BOOKS: The Pet Professional’s Comparative Reference Guide To Premium Dry Dog Food
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1995:
The Pet Professional’s Comparative Reference Guide To Premium
Dry Dog Food, by Howard D. Coffman. PigDog Press (427-3 Amherst St.,
Suite 331, Nashua, NH 03063-1258), 1994. Looseleaf. $54 includes shipping.
If you want a shopping cart hand-
book to tell you what to feed your pet, The
Pet Professional’s Comparative Reference
Guide To Premium Dry Dog Food may not
serve your purpose: Howard D. Coffman
avoids value judgements. If you have a pro-
fessional interest in dog nutrition, however,
you may find it indispensible. For instance, it
tells which leading dog food derives most of
its fat content from sunflower oil rather than
the ingredients that provide its name and fla-
vor. It tells which brands include the contro-
versial preservative ethoxyquin. It provides
the Association of American Feed Control
Officials’ definitions of every common dog
food ingredient. It makes assessing offal con-
tent possible––and it refutes the rumor that
certain brands of kibble popular with most
dogs are really just pelletized cat poop.
“I could be described as a computer
professional,” Coffman says of himself.
“You will be surprised to learn that I have
never owned a dog. This gives me an unusual
qualification and advantage: I am unbiased.
I started this project while researching a busi-
ness opportunity. All data was obtained from
publicly available sources. Each manufactur-
er was sent their respective information and
asked to review the material for accuracy and
to provide any missing data. If data is miss-
ing it is because the respective manufacturer
chose not to provide it.”
Readers may draw their own con-
clusions about brands for which data was
withheld.
