There are special formulas claiming that they are for "Sensitive" dogs. Just because it says what you want, still read the ingredients. Nine formulas carried at the store have this claim, but what is in these foods? Lets take a look.

Hill's Science Diet Sensitive Stomach 1. Brewers Rice 2. Ground Whole Grain Corn 3. Corn Gluten Meal 4. Chicken By-Product Meal 5. Dried Egg Product 6. Animal Fat 7. Chicken Liver Flavor 8. Flaxseed Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach 1. Salmon 2. Brewers Rice 3. Canola Meal 4. Oat Meal 5. Fish Meal 6. Animal Fat 7. Salmon Meal 8. Pearled Barley Eukanuba 1. Ocean Fish 2. Brewers Rice 3. Ground Whole Grain Sorghum 4. Fish Meal 5. Ground Whole Grain Barley 6. Animal Fat 7. Dried Egg Product 8. Fish Digest Nutro Natural Choice: Chicken Meal, Rice and Oatmeal 1. Chicken Meal 2. Ground Rice 3. Rice Flour 4. Rice Bran 5. Whole Brown Rice 6. Chicken 7. Poultry Fat 8. Oatmeal Nutro Natural Choice: Venison Meal and Whole Brown Rice 1. Venison Meal 2. Whole Brown Rice 3. Ground Rice 4. Rice Gluten 5. Rice Bran 6. Poultry Fat 7. Rice Flour 8. Dried Plain beet Pulp

Royal Canin Special 30 1. Chicken Meal 2. Chicken 3. Brown Rice 4. Brewers Rice 5. Chicken Fat 6. Corn Gluten Meal 7. Dried Egg Product 8. Dried Beet Pulp (Sugar Removed) Hill's Science Diet Sensitive Skin 1. Brewers Rice 2. Ground Whole Grain Corn 3. Corn Gluten Meal 4. Pork Meal 5. Dried Egg Product 6. Soybean Oil 7. Flaxseed 8. Animal Fat Purina ONE Sensitive Systems 1. Salmon 2. Brewers Rice 3. Pearled Barley 4. Oat Meal 5. Corn Gluten Meal 6. Fish Meal 7. Salmon Meal 8. Animal Digest Nutro Natural Choice: Herring Meal, Rice, and Potato 1. Herring Meal 2. Whole Brown Rice 3. Rice Bran 4. Ground Rice 5. Rice Flour 6. Poultry Fat 7. Rice Gluten 8. Brewers Dried Yeast

Any of these sound appealing? What do you recognize? Some of these foods are available in grocery stores which in the past has generally meant they are not as nutritious as specialty food. What do you want in a food?

=By-Products. The use of named by-products (i.e. chicken vs poultry) brings up the quality and consistency from meat or poultry by-products. Personally I do not want by-products as the only meat source. Vegetarian food aside, if an dog is going to have an animal source in it's diet it should include some if not all muscle meat.

=Meat as the first ingredient is almost non-negotiable, and if possible would like the protein to come from meat not plant. Of course this doesn't apply to vegetarian foods.

=Named animal parts. No poultry, meat, or animal. Ocean fish is ok, but would prefer a named source.

=Presence of corn. Corn itself is not bad, but can potentially cause itchy skin. Corn gluten meal is not whole and is used as a protein booster. If you don't have a dog with an allergy, then it may be fine. But I do not include it in my food as a rule.

=Partially processed grains. Brewers rice, rice gluten, corn gluten meal, and rice bran are partial and do not include everything they could offer. Of course they do have nutritional properties but consistency is what we are looking for. A whole grain is a better source.

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