# Boreal Dog Food



## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

http://borealpetfood.com

Anyone have any experience, good or bad? It's Canadian made and sourced from what my research tells me and the ingredients look good. Yes there are peas instead of potatoes but my dogs have handled them before without issue. My dogs do seem to do better without grain in their kibble 

I currently rotate both of my dogs through the grain free varieties of Fromm Four Star and my dogs are doing fantastic on it. No complaints but at $93.99 a bag which lasts one month it is not cheap. The three flavours of Boreal run between $64.99 to $70 a bag so a little cheaper

I bought a bag of the turkey to try. Offered both dogs a kibble and they ate it out of my hand and ate it without fuss when I put it in the dinner. So we will see what happens


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## spacenuts (May 30, 2013)

I have tried both the Lamb and Salmon. I don't know why, but I can't remember what happened with the Lamb.

I recently did the Salmon - I got "not bad" results and for me, this means what did my dogs stool look like. He still pooed alot like he does on Orijen and Acana. Also, I don't think his stools were any smaller. But $73.99/bag is alot less than $90/bag for Orijen Regional Red.

What concerned me about the Salmon was there was "Fish Digest" listed on the bag. Isn't that bad? For this reason only, I would never buy it again.

However.....just went to their website, it appears that "Fish Digest" is off the ingredient list but now they have "natural salmon flavour" added. Weird.

Also, if you look at their ingredient list here:
Boréal Pet Food | Dog Food

It has different ingredients than listed here:
http://borealpetfood.com/Pamphlet-Boreal.pdf

That's a big oops on their part and as you will notice in the second link, all of their flavours have "Chicken Digest" listed!

Strange. Makes me skeptical.


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## VanLee (Sep 6, 2014)

Natural Salmon Flavor and Fish Digest are the same thing but there is nothing wrong with it. It is just the fish broken down with natural enzymes until it is pure amino acids. Your dog's body does the same thing when it eats fish.

Pea Protein doesn't seem to bother people and that is the same thing but its made with peas.


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## Debanneball (Aug 28, 2014)

What size is the kibble pieces? Fritz seems to cough up little ones, so I need to find a good adult food with larger pieces. I used to feed Stella Royal Canin GS, it was large kibble... Doing my research now.


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

They're a 'normal' kibble size to me, about the size of a small marble. My poodle eats them fine, though I do soak for a minute or two before feeding as normal. 

Delgado used to gag a bit when eating the tiny Fromm kibble but adding water slowed him down and he hasn't had a problem since.

So far I'm up to a 50/50 ratio, Delgado is showing signs of eye boogers though for the last two days. Not sure if it's due to the cold weather or the new food but I'm watching him closely :crazy: No sign of infection or redness. Otherwise no changes in either dog 

Both dogs have been ok on kibbles that have potato or pea.

Supporting a local company and the price tag is my major plus in switching.


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## spacenuts (May 30, 2013)

VanLee said:


> Natural Salmon Flavor and Fish Digest are the same thing but there is nothing wrong with it.


I was told anything "Animal Digest" was unfit for human consumption such as road kill, diseased animals, euthanized pets, etc.


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## spacenuts (May 30, 2013)

Debanneball said:


> What size is the kibble pieces?


Same as Orijen and Acana.

Royal Canin GS kibble are by far the biggest kibbles I've ever seen. I think they are the only ones that make their kibble that insanely large.

I'd be too scared to feed Fromm to a large breed dog. Those kibbles are just so small.


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## VanLee (Sep 6, 2014)

spacenuts said:


> I was told anything "Animal Digest" was unfit for human consumption such as road kill, diseased animals, euthanized pets, etc.


Who told you that? Unfortunately you have to be careful nowadays with what you read. Digested protein is just a process as you can take a piece of filet mignon and make beef digest.

The source of a lot of misinformation is DogFoodAdvisor.


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

spacenuts said:


> I was told anything "Animal Digest" was unfit for human consumption such as road kill, diseased animals, euthanized pets, etc.


I had this reference in one of my files: 

FDA Statement: Appendix - Dog Food Samples Used in CVM Pentobarbital Surveys and Analytical Results

Quote: "There appear to be associations between rendered or hydrolyzed ingredients and the presence of pentobarbital in dog food. The ingredients Meat and Bone Meal (MBM), Beef and Bone Meal (BBM), Animal Fat (AF), and Animal Digest (AD) are rendered or hydrolyzed from animal sources that could include euthanized animals."


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Momto2GSDs said:


> I had this reference in one of my files:
> 
> FDA Statement: Appendix - Dog Food Samples Used in CVM Pentobarbital Surveys and Analytical Results
> 
> Quote: "There appear to be associations between rendered or hydrolyzed ingredients and the presence of pentobarbital in dog food. The ingredients Meat and Bone Meal (MBM), Beef and Bone Meal (BBM), Animal Fat (AF), and Animal Digest (AD) are rendered or hydrolyzed from animal sources that could include euthanized animals."


Honestly I really dislike studies like this, it really seems more like a scare tactic than real science. The wording they use alone makes me shake my head. Not to mention if you look at the quality of the dog foods they're testing, well that says a lot too. Look at the source where the ingredients are coming from, rather than what the ingredient is

JMO of course, I'm not entirely discounting it.


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Well no more eye boogers for Delgado, just the once so maybe it was a fluke :shrug: Both dogs are doing really well on the 50/50 mix so far


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## spacenuts (May 30, 2013)

VanLee said:


> Who told you that? Unfortunately you have to be careful nowadays with what you read. Digested protein is just a process as you can take a piece of filet mignon and make beef digest.


By someone I purchased a RAW Feeding Consultation from. They had a statement in their e-Book about "Animal Digest" that it could be from roadkill or euthanized pets.

If that's true, I'm absolutely appalled that someone would put that into dog food and not feel guilty about doing so!

If it's not true, then Boreal should end up being a really popular dog food. It's a great price for the quality and it's Canadian made.


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## Saphire (Apr 1, 2005)

Meat Digest, Fish Digest, Poultry By-Product Meal, Meat Meal and Bone. Alot of food companies buy the "digest" or "Meal" from rendering plants. Good luck trying to prove or track what has been used to produce the end product "Meals or Digest". There are videos all over the internet showing rendering plants using dead dogs and cats to produce "Meal". How can you know for sure what was used to make the "meal" in your dog food kibble?

There are so many unknowns, I am relieved I feed RAW and know exactly what my dog is getting and from where. I really don't envy those who cannot and are seeking good dog food kibble these days.


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## VanLee (Sep 6, 2014)

Unfortunately, many people just don't like the name "digest" so they assume the worst. Information on the internet is very unreliable.

The process of making of "digest" is applied to all kinds of foods and many are used for people in human grade applications. The most digestible proteins in the world are "digest" whether they are made from plant sources or animal sources.

I will give you another example, "brewers yeast". Most people assume that this supplement is refuse and recovered from breweries and put into food but that isn't true at all. "Brewers Yeast" is actually cultivated specifically for use as a food ingredient and not recycled from breweries.

There are lots of double standards, when companies like Fromm use "pea digest" or "pea protein" it is perfectly fine. I guess people have visions of bowls of bright green peas but I can assure you that is not what that ingredient is made of.

The other I like are "potato free" claims. Tapioca is better?


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