I know it's cheap, but honestly - this stuff is terrible!

I don't even have to say anything - read the ingredient list, listed in accordance from weighs the most to weighs the least:

Whole grain corn, corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat, chicken by-product meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), soybean meal, brewers rice, meat and bone meal, barley, beef, sugar, animal digest, sorbitol, fish oil, phosphoric acid, salt, tricalcium phosphate, potassium chloride, sorbic acid (a preservative), dried carrots, dried peas, calcium propionate (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2), Vitamin E supplement, choline chloride, brewers dried yeast, zinc sulfate, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, niacin, manganese proteinate, Vitamin A supplement, calcium carbonate, Vitamin B-12 supplement, DL-Methionine, calcium pantothenate, copper sulfate, copper proteinate, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.

You may as well feed your dog diseased meat and Banquet frozen dinners. Let's break these down

WHOLE GRAIN CORN - used as a fibrous protein source. Corn's alright, especially whole grain, but it cannot be processed as easily as meat protein, so why bother? And why in the world is it the first ingredient listed?

CORN GLUTEN MEAL - A by-product from producing corn starch and corn syrup, corn gluten is commonly used as a more natural lawn herbicide. It is an ingredient that is not preferred by producers of high-quality food.

WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT - Well, here's something good. Wheat is NOT allergenic in it's natural state - wheat in this day and age is so polluted, denuded and bleached (yes, your basic flour at the store is bleached with chemicals you should NEVER consume), thus turning wheat into something it was never meant to be and causing allergenic reactions. Whole-grain wheat is a terrific source of fiber. That being said, canines have a different intestinal tract than humans, and process their food very quickly, negating the need for fiber in their diet. A little is good, but you still don't want to see wheat too close to the front of the list.

CHICKEN BY-PRODUCT MEAL - What's a by-product? As defined by the AAFCO, "Chicken by-product meal consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice." So organs and body parts that humans would frown upon, but your pet would certainly eat in the wild. That being said, there is no balance of how much is organ meat, and how much is undigestible feathers and feet. It's not entirely bad, but again, better companies don't really include it as they use muscle meats.

ANIMAL FAT - Goodness. Animal fat is literally ANYTHING that they buy - animal fat used in restaurants, things of that nature. If it's not a named source, avoid it like the plague. If a company's not picky about their ingredients, they're not picky about who they're buying from and the quality, and that's the truth.

SOYBEAN MEAL - This is another trick like the corn meal. Used as a protein source, but why aren't they using any real meat? Meat's expensive, yes, but real meat produces a real healthy body for canines - it's what they're designed to eat, and what they thrive on. Why have them barely survive on ingredients they wouldn't eat on their own?

BREWER'S RICE - Used in the making of beer, this is pretty much an empty shell of nothingness with no real nutritional value. It's technically listed as a rice RESIDUE, not even real kernals of grain. Pointless.

MEAT AND BONE MEAL - "The rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents, except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices." And this is generic meat and bone meal (meal that has had the water removed) bought from rendering plants, which include Fluffy and Fido who didn't get adopted at your local overcrowded shelter and were "cleared" to make room for more animals. Could literally include any meat - wildlife, pets, you name it, it's in there.

BARLEY - Barley's a cereal grain and fine for fiber. This may be pearled barley, however, and in that case is nutritionally worthless, having the germ removed.

BEEF - Finally, an actual meat source! Beef is fine, but beef meal would be better, which means that the meat they're weighing isn't mostly water but actual protein. It absolutely shouldn't be the 10th ingredient on the list, it should be first. Perhaps no one ever told Purina that dogs are CARNIVORES.

SUGAR - What? Why in the heck is SUGAR in dog food? Sugar is absolutely NOT NECESSARY to any living being - we produce natural sugar in our bodies from the food we eat. Cheap dog foods include sugar (and fats) to make this garbage taste like food so the dog will eat it.

And last, but not least,

ANIMAL DIGEST - Do you KNOW what animal digest is? Animal digest is, as defined, "Material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and undecomposed animal tissue. The animal tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice." That's the recommendation for "food" that falls under this heading. So the animals that are chemically melted down at shelters (and they are, I worked at the Humane Society), this stuff is what animal digest is. Chemically decayed and destroyed carcass. It's horrific, and so is the smell of the stuff. Also, stomach acid taken from carcasses falls under animal digest.

Look, I could go on and on, but the fact of the matter is that big food corporations exist for 1 thing - money. They make money by producing something as cheap as they possibly can and convincing everyone to buy it. That's how McDonald's works, that's how Mars (yes the candy, they own Purina) works, that's how the world works. But it doesn't equal to good health for anyone.

So take your hyperactive dog with an itchy coat, bad breath and joint problems off this junk - and it's nothing but junk that should quit being made - and give him some real food. You will absolutely see a difference.

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