This slow baking process changes the “raw” starches from hard to digest raw ingredients into easily digestible dextrines. Because the food is processed this way, the vitamins, minerals and ingredients are much more readily absorbed and assimilated

Oven Baked vs. Extruded Pet Food: To begin, there is nothing “wrong” per se with conventional, mass produced, “extruded” dog food. Many generations of dogs have eaten this type of product. However, extrusion entails taking the raw materials and very quickly (3-5 minutes) applying significant amounts of steam to rapidly “cook” the product and then force at tremendous pressure through a die plate to achieve the fun shapes that extruded pet foods come in. The resulting product, while edible, is often light, full of air pockets and can require chemical preservatives like BHT/BHA. Oven Baked dog food is a much slower method whereby the starches are “cooked” over a much longer period of time, about 10 times longer than steam extrusion!

Digestibility: As explained above, because Nature’s Menu is slow baked, our “cook”, which is a terms used to refer to how well starches are processed, is extremely high. On the standard scale of 1 to 100, Nature’s Menu is always above 90 and usually at 94-95. By comparison, many high end super premium extruded foods are in the mid-80’s and grocery type brands are often in the high 70’s. The result of our careful baking method is a product with a high caloric density of 587 Kcal/cup. This means you can feed less to achieve the same benefits as other brands because your dog is getting a concentrated, easily digested food.

Chelated Minerals: Nature’s Menu utilizes chelated minerals. A mineral proteinate, as used in Nature’s Menu, is a mineral that has been “bonded” or chelated to amino acids. This bonding enhances the availability of the minerals by ensuring the mineral is delivered to the sites of absorption in the small intestine with minimal interference that can occur with non-proteinated minerals.

Direct Fed Microbials (DFMs): DFMs are “healthy bacteria” which provide a myriad of benefits to pets (as well as humans). If these bacteria are not present in sufficient amounts many negative things can happen; diarrhea, constipation, increased fecal odor and many other issues. By adding DFM’s, and not destroying them through extreme temperature by steam extrusion, your dog is aided in maintaining a healthy digestive system.
Soluble Fibers: Working in conjunction with the DFMs is a special blend of soluble and moderately soluble fibers that encourage the growth of “good” bacteria in the intestine. Nature’s Menu uses fructoolligosaccarides (FOS) and beet pulp to help maintain a healthy intestinal flora. FOS, a highly soluble, fermentable fiber and beet pulp, a moderately soluble, fermentable fiber (unlike alternate fiber sources like citrus pulp or tomato pomace) are easily fermented by the healthy bacteria present in the intestine. The result is short-chain fatty acids which inhibit the the growth of detrimental bacteria and provides readily usable energy to the GI cells while helping bolster the immune system. Tomato pomace, while a good fiber source, does not promote the same short-chain fatty acid production or aid as effectively in intestinal cell wall health. Beet pulp also reduces overall stool volume, aids in stool firmness and equally important there is no scientific data that it promotes gastric dialation.