# First Mate Dog food question



## Chels_girl (Aug 2, 2008)

One of our Local stores has started carrying First Mate Potato, Chicken and Blueberries. 

Ingredients-
Potato Flakes, Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat ( preserved with mixed tochopherols), Whole Blueberries, potassium chloride, salt, methionine, choline chloride, calcium propionate, vitamin C, Yucca plant extract, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, Vitamin B12, d–pantothenic acid, folic acid, d-biotin, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, iodine, cobalt, selenium, glucanase, protease, amylase, cellulase, (Bacillus, subtilis fermentation extract), glucosamine, MSM 

Feed Analysis-

Protein (minimum)…………………………. 25.0 % 

Fat (minimum)……………………………… 14.0 %

Moisture (maximum)………………………..10.0 %

Fibre (maximum)……………………………. 4.0 %

Ash (maximum) …………………………….. 7.0 %

Calcium ……………………………………... 1.7 %

Phosphorous ………………………………… 1.0 %

Calcium / Phosphorous ratio ………………… 1.7: 1.0

KCal As Fed....................................................... 540 (155grams/8oz cup)



I took this straight off their website ^__^ Is this stuff any good? Any experience with it? It's very expensive but I thought I'd ask anyway.


----------



## RawFedDogs (Jun 22, 2008)

Chels_girl said:


> Is this stuff any good? Any experience with it? It's very expensive but I thought I'd ask anyway.


They are mostly potato flakes, what ever that is. Almost no meat. Dogs need meat and this stuff doesn't have any.

I don't have any experience with this particular stuff as I don't feed kibble and haven't for 6 years. If it's expensive, it's really not worth the money. It is a very low quality kibble.


----------



## Chels_girl (Aug 2, 2008)

My family can't afford to feed RAW, not that I would, I think it's kind of gross to be honest, though I have to admit the dogs on it look amazing. Right now our dogs get kibble and some meat mixed with rice to get them to eat it. My older dogs are chubby and are on diet dog food, which they didn't care for before, now it's a treat to get it.


----------



## MoonStr80 (Oct 9, 2006)

I highly recommend you reading about pet food! 
What Should I Avoid

Pet Food Additives to Avoid

The Dog Food Project


----------



## Chels_girl (Aug 2, 2008)

I have been reading into the dog food topics. I was more just wondering what you guys thought of this food. I don't really want to be preached too about how they need all meat, or that I shouldn't feed what I do. My dogs eat Science Diet, and are doing amazing on it, I was just curious about First Mate dog food.


----------



## amynrichie (Sep 3, 2008)

Chels_girl said:


> I have been reading into the dog food topics. I was more just wondering what you guys thought of this food. I don't really want to be preached too about how they need all meat, or that I shouldn't feed what I do. My dogs eat Science Diet, and are doing amazing on it, I was just curious about First Mate dog food.


I probably would not buy this food as I have quite a few other choices that have more meat.


----------



## trumpetjock (Dec 14, 2007)

Chels_girl said:


> My family can't afford to feed RAW, not that I would, I think it's kind of gross to be honest, though I have to admit the dogs on it look amazing. Right now our dogs get kibble and some meat mixed with rice to get them to eat it. My older dogs are chubby and are on diet dog food, which they didn't care for before, now it's a treat to get it.


He wasn't suggesting you feed raw. He was saying that the food you listed here doesn't contain much meat in it. That's what dogs need, is a food source primarily based on meat, which this isn't. The first (most abundant by mass) ingredient is potatoes. After that it only has one meat source, chicken meal. This is definitely a better food than your ol' roys and pedigrees, but it's nowhere near anything I'd give my dog.


----------



## Chels_girl (Aug 2, 2008)

I hadn't really been planning on buying it, it was a new food our local place had so I was just curious. The one thing that I did kind of like about is that it's Grain Free, which is incredibly hard to find where I live.


----------



## trumpetjock (Dec 14, 2007)

Chels_girl said:


> I hadn't really been planning on buying it, it was a new food our local place had so I was just curious. The one thing that I did kind of like about is that it's Grain Free, which is incredibly hard to find where I live.


Yeah, like I said earlier, it's definitely not a BAD food. The grain free portion gives it points in my book.

The way I like to think of foods is translating them into a raw style diet. Mentally separate out all the ingredients into their each little bowl based on the quantity they are listed as. So in this food, the biggest bowl would be filled with potatoes. The next would be filled with chicken meal, the next chicken fat, and then the rest would be blueberries and chemicals.

If you were to create a balanced diet for your dog from scratch, would the biggest bowl go to potatoes? I think not. Would you include only one bowl of one type of meat? Nope. A good kibble should have a variety of, preferably whole and not meal, named protein sources, and large portions of each. It should also contain very little carbohydrates (potatoes).


----------



## Chels_girl (Aug 2, 2008)

Thanks, I know I"ve been a bit...snippy lately on here and haven't mean't to be. Our oldest dog, at almost 13 has been put to sleep and my family is building a new house. So by the time I get to reply to this stuff I'm exhausted and just little grumpy. 
I'm glad for you input, I'm checking into another food our pet store carries, but I can't for the life remember it. It's really, really hard to find a food that has more meat and less carbs but dang up here in Alaska, in the town where I live it's a nightmare. I was a bit appalled, our pet store, which claims to only carry high end foods, sells Iams and stuff like that. *wince* they do have the one other, but I can't remember what it's called.


----------

