Ol’ Roy Dog Food Review

Ol' Roy dog food is the brand sold at Wal-Mart but sometimes shows up in dollar stores, grocery stores close to Wal-Marts and thrift shops. The brand was named after the dog of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. It's highly unlikely that the original Ol' Roy ever ate this food, which is a good thing, because the food lacks canine nutritional requirements or decent ingredients.

More Than Junk Food for Dogs

If there could be any rank lower than junk food, Ol' Roy would be it. Perhaps "rotting garbage" would be a better description than "junk food." In a comprehensive review by The Whole Dog Journal (the "Consumer's Digest" for dog products), Ol' Roy was given the lowest possible rating. Over at HappyPetDog.com, a dog product rating site, Ol' Roy was also slammed every day dog owners to animal shelter workers.

Why was it so slammed? Because of the cheap ingredients, including plenty of artificial ingredients, corn syrup, other forms of sugars, water and preservatives. Many dogs suffer from food allergies to these ingredients. Many dogs also suffer from obesity, which is what a dog will become if the main bulk of their diet is Ol' Roy.

Questionable Protein Sources

Regulations supervising the pet food industry are notoriously lax and hard to understand. In America, the pet food industry is regulated by the American Association of Feed Control Officials, Inc (or the AAFCO.) Despite pictures of fresh meat and vegetables on a dog food bag's cover, the actual food may contain less than 2 percent of those ingredients. Many pet foods, like Ol' Roy use meat meal and bone meal as their main sources of protein.

Just what are they? These are basically the floor sweepings from the slaughterhouse floor, made into a soup and then cooked to either place in a can or cooked to harden into kibble. According to the AAFCO, meat and bone meal can include bones, manure, whatever's in the intestines, hair, hide, horns, hooves and any other bodily tissues.

Will a Dog Eat It?

Dogs are not too discriminating when it comes to food. They will eat Ol' Roy because it's so loaded with sugar, salt and artificial preservatives. It's the same as children and Twinkies. They may love eating Twinkies every day, but they're bodies sure won't. Junk dog food like Ol' Roy tends to not have anything nutritious to digest, so it fills up the dog's stomach and then comes out rather quickly. Dogs eating cheap foods like Ol' Roy will poop a lot more than dogs eating far more nutritious foods like Halo.

Ol' Roy should only be given to dogs if there is no other food available. But even cooking the dog a chicken breast and brown rice is going to give better nutrition than this.

References

"Guide to Feeding Your Dog." Nency Herns, et al. The Whole Dog Journal. Belvoir Media Group; 2009.

"Dog Food Ingredient Definitions." Top Dog Foods for Total Wellness. Belvoir Media Group; 2008.