A PowerBar for dogs?

November 12, 4:08 PMDC Pet Care ExaminerErin Paquette

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Have they finally created a PowerBar for dogs? Is it safe to give to your dog?

While we usually give a cursory glance over the pet ads that come in the mail, most of them don’t leave a significant impression and wind up in the recycling bin. But the other day we received an advertisement for a product called WholeMeals that caused us to feel intrigued.

From everything we can gather, WholeMeals bars are like PowerBars for dogs, with the manufacturer claiming that “WholeMeals offers 100% complete and balanced nutrition for adult dogs.” Essentially, you feed your dog a WholeMeals bar --an object that resembles a marrowbone -- and it’s supposed to take the place of one of their regular meals.

But that led me to wonder -- like a human living off of nothing but PowerBars for the rest of their life, would a dog living off of nothing but WholeMeals bars for the rest of their life be very healthy? With each WholeMeals bar costing around $2, I also thought that the price was a bit low to live up to the promise of “complete and balanced nutrition” for dogs.

To find the answer, I decided to do a little digging into the ingredients listed in a single WholeMeals bar. According to the product description on Petco.com, a single WholeMeals bar contains the following:
 

• Rice Flour
• Chicken By-Product Meal (a natural source of Glucosamine and Chondroitin)
• Meat Broth
• Wheat flour
• Glycerin
• Corn Gluten Meal
• Corn Flour
• Vegetable Oil (source of Omega 6 Fatty Acid)
• Soy Protein Isolate
• Propylene Glycol
• Wheat Gluten
• Cellulose Powder
• Potassium Chloride
• Sodium Tripolyphosphate
• Malted Barley
• Calcium Carbonate
• Dried Peas
• Salt
• Potassium Sorbate (a preservative)
• Vitamins (Choline Chloride, dI-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate [source of Vitamin E])
• L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate [source of Vitamin C]
• Riboflavin Supplement [Vitamin B2]
• Vitamin A Supplement
• Vitamin D3 Supplement
• d-Calcium Pantothenate
• Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1]
• Vitamin B12 Supplement
• Biotin
• Dried Carrots
• Minerals (Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide) 
   

If your eyes glazed over about halfway through the list, you’re not alone -- that’s a lot of ingredients for just one WholeMeals bar. But more important than how many ingredients are in a WholeMeals bar is whether or not they are the right ingredients for providing adequate nutrition for your dog.

According to PetEducation.com, one of the most important things that you can include in your dog’s diet is protein. According to the site, proteins “are the building blocks in animal nutrition” and therefore should be your first priority when considering nutrition for your dog. So where does the WholeMeals bar fit into this, and how does its ingredients stack up?

According to the doctors on PetEducation.com, the ingredients in a WholeMeals bar can be considered okay, but not great. While WholeMeals bars boast over a dozen different kinds of vitamins and supplements, they are missing a significant amount of protein. While Chicken By-Product -- the primary source of protein in a WholeMeals bar -- is considered an “acceptable” source of protein for dogs, it is not enough to promote optimal health. 

To get a better idea of how much protein your dog needs, look at the chart below:

In the end, we won’t be feeding any of the dogs in our life WholeMeals bars in place of their normal meals, but a WholeMeals bar might be a nice change of pace for your dog a few times a month.

Reader Response: What do you think? Do you think that it’s right to feed your dog a WholeMeals bar in place of their normal food? Leave a comment below to add to the discussion.

To visit the official WholeMeals site, click here. To look at some of the debates about WholeMeals, please click here.