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I was amazed to see the Beneful ad for the above product!  Avocado, as far as I know, shouldn't be given to dogs at all.  Still curious, I looked at the ingredient list, and here's the first few items:

Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), rice flour, chicken, soy flour, water

Meat (chicken) is sure way down the list!  Looks like an exceptionally yucky dog food.

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Sounds really bad indeed. Here's what the ASPCA site says about avocados:

Avocado

Avocados are toxic to a number of animals, including horses, rabbits, fish and mice. The toxic effects are due to the compound persin, an oil-soluble toxin found in specialized cells (idioblasts) within the avocado fruit, as well as in its skin. In some animals, persin causes damage to the heart muscle cells, leading to heart failure. In other species, it causes an inflammation of the mammary glands.

The toxicity of avocado to dogs is under question. Although one case report indicated that two dogs developed fatal heart failure after ingesting a “large amount” of avocados, most dogs who eat avocado suffer no serious injury. However, until the susceptibility of dogs to persin is further investigated, it’s safest to avoid feeding avocado to your dog.

There probably isn't much avocado in the "accent," and I'm sure they're playing on the idea of avocado being good for a shiny coat, but they have to know about the ASPCA information, so they're being irresponsible.  Of course, that's evident from the ingredients.

Beneful is the lowest of the low, with or without avocado. But there's an even bigger problem with it than avocado, corn gluten, by-products, etc. Beneful is one of the few foods that still contains a synthetic form of vitamin K called menadione sodium bisulfate, which is a very dangerous substance. From the Dog Food Project:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=menadione

 

Here's a link to a discussion we had about avocado, including F's info below:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/fast-qu...

 

 

Wow.  Why would Beneful add such dangerous ingredients?  They could just leave the K and avocado out.  This really makes me angry.

Vitamin K is essential, and the synthetic form is cheaper. That's why they use it. It was very common in the "big dog food" brands until just recently; now, most of them have stopped using it. Onyl the really junkiest dog foods still contain it.

But even without it, the rest of the ingredients in Beneful are pure garbage.

Here's some info on avocados for dogs from the Avoderm Dog Food website:

SAFETY You can feel quite confident in AvoDerm® pet products safety and nutritional value.  In the over 30 years since Breeder’s Choice first introduced this product line, millions of dogs and cats worldwide have consumed  AvoDerm® with no negative reactions from avocado oil or meal.

AvoDerm® pet products use only carefully selected suppliers of avocado meal and avocado oil. Years of problem-free consumption of these products indicate that AvoDerm products are not only safe for dogs and cats, but also provide vital nutrients for them.

Concern has been expressed by the ASPCA   about the consumption of the leaves, fruit, bark, and stems from the avocado tree, with the exception of the avocado fruit which is used for the oil and meal; none of these parts are factors in any of the AvoDerm® pet products formulations and we have no indication that avocado oil and meal as used in AvoDerm®....

Dr. Art Craigmill, UC Davis, Professor and Extension Specialist in Environmental Toxicology has said that his studies and other research in the United States and Australia have shown that the problem of toxicity is in the leaves and the pit of the Guatemalan variety; the avocado meat of the fruit and oils have not been shown to be toxic. AvoDerm pet products do not utilize any Guatemalan variety avocados, nor do we use any leaves or pits of any variety of avocados for our avocado meal and oil.

The avocado meal and oil used in the AvoDerm pet products comes from the meat of the fruit and does not contain leaves, bark, skin or pit of the fruit.  The oil is extracted from ripened fruit in which the meat pulp has been separated from the skin and the pit. Through a mechanical separation process the oil is extracted and filtered and placed into sealed containers. The pulp of the fruit is dried, ground, and screened before being placed into its final packaging and than shipped to our facility.

Dr. Guy Whitney, Director of Industry Affairs and Research of the California Avocado Commission, has stated: “...in California there are around 7,000 family farmers who grow avocados and almost every one has dogs that actively seek out fruit that has fallen from the trees to snack on.  The happy, well-filled out and shiny-coated orchard dog is a familiar sight to anyone in this industry and we have NEVER had a report of a family orchard dog getting sick from eating avocados.  Also, the US Forest Service and UC Santa Barbara are about to publish a paper on the importance of avocado orchards in California to sustaining carnivore populations (bears, coyotes, mountain lions, foxes and small cats) during drought conditions.  All of these animals are known to eat the protein and nutrient rich fruit that has fallen from the trees.  Now birds are a different creature and it IS known that avocados are toxic to birds.  Avocado leaves are known to be toxic to horses.  Avocado seeds (pits) are NOT edible and are toxic to animals.”

http://www.avodermnatural.com/About/why_avocados.htm

Interesting information.  My dog isn't an avocado orchard dog and might not process avocado as successfully as the local animals noted in the report.  Apparently the orchard dogs never eat the pits...

Exceptionally yucky...  love it!  The avocado is a moot point, the remaining ingredients are trash as you have noted.  Yuck indeed!

 

Trash and yuck---that's some bad stuff.  :) 

Sounds disgusting.

Practically everything in Beneful is on the Dog Food Project's List of Ingredients to Avoid:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients

 

Everything in bold is on the list of bad ingredients.

 

INGREDIENTS                     Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), rice flour, chicken, soy flour, water, propylene glycol, sugar, tricalcium phosphate, salt, phosphoric acid, animal digest, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, sorbic acid (a preservative), dried carrots, dried tomatoes, avocado, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, added color (Yellow 5, Red, 40, Blue 2, Yellow 6), Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium carbonate, copper sulfate, Vitamin B-12 supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.

(And of course, IMO, the corn and wheat are horrible, too.)

Now that's just shocking!  

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