FAQs

Sammy enjoys a healthy and delicious diet and sharing pet food knowledge with the people and pets that eat his food. After the 2007 pet food recalls, pet owners are more concerned than ever about what to feed their four-legged family members. Let Sammy Snacks provide answers to your questions. If you don’t find the information you need on our Web site, please e-mail us at nfxfnz@fnzzlfanpxf.pbz.

  1. Why is Sammy Snacks in 33, 16.5 and 5.5 lb. bags?

    2. We maintain these sizes for consistency. Some manufacturers, instead of raising prices, reduce bag size. We think that’s misleading. At Sammy Snacks, we view you not just as a customer, but also as a friend. We work hard to keep our prices down, while also using only the best ingredients on the market. Should we need to raise prices, we won’t mislead you by reducing the size of the bag instead.

  2. How has Sammy Snacks been able to limit its price increases over the last several years?

    3. We have avoided the costly mistakes of the larger, national brands by always producing our food in the U.S. with a mill that has never had a recall in 70 years. We spend more money in testing our products, the lack of recalls avoids all the related expenses and, more importantly, maintains goodwill with our customers. Also, we pride ourselves in controlling all operational costs.

  3. Why is Sammy Snacks packaging so simple?

    4. Two reasons:

    • Sammy Snacks would rather spend the money on what is in the bag than on what is on the bag.
    • The pet food bags are a renewal resource paper. This is part of Sammy Snacks’ effort to be environmentally friendly.
  4. Here are the five nutrient groups your pet needs and why:

    5. Water is the most important nutrient of all. It is essential to life and accounts for 60%–70% of the body weight of an adult dog. In fact, a 15% loss of water could be fatal to a dog. Keep your pet’s water bowl full and consider having an additional dish around the house. The cleaner the water the better. Proteins consist of amino acids, the building blocks of a pet’s body. Amino acids are what make up muscles, hair, skin and enzymes. Since each protein has a unique mix of amino acids, proteins differ widely in their value to a pet. Generally, animal (or meat) proteins are higher quality than plant proteins. The ultimate quality of animal protein is dependent on the cut, source and type of meat. Cereal grains include protein, but they also contain starch, which can depress digestion, thereby decreasing the efficiency of the proteins from cereal itself.

    Fats play several roles. The primary role is to provide energy. One ounce of fat contains double the amount of energy found in the same amount of protein or carbohydrate. Fats are also essential in the structure of cells and required for absorption and utilization of fat-soluble vitamins. For these reasons, you never want to completely eliminate fat from your pet’s diet. If your dog is overweight, you may want to find a lower-fat food formula and increase its exercise.

    Carbohydrates that are found in pet foods usually come from sources like rice, wheat, barley, corn and oats. Carbohydrates are essential to every diet because they are an excellent source of energy. Smaller amounts of these carbohydrates are generally regarded as beneficial for proper digestion and movement of food through the digestive system. Common fiber sources include beet pulp, rice bran, wheat middling and corn bran.

    Vitamins and minerals are required for strong bones and teeth, fluid balance, and for many metabolic reactions. Because minerals and vitamins are not synthesized, they must be provided in the dog’s diet. Complete and Balanced formulas provide this function. As regulated by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), any pet food labeled Complete and Balanced must contain all vitamins and minerals essential to good health. Supplements given in addition to a complete and balanced formula could actually be harmful because the increase throws off the delicate mineral and vitamin balance already basic to a complete and balanced food source.

  5. How should I feed my pet?

    6. The hardest part of feeding pets properly is staying consistent and firm no matter how cute your pet looks when it begs.

    There are three methods for feeding:

    • Control feeding generally calls for feeding twice a day. This is the most common method of feeding because it gives the owner complete control over the pet’s diet. Puppies, lactating mothers and animals recovering from certain medical conditions sometimes require more than two meals per day.
    • Free feeding allows pets to eat when they desire by keeping their food dish filled at all times. This method is not appropriate for dogs that tend to overeat, like hounds, beagles and labs. Overeating not only causes weight gain, it causes bone diseases in larger-breed puppies when they ingest more protein and fat than their bodies actually need.
    • Timed feeding involves providing food for a specified time period, such as 30 minutes per feeding session. This is a good balance between the two previous methods in that it gives the owner some control in the diet while allowing the dog to eat at its own rate.

    The best way to determine which feeding method to use is by observing the dog. If the dog starts to become overweight, cut back on the feeding amount or times. If the dog is thin, increase the feeding amount or number of times. The amount to be fed also directly relates to the dog’s stage of life and its personal needs.

    Manufactured foods should have recommended feeding guidelines on their packaging. The proper amount to feed your dog depends on the quality and balance of ingredients. Better-quality food results in higher digestibility. Higher digestibility, in turn, results in the need for proportionately less food per feeding.

  6. What is the difference between puppy food, adult food and senior food?
    • Puppies:Puppy foods must be formulated with the appropriate protein balance needed to support healthy growing dogs. Large-breed puppies require less protein and fat than a smaller-breed dog because it takes large-breed dogs much longer to grow into their bodies. Giving a large-breed puppy a food that is too high in protein and fat can lead to long-term problems such as arthritis and hip dysplasia.
    • Adult: Adult foods must provide the appropriate balance of nutrients for general maintenance. Adult dogs require sufficient nutrients to meet energy needs and to maintain and repair body tissues. Portion sizes for healthy maintenance of adult dogs should be based on the animal’s size and energy output. Closely gauge the activity level of the dog when making amount determinations. Inactive dogs will need significantly less protein and fat in their diet. A dog recovering from surgery or suffering from a disease may have an increased nutritional requirement for healing or to fight infection. Overweight dogs need fewer energy calories and often a senior formula is a good choice for alleviating the problem.
    • Senior: Senior formulas must provide the appropriate water vs. fat content for healthy absorption of nutrients. They should also be lower in calories to mirror the dog’s drop in energy. Complete and balanced senior formulas should also contain water-soluble vitamins as opposed to fat-soluble vitamins. When fat-soluble vitamins are stored in fat that is not used for energy, the excess vitamins are potentially toxic.

    Dogs begin to show visible age-related changes when they are seven to twelve years old. Before those changes become visible, there are metabolic, immunologic and body-composition changes. Some of the changes are unavoidable. Others can be managed with diet. If dietary changes are implemented only after signs become visible, however, there is no window of opportunity left to prevent or slow those changes. This is why it is critical to monitor the age of your pet and move from a puppy to adult formula, and from an adult to a senior formula, at the appropriate stages in a dog’s life.

    Once your dog adjusts to a particular food, its digestive system — including the bacteria that live in the gastrointestinal tract — establishes a careful balance. Because different foods contain different ingredients and nutrients, too-quick a change can upset the dog’s stomach. It is important to gradually switch food formulas. You may want to mix the foods for a while, giving more and more of the new food over time.

  7. What should I look for on a pet food label (or why a 20-pound bag of dog food can cost just $5.00 at the grocery store)?

    8. Time for one of those disgusting-but-true facts: According to AAFCO, acceptable ingredients in non-premium dog food include animal lungs, spleens, kidneys, brains, liver, blood, bones, fatty tissue, stomachs and intestines. Furthermore, if an animal is diseased and declared unfit for human consumption, the carcass is still considered acceptable for pet food. Pet food can even include “stick marks” — the area of the body where animals have been injected with antibiotics, hormones or other drugs.

    If that didn’t make you cringe, this surely will: Many pet food manufacturers also are human food manufacturers. In the industry of human food manufacturing, human food stores have a daily surplus of waste that includes meats, fruits and vegetables. When these have expired according to human consumption standards, they are still acceptable for pet food standards. So, in an effort to capture as many dollars as possible in one corporate operation, many human food manufacturers use waste products to produce pet food. Manufacturers are allowed by law to use these ingredients as long as they state the contents, dehydrated food-waste, on the label. Because the food is usually unappealing in both smell and taste, manufacturers often spray it with restaurant grease to make it palatable.

    For these reasons, it’s very important to investigate not only the actual ingredients of your pet’s food, but the manufacturer’s standards and practices. For more information on manufacturers, ingredients, and policies, please refer to the Animal Protection Institute (API) report, What’s Really in Pet Food. Please note that API is an unbiased research institute interested in the health and well-being of animals. When searching any reference, be sure to check the writer’s credentials and the source and funding for the research. Not surprisingly, many articles and books on animal nutrition are published by the same pet food companies that use dehydrated food-waste in their ingredients.

    Premium pet foods typically contain higher-quality ingredients than do standard foods. Because of this, they are more nutrient dense and contain higher percentages of protein and fat. Consequently, your pet needs to eat less of a premium food because it contains the same level of nutrition found in larger amounts of non-premium foods. Premium foods also feature high-quality carbohydrate sources, such as rice, which is one of the most-digestible grains.

    The ingredients label will help you determine the actual content of the food and if that food is a premium source of nutrients. Read the list of ingredients carefully. Try to avoid these specific ingredients:

    • Corn
    • Wheat
    • Soy
    • Fillers
    • Bone meal
    • Generic animal contents
    • Chemical preservatives

    Also, be wary when the same ingredient is listed in different ways. This is called “splitting.”

  8. Why meal vs. meat?

    9. One trick other brands use to mislead consumers is to list their ingredients by weight before the food is dehydrated. This means that ingredients high on the list because they are mostly water are much lower-weight in actual content.

    Meat
    [Chicken & Lamb are 70% water and only 15% protein]
    Pet food labels found in supermarkets and other big-box stores often use the words Chicken Meat or Lamb Meat to lead you to believe that the primary ingredient in their product is meat-based. But while chicken or lamb meats are heavier than grains prior to cooking, the moisture contained in the meats (70%) is reduced by more than two-thirds after the cooking process, meaning that the formula is actually a grain-based food after processing.

    Meal
    [Chicken Meal, Duck Meal and Lamb Meal are dry and 50% to 65% protein]
    Sammy Snacks pet foods list Chicken Meal, Duck Meal or Lamb Meal as the first ingredients because each actually is the first ingredient by weight. Chicken, Duck Meal, and lamb meals are dry and less than 10% moisture and contain 50% to 65% meat proteins, so they are not reduced by the dehydration process. In processing, the meal does not shrink below the grain weight, producing a true meat-based formula for your dog.

  9. Why does Sammy Snacks food sometime have a slightly different color from bag to bag?

    10. This is because Sammy Snacks does not use any artificial coloring. The color of the all-natural ingredients that Sammy Snacks uses can vary from one production run to another.

  10. What is beet pulp?

    11. Beet pulp is one of the most misunderstood ingredients in pet food. Although not digestible, beet pulp provides nutrition for probiotics. A probiotic helps your pet digest its food and helps to provide firmness/body to your pet’s stool, resulting in the stool moving through the digestive system at a rate that encourages maximum digestibility. The old saying “too much of a good thing is bad” is true when it comes to beet pulp, which is why it’s not a major ingredient in any of Sammy Snacks formulas.