Flint River Ranch
 Top Quality Pet Foods since 1993

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is oven baking better than Extrusion process used by other pet foods?

This unique baking process changes the hard-to-digest molecules of "raw" starches into easy-to-digest dextrines.  This process acts as a "pre-digest" of the kibble food, resulting in less strain on the dog's digestive system and allowing a greater degree of food absorption.  A dog's intestinal tract is short; it functions in the most efficient manner when the food is concentrated and can be quickly digested.

Furthermore, Extruded products may cause Bloating in dogs.  Bloat is normally caused by an anomaly in the dog's physiological structure that causes food to expand on the dog's digestive system without passing through properly into the intestines.   There is no food expansion with Flint River Ranch oven-baked products. 

Try leaving your current pet's food in a bowl of water and see how much it will expand. 

What is your Meat or Protein source?

Chicken meat is our base meat source.  Lamb and a small amount of fish are also added to give a more complete array of protein. In Flint River Ranch, you will see our meats listed as Chicken Meal, Lamb Meal and Fish Meal.  There are NO rendered By-Products, such as heads, feet, neck, bones, intestines or feathers, in Flint River Ranch formulas.

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What is "Meal"?

Meal means "reduces in size" - our meal is made from fresh meat (never by-products) that is cooked; most of the water is removed and the meat reduced in size and ground.  Therefore, if a "meal" ingredient is listed in the ingredients, even after mixing and cooking, it should retain its ingredient ranking since most or all of the moisture has already been removed.

In Flint River Ranch products, you will see Chicken Meal, Lamb Meal, Fish Meal, etc.  It provides the most protein value per volume weight.  This is why our formulas are highly concentrated with quality meat proteins.    

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Why don't you use "Whole Chicken" like some other manufacturers?

Remember, the Whole Chicken is not like the chicken you buy in the grocery store.  Whole Chicken labeled for pet food is exactly that - the whole chicken, including intestines, heads, feet, bones, feather and everything else but the "cackle." - Sorry, but no thanks.

Secondly, the ingredients listing ranks each ingredient by its volume weight before it is mixed together and cooked with other ingredients.  Therefore, even if Whole Chicken or Chicken is the 1st ingredient listed, when the cooking process begins most of the water, blood and other bodily fluids are cooked out...the Result is a much lesser amount of chicken tissue which remains - that Whole Chicken will not be the predominant ingredient after cooking down.

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Why don't you say you use "Organic Chicken"?

It is possible to put one(1) chicken in 50 tons of food and legally say we use organic, range fed chicken.  Some manufacturers take this option - we don't.  While we purchase as much organic chicken as possible, we prefer to more correctly say we use human-quality chicken that is hormone free.  As with all of our ingredients, we pay a premium price for the very best. 
 

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What is your grain source ?

Our grains are purchased from major commercial (human) food-grade suppliers like General Mills, Pillsbury, etc. and USDA approved plants and mills.   Ingredients are fully tested and retested when received.  This testing insures the very best quality and reduces the possibility of (naturally occurring) toxic molds, such as Aflatoxin and Mycotoxins which are poisonous to pets and animals who ingest them. 

Many pet food manufacturers purchase their grains directly from the farms for the simple reason that it is cheaper.  These manufacturers run the risk of buying lower quality grains which are not suitable for human-quality certification, thus raising the potential for toxic mold.

Whole wheat and selected parts of the wheat berry are used as our base grain.    Wheat grains are not only more digestible than corn, it is one of the most nutritionally balanced cereal grains.    It is an easy-to-digest source of carbohydrates, fiber and energy.  Low quality fillers like wood fiber, corn cobs, peanut hulls, cottonseed, straw, soy beans or citrus pulp are not found in Flint River Ranch products.

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What are Chelated Minerals?

Our minerals are Chelated (pronounced kee-lay-ted); minerals which are bonded or coated with amino acids for better metabolic absorption compared to regular inorganic minerals found in most pet foods.
 

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