The Secret Life Of Bob-O (Part 1) - Page 1

Hello everyone-I guess I have your attention with the title of this post. A few of you here have met me or know me personally. And many of you have concerns as to what is in the food that you feed your dogs. Well, suffice it to say that Bob nowadays has a clue. This short post is not meant to be a kiss-and-tell, and I will not name names. Don't even ask. Let me just say that it does not involve the production of dog food that costs more than $0.25/pound. I think that most of us feed a kibble that costs at least $0.75/pound, and often $1.00/pound or slightly more.

I was employed as a chief engineer for many years until an employment buyout (yes, a nice, polished quasi-legal way to fire a bunch of greybeards) and my wife, being a Tennessee woman, wanted to return to her home state. So, I moved everything including the dogs during the summer of 2006. I came to Tennessee during September 2006 and started pounding the pavement for a job. It was the beginning of the fourth business quarter, and no one hires anyone in that part of the cycle. So, I am not too good to do anything (can't be if you love dogs) so the only job quickly available was for a position as a second-shift electricain/mechanic in a local dog food manufacturing plant. I know what you may be saying, but hey, I am a MAN and I needed a job.

I spent seven (7) months in this operation, and while I had absolutely no imvolvement or knowledge of the exact recipes of eat dog or cat food, I did observe several interesting things. Meat meal (cooked entrails and scraps from the slaughterhouse that are finely ground afterwards) and other nutrients are sourced and delivered in two-thousand (2,000) pound bags. The calcium additive is derived from finely-ground Tennessee limestone. Yes, read that again if you need to, as I was surprised when I saw it. The great majority of the food however comprised of yellow corn (I never knew there was that much corn in the world!), sometmes with a rice or wheat middlings addition. We know that dogs can derive a tiny bit of nutreints from grains, but for the most part they are not digestable. So, after the kibble is dryed it passed through a spraying system where a mixture of synthetic digestive enzymes are sprayed on it. This is followed by a sprayed coating of tallow. The pungent odor of this kibble comes not from the corn, the meat meal, or the other additives. It comes from the digestive enzymes. These assist the digestive system of the dog as they help digest what the dog cannot.

 By the way, kudos to you for being willng to take a job/ any job.