Dha?

[kerhode]

Sorry, if this topic has been discussed already, but I couldn't find it in the searches.
My 3 month old female is a very picky eater with a sensitive stomach. She won't eat any dog food with chicken. I'm scared to get her a good puppy food with chicken because I don't think she'll eat it. I tried a Wellness sample that had chicken and fish. She loved it, but unfortunately I then discovered that they don't sell that brand anywhere close to me. Sooo, I went to Petsmart to find something similar. All the puppy food I found had either too much protein vs fiber content (she would be squirting everywhere) or was chicken flavored. I don't know how she would do on lamb. I found an all life stages by By Natural that is salmon, oceanfish and yogurt flavored with 27% protein and 4% fiber. She absolutely loved it and it's the first dry food I've found that she'll happily eat. (the fishy smell almost made me vomit, but that's another story I noticed that it says it's very suitable for puppies, but it doesn't say that it contains DHA. I've heard that this is very important for pups to have so I'm worrried about this new food? Will my pup be alright if the bag doesn't claim to contain it?

 

[gmacleod]

Mmmm. I am simultaneously in favour of dog food manufacturers giving as much information as possible about their products - and also highly skeptical about them "advertising" contents that are just about a given as something special.

...the reason I make that complaint is because DHA is an omega-3 fatty acid. And every dog food contains those, especially those made with oily fish such as salmon. Making a fuss about a particular component of the omega-3 comes a little close to gimmick for my liking (similar to those manufacturers who spout about their foods containing glucosamine and chondroitin - as if it weren't something that every other meat-containing dog food on the planet didn't also have; albeit that every one of them is far below therapudic, or even normal, levels).

LOL - my complaints about marketing stunts aren't much use to you though. What is more interesting to know is that the source of DHA in pet foods is primarily fish and fish oil (it is also present in meats such as chicken...). And food that contains fish or chicken will, therefore, contain DHA whether the manufacturer makes a marketing point of it or not So if you're feeding a fish based food in the first place, its extremely unlikely that you have anything to be concerned about.

If you are concerned, don't reach for a low-quality-but-outstandingly-marketed food - instead give your puppy some fish or eggs, or other such lean healthy protein that contains DHA in its natural form. Don't go overboard though - like many things, excesses of DHA are worse than deficiencies.

Insofar as AAFCO is concerned, there is a no minimum amount of omega-3 fatty acids required in dog food (including puppy foods).

 

[kerhode]

Ahh ok, thanks for the help! She should be just fine then on this new stuff.