1st Choice Dog Food Review

PLB International 1st Choice offers quite a wide range of dried dog foods specially designed for particular categories. There's an Adult food each for small, medium, and large breeds, and also Puppy foods for each of the different size groups. In addition to these, there are products such as 1^st Choice Performance, 1^st Choice Senior, 1^st Choice Weight Control, and 1^st Choice Hypoallergenic. Obviously the ingredients vary from product to product, but the basic ingredients are the same and this is a review of the brand in general rather than a breakdown of all the individual versions within it.

You do need to ensure that you pick the appropriate food formula for your dog, for example, by taking into account your dog's age. Puppies will need a considerably different diet from adult dogs in order to get the high amounts of protein, vitamins and minerals, and calories that they need in order to develop and grow properly. If an adult dog were to be fed this same diet, he or she would most likely gain too much weight, since they don't need the same high concentration of these nutrients. And much older dogs will need a different nutritional balance altogether to take into account their weaker digestive systems and lower activity. The best way of choosing of dog food, therefore, is to take into account your dog's age, size, and activity, and choose one accordingly.

 

Unfortunately, the selection process doesn't stop there, as even though many brands offer the “right” formula, they use inexpensive ingredients which will be much more difficult for your dog to digest. This means that they won't provide the right nutritional balance even if they do include all the right ingredients, simply because many of the nutrients won't be absorbed, but will simply pass right through the dog's system as they are. This does, sadly, appear to be the case with 1^st Choice.

The main grain used in the food is brewers yeast – a very low quality product/by-product. Seeing it as a main grain used in a dog food is never a promising sign. In 1^st Choice, oats are also used, and these are a better quality of grain – but bear in mind that they are the secondary grain used, not the main one. And unfortunately, all around these ingredients are what are known as “fillers”. Take cellulose, for example. It is described as "purified, mechanically disintegrated cellulose prepared by processing alpha cellulose obtained as a pulp from fibrous plant materials". Do you know what this means in layman's terms? Yes, that's right: it's sawdust!

Look out for other filler products in these foods, including tomato pomace and beet pulp. Beet pulp is a controversial one, and it does seem to be used in quite large quantities in some of the 1^st Choice foods. Beet pulp is a by-product consisting of dried residue from sugar beets, and while some manufacturers claim that it is a good source of fiber, others say that it is responsible for slowing down the transition of rancid animal fats, and also causing kidney and liver problems. It does often cause allergies and ear infections in dogs, too – so you're best to choose a dog food that doesn't contain beet pulp. For extra fiber, there are lots of good quality, non-controversial products available instead!

In general, the 1^st Choice foods probably wouldn't be your “first choice” if you can afford better. They can be quite light in terms of meat content, too, but the main concern is definitely the large number of low quality and/or controversial ingredients and fillers used.

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