Mixing Dog Foods
I was thinking about the thread where I mentioned that I mix two types of food for Tosca (Eagle and NB). There was some discussion on whether it could be a bad thing and I took it very seriously because I really see a number of people on this board who have plenty to teach me.
Once I got past my self-rationalization stage, I started to think about ways in which this can be a problem. For example, could a dog get too much of one nutrient or not enough of another by doing this, as different companies create their foods for balance? So I used different options to do a small calculation.
First, I add the assumption that no premium foods, or at least the premium foods I am using have nutrients in the bag that are considered detrimental to dogs. With that assumption in mind, here are some examples.
For example: Omega 3, guaranteed analysis.
If I were to do a 50-50 mix of two foods (Food A and Food B) and
Food A in the guaranteed analysis had .06 % and
Food B in the guaranteed analysis had .05 % then:
A 50-50 Mixture of Foods A and B would have Tosca mathematically ingesting on average .055% Omega 3.
This would be less than the guaranteed analysis in Food A
This would be more than the guaranteed analaysis in Food B.
Now, if I were to feed strictly Food A, she would not be getting too much Omega 3, if it were in the future determined that too much Omega 3 is bad.
If however I were to feed strictly Food B, she also would not be getting too little of Omega 3 in her food.
Next, I started think of food nutrients, such as herbs, fruits, veggies.
As a small example I will use Alfalfa:
If Food A lists Alfalfa as the 12th ingredient and
Food B has no Alfalfa, then :
A 50-50 mixture of A and B would have Tosca ingesting 50% of the Alfalfa she would be ingesting if she ate strictly Food A. Therefore she could not be "Over Alfalfaed".If I were to feed strictly Food B, she would get no Alfalfa. The same would hold true if I were to substitute things like carrots or potatoes.
My line of thinking here is a mixture of two premium foods can never yield more than the value or percentage of any nutrient in either of the two foods.
Please discuss this with me as I am not without the realization that I might be missing something here.
I was thinking about the thread where I mentioned that I mix two types of food for Tosca (Eagle and NB). There was some discussion on whether it could be a bad thing and I took it very seriously because I really see a number of people on this board who have plenty to teach me.
Once I got past my self-rationalization stage, I started to think about ways in which this can be a problem. For example, could a dog get too much of one nutrient or not enough of another by doing this, as different companies create their foods for balance? So I used different options to do a small calculation.
First, I add the assumption that no premium foods, or at least the premium foods I am using have nutrients in the bag that are considered detrimental to dogs. With that assumption in mind, here are some examples.
For example: Omega 3, guaranteed analysis.
If I were to do a 50-50 mix of two foods (Food A and Food B) and
Food A in the guaranteed analysis had .06 % and
Food B in the guaranteed analysis had .05 % then:
A 50-50 Mixture of Foods A and B would have Tosca mathematically ingesting on average .055% Omega 3.
This would be less than the guaranteed analysis in Food A
This would be more than the guaranteed analaysis in Food B.
Now, if I were to feed strictly Food A, she would not be getting too much Omega 3, if it were in the future determined that too much Omega 3 is bad.
If however I were to feed strictly Food B, she also would not be getting too little of Omega 3 in her food.
Next, I started think of food nutrients, such as herbs, fruits, veggies.
As a small example I will use Alfalfa:
If Food A lists Alfalfa as the 12th ingredient and
Food B has no Alfalfa, then :
A 50-50 mixture of A and B would have Tosca ingesting 50% of the Alfalfa she would be ingesting if she ate strictly Food A. Therefore she could not be "Over Alfalfaed".If I were to feed strictly Food B, she would get no Alfalfa. The same would hold true if I were to substitute things like carrots or potatoes.
My line of thinking here is a mixture of two premium foods can never yield more than the value or percentage of any nutrient in either of the two foods.
Please discuss this with me as I am not without the realization that I might be missing something here.
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