Dog Food with Low Protein Content.

Because Bix has a probable liver shunt or other liver disease, he now eats, or rather reluctantly picks at, a low protein diet. The list of commercial brands grew too long for the Bix page - therefore spawning this. Please go down to the end of this page for links to some very good dog food analysis sites.

Now he doesn't actually like any of the foods on this list that he has tried - he wants his high protein macho food back - but he is forced to eat this stuff. It seems to offend the wolf within. He is not without appetitite - he will mug a toddler for a peanut butter sandwich and no one dares put down a mug of eggnog. Update: he finally found one he likes. - at the bottom of the alphabet (Drumroll) Wysong Senior. Of course it is also the only one to give him nasty, pungent diarrhea - so we have gone to mixing it 50/50 with the Solid Gold. To be fair, the digestive problem probably came from his insatiable appetite for the Wysong stuff. He didn't eat enough of anything else to cause problems.

There are a couple of prescription diets, for example Waltham Royal Canin Hepatic LS14, which have not been prescribed yet. The specialist vet seemed happy for the moment with premium dog food at 18% protein. They tend to be either vegetarian or senior foods.

Here is a list which includes what may, or may not, be the first 5 listed ingredients. Now in some cases these ingredient lists, most of which I got from petfooddirect, are wrong. On a real bag of the food, the list is sometimes entirely different. (Though the labels on the little sampler bags are usually too little to be read.) A really good tool for comparing these foods is the Natura Pet product comparison tool. You can bring up ingredient lists four at a time. Many of the foods listed here are included.

• AvoDerm Natural Vegetarian Adult Dry Dog Food ground whole rice, soy flour, ground pearled barley, canola oil, avocado meal and AvoDerm Natural Lite Adult Dry Dog Food ground whole brown rice, oatmeal, rice bran, chicken meal, chicken fat each 18% and each $1.63/lb - made by Breeder's Choice, the people who make Pinnacle
  
• California Natural Chicken Meal and Rice ground brown rice, chicken meal, ground white rice, chicken fat, flaxseed or Lamb Meal and Rice Reduced Calorie Dry Dog Food ground brown rice, lamb meal, ground white rice, sunflower oil, taurine each 18% $1.40/lb chicken $1.50/lb lamb - small number of ingredients from NaturaPet the people who make Innova rateitall comments
  
• Canidae Platinum Diet Formulated for Senior and Overweight Dogs Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Brown Rice, White Rice, Chicken Fat 18.5% $1.45/lb manufacturer .
  
• Canine Caviar Special Needs Formula Adult Dog Dry Food Whole Ground Brown Rice, Dehydrated Chicken, Ground White Rice, Sun-Cured Alfalfa, Chicken Fat 18% (product info says also for puppies with special needs) $1.54/lb details
  
• Diamond Low-Fat Formula Whole grain brown rice, chicken by-product meal, whole grain ground corn, chicken fat 16% but corn and chicken byproducts? $0.64/lb - had a recall last year
  
• Drs Foster and Smith Dry Senior Dog Food Formula 18% chicken, brown rice, rice, chicken meal, whole barley $1.50/lb details
  
• Eagle Pack Adult Reduced Fat Formula for Overweight or Less Active Dogs 19% Ground Brown Rice, Pork Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Mixed Feed Oats, Dried Beet Pulp $1.29/lb - corn and pork, we aren't going to try this
  
• Evolve Senior Formula 18% Lamb, Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Lamb Meal $1.33/lb
• Hi-Tor Neo Diet for Dogs 13% Ground Brewers Rice, Ground Yellow Corn, Poultry Fat (Preserved with BHA and Citric Acid), Poultry Meal, Potassium Chloride $1.30/lb - actually for kidney problems
• Innova Senior Dog Food Dry 18% Turkey, Chicken, Ground Barley, Ground Brown Rice, Potatoes $2.04/lb
  
• Natural Balance Vegetarian Formula for Dogs 18% Ground Brown Rice, Oatmeal, Pearled Barley, Potato Protein, Canola Oil $2.00/lb also Natural Balance Reduced Calorie Formula for Dogs 16.5% Brown Rice, Whole Chicken, Pearled Barley, Oatmeal, Chicken Meal $1.80/lb
  
• Natural Life Vegetarian Dog Formula 17.5% Ground Brown Rice, Ground Yellow Corn, Full-Fat Soybeans, Oatmeal, Ground Whole Wheat $1.56/lb and Senior Dog Formula Ground Yellow Corn, Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Oatmeal, Ground Whole Wheat 18% $1.62/lb
• Nature's Recipe Healthy Skin Vegetarian Recipe Canine Formula 18%Ground rice, soybean meal, cracked pearled barley, canola oil, calcium carbonate $1.10/lb
• Newman's Own Organics Senior Dog Chicken Formula 18% Organic Barley, Organic Rice, Organic Milo, Organic Oats, Chicken $2.40/lb
• Nutro Max Weight Control Formula for Overweight, Less Active Dogs 16% Wheat Flour, Ground Rice, Rice Bran, Chicken Meal, Ground Whole Wheat $1.30/lb
• PetGuard Next to Nature Organic Vegetarian 16% Organic Quinoa, Organic Oatmeal, Organic Ground Barley, Organic Brown Rice, Organic Dried Eggs $2.89/lb
• Precise Light Formula for Less Active or Overweight Dogs 18% Ground Brown Rice, Ground Yellow Corn, Ground Whole Wheat, Chicken Meal, Corn Gluten Meal $1.30/lb and Precise Senior Formula Ground Brown Rice, Ground Yellow Corn, Chicken Meal, Ground Whole Wheat, Whole Wheat Flour each 18% also $1.30/lb
• Sensible Choice Reduced Calorie Lamb Meal & Rice 18% Brewers rice, lamb meal, rice hulls, rice gluten, poultry fat $1.60/lb
• Solid Gold Holistique Blendz Basis-Plus Adult Maintenance Dog Food 18% Oatmeal, Rye, Menhaden Fish Meal, Potatoes, Salmon Oil, Sesame Oil $2.00/lb
• VeRUS Less Active/Senior Diet Lamb and Oats 17% Ground Brown Rice, Ground Grain Sorghum, Lamb Meal, Ground Oats, Rice Bran $1.32/lb
• Wellness SuperMix Senior Dry Dog Food 17% Deboned Chicken, Oatmeal, Ground Barley, Rye Flour, Chicken Meal and Wellness $2.23/lb Weight Management Dry Dog Food 17% Deboned Chicken, Ground Barley, Rice Bran (from brown rice), Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice $2.60/lb
• Wysong Senior Canine Diet 18% Turkey, Potato, Ground Brown Rice, Ground Oat Groats, Ground Corn $1.25/lb - product info says it is also for liver disease but why the corn?
  

Additives

• In an attempt to make this sort of food more palatable, we have tried both Hound 57 and Iams flavored sauces. Didn't fool Bix.
• Sprinkling on a crushed freeze-dried liver piece? That worked once.
• A spoonful of wet cat food mixed in? Nope.

Meanwhile the cat adores the Natural Balance diet food, which is way too low protein for cats. She has shredded the bag, not taking time to read the label which said Natural Balance Reduced Calorie Formula for Dogs. She even bit the hand trying to feed it to Bix and not to her. Did they put in catnip?

What's Good, What's Bad

Extracting and summarizing from the information at the sites listed below:
Bad - (in process)
Good -

Interesting and Informative Websites

Good basic info on dog food and ingredients
Why unnamed by-products are really, really bad
Fungi, toxins and indigestable grains
Quick checklist of things to consider when reading ingredients
USDA label regulations