Bixbi Liberty dog food

[mombright]

We are getting a new puppy in the next few weeks. Our local supermarket had Bixbi brand on sale 40% off. An 11lb bag runs $40 normal price. Is this brand a good brand? We currently feed our current dog Crave, they don't make a puppy formula or else we would probably use Crave.

Ingredients are as followed:
Deboned turkey, red lentils, whole yellow peas, egg, deboned chicken, trout, turkey fat, natural chicken flavor, natural vegetable flavor, dicalcium phosphate, calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, salt, salmon oil, choline chloride, potassium chloride, L-threonine, vitamins (vitamin E supplement, niacin supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, vitamin A supplement, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid, vitamin D3 supplement), minerals (zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, sodium selenite, calcium iodate), taurine, mixed tocopherols (a preservative), rosemary extract, dandelion greens, L-carnitine.

 

[sevilodorf]

@mombright You really cannot tell if a diet is balanced and complete by an ingredients list. However this appears to be a grain free diet with a very high amount of peas and lentils, both of which are linked to a deadly and hard to diagnose heart disease called dilated cardiomyopathy.

Honestly I wouldn’t touch this with a ten foot pole.

http://acvn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/AAHA-Nutritional-Assessment-Guidelines.pdf

https://www.alltradesdvm.com/topics/nutrition/wsava-guidelines-explained

https://www.feedingravendoodles.com/articles/how-to-pick-a-pet-food-part-1

https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2019/12/pet-food-decisions-how-do-you-pick-your-pets-food/

https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2016/12/questions-you-should-be-asking-about-your-pets-food/

https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=8808771

 

[mombright]

@sevilodorf Really I've never heard of this before. We use grain free with our current dog since she has issues with grain.

 

[sevilodorf]

@mombright Yep. Virtually the entire vet community recommends avoiding grain free and boutique diets. There are no demonstrated benefits and issues with all grains are basically unheard of

https://www.alltradesdvm.com/topics/diet-associated-dcm

 

[mombright]

@sevilodorf Our current dog is a pit bull mix? We don't exactly know what she is we got her from the pound. We have tried bunch of food. Different brands, Purina, kibble n bits, hills, blue buffalo, taste of the wild are ones I can remember. She would break out in hives we switched to a grain free and it immediately cleared up. We assumed since when we switched from regular dog food to grain free it was better for her. The vet never said anything about not using grain free. Once we get the new puppy, I will bring this up and ask them about grain free causing heart problems.

 

[sevilodorf]

@mombright Please do. I personally know an affected dog and it’s devastating.

There are far safer prescription options than grain free diets if that is a true medical need diagnosed with an elimination diet.

 

[mombright]

@sevilodorf Yeah we will for sure look into this further. We only "talked" with our vet about switching foods and never did any studies. This will be something we look into.

 

[mufudzi]

@mombright A lot of pit bulls I’ve met are super intolerant to chicken causing hives and other allergy symptoms. Maybe look at the old food to see if it contained chicken. I thought my guy was sensitive to grains as anytime I feed it he got yeasty ears and toes and runny poops, I’ve switch to Purina which has grains and he’s doing good!

 

[trendymom2]

@sevilodorf Grain free can be fine as long as the replacement isn’t filled with legumes. But yeah this food looks horrible.

 

[sevilodorf]

@trendymom2 All grain free dry food has a replacement with a suspect ingredient — peas potatoes or legumes. There are no grain free dry diets that do not have one of those OR a grain

 

[trendymom2]

@sevilodorf So raw diet includes those?

 

[sevilodorf]

@trendymom2 Raw diets have been implicated in DCM, as have homemade cooked ones.

But no, raw diets are not the dry kibble I was referring to. There are a dozen other good reasons not to feed raw though

 

[trendymom2]

@sevilodorf I would really like to know what food you recommend.

 

[sevilodorf]

@trendymom2 What I recommend is pretty irrelevant. I go by the diets that meet the highest standards laid out by experts for brands that invest in significant expertise and research (which is the reason vets recommend them)
Not coincidentally those diets have had zero confirmed cases of DCM: Royal Canin, hills, Purina and in the US and Canada, Iams and Eukanuba as well.

 

[chelseamc]

@sevilodorf There are plenty of air-dried and freeze dried foods without grains or legumes/potatoes.

 

[sevilodorf]

@chelseamc Those aren’t dry kibble diets are they?

There also aren’t any freeze dried diets meeting the highest standards as kibble and canned diets in expertise and research

 

[chelseamc]

@sevilodorf That's not what you stated, there are dry food and they do exist.

 

[sevilodorf]

@chelseamc Well I’m telling you now I was referring to dry kibble diets when I used the term dry diets

 

[hogynllan]

@mombright It's not something I would personally feed. I stick to WSAVA compliant brands as much as I can. Although my current dog is not on one (he did great on Purina but it became too expensive).

And as others said, ingredients will not tell you much about the food. I only look at ingredients to avoid chicken because my dog doesn't do well with it. Guaranteed analysis is usually a better way of judging pet food but even that alone may not be enough. You want to see how the company formulates their diets, how they handle recalls, etc.