Poultry fat is an ingredient of unidentified origin for which it is impossible to determine source or quality. Unidentified ingredients are usually very low quality. AAFCO define this as obtained from the tissues of poultry in the commercial processes of rendering or extracting. It consists predominantly of glyceride esters of fatty acids and contains no additions of free fatty acids. If an antioxidant is used, the common name or names must be indicated, followed by the words "used as a preservative".


Beet pulp is controversial filler which appears to be used in large quantities in this food. It is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food. There are less controversial products around if additional fibre is required. We would prefer to see the use of whole eggs rather than egg product in the food.


We note that this product includes synthetic vitamin K, a substance linked to liver problems and that is progressively being removed from better quality dog food products.


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