What is ash and what can it do to them? I don't know what to feed anymore. I have been through everything and they seem to be getting pickier. They love solid Gold Barking at the moon and TOTW but now I am scared of the Diamond products.
A lot of times, the higher the ash, the lower quality the meat. I have a slight feeling most of the protein in this food is not coming from the meat... And high ash does nothing for a dog except be taxing on their kidneys (trying to get rid of something not needed in their body). May or may not harm the dog... but I don't think I'm willing to take a chance. Your paying all that money for a LOT of ash (aka minerals not needed).
Here is a little about ash:
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosing-dog-food/dog-food-ash/
Generally, anything with calcium and phosphorus levels over 1.5% should be of concern and can possibly mean ash is going to be high. AAFCO states that a 1.6% MAXIMUM phosphorus level is the requirement. So if a food has "1.5% MINIMUM" I'd be very concerned. "Ash" is not typically on a dog food label. You have to e-mail the company and ask.... but some do list it (such as Fromm, so does Natura - Innova, EVO, etc). I think it should be a requirement on the label but I guess most people don't pay attention to it (I never did before).
EB Primitive Natural is extremely high in ash (12%) and I would never feed it long-term personally. Makes you question the quality of meats being used as well. I don't think kidney damage is something to mess around with. Now, excess phosphorus most likely won't affect healthy dogs at all, however there is no guarantee that a dog will remain having healthy kidneys for all of its life... and most dogs will appear normal and have normal labs in the beginning of renal disease. It's not until the dog has lost 75% of kidney function that lab values even begin to elevate. So I just feel like why over-do phosphorus/ash, it's not really necessary and will most likely do more harm than good.