Dog Food Ingredient Secrets
I have spoken often about how imperative it is for every dog owner to know the ingredients in every bit of processed dog food they are buying to feed their dog, or any pets, for that matter. In this day and age of the corporate “bottom line” of greedy stockholders, every dog owner needs to become educated as to what the dog food ingredients are, that are listed on the packaging labels of dog food. Because there is very little legislation governing the quality of dog food ingredients, the “almighty dollar” is much more powerful than the lives of our pets.
Every dog owner needs to learn what the terms really mean that are being printed on those labels so that they know what to look for when they are out shopping for nutritional dog food products to feed their dogs.
We all love our pets and want the best for them. We want them to have beautiful shiny coats, pink gums, sweet breath, and to protect them from illness and harm. We treasure their existence and in so many cases, either couldn’t live without them or would be devastated trying to, in the case of loss. Insuring that they are fed a healthy diet to not only maintain their health, but to also prolong their lives, has become a major concern as we discover more and more how the dog food companies are blatantly lying to us.
Something that many pet owners are unaware of, is how the ingredients can, by law, be listed. When reading the list of ingredients, the dog food should not contain any of these five ingredients:
1. Animal fat
2. Meat by-products and bone meal
3. Fish by-products
4. Liver meal
5. Poultry fat or poultry by-products
I know these ingredients sound harmless and they are meant to. They’ve been carefully named to fool the consumer. Any time you see a generic term such as the above, the red flags should go off in your head.
You do not want to buy any food with these generic term. The ingredients must specify what type of animal that the “by-product” or “meal” is coming from. It must specifically state:
Beef, lamb, chicken, duck, turkey, bison (or buffalo), tuna, shod, cod or whatever the type of meat the product comes from.
Why shouldn’t the generic terms be used?
Because they can, by law, contain practically anything from bird feathers to horse hooves, from rotting road kill to euthanized animal shelter animals, from diseased zoo animals to euthanized animals from your vets office.
Answer to ” Dog Food Ingredient Secrets”
High Quality Dog Food vs. Poor Quality Dog Food
High quality dog foods should contain the following:
Sources of protein, that are either whole fresh meats or single source meat meal such as chicken meal rather than poultry meal. I know they sound the same but they are not. Be wary of generic terms for meat.
On packaged dog foods, a whole-meat source should be the first two ingredients, such as beef, lamb or chicken.
Whole, unprocessed grains, vegetables, and other foods, such as brown rice and not fillers such as brown rice hulls. See the difference?
Very little nutrients and enzymes, if any at all, can be found in processed dog foods. To find out exactly what nutrients your dog needs read Healthy Dog Food Diet.
Poor quality dog foods will contain the following:
Corn is the number one ingredient in most low quality dog food. Corn is a low cost filler and nothing more. Dogs have a very difficult time digesting corn and there is no nutrition value in it for your dog.
Meat by products are not whole meats. They are a boiled down goop of animal body parts that are processed into soft dog food or dried and turned into kibble. To learn more about the processing cycle read Are You Poisoning Your Dog? Any food that contains meat by-products as the MAIN source of protein is indicative of a low-quality product, that can be the cause of disease in your animals.
Dogs do need some fat in their diets, but you should avoid feeding them any food that contain fats or proteins that are named generically such as animal fat or poultry fat instead of beef, chicken or lamb fat. Again, the specific name of the type of animal fat is the key here. Avoid the generic terms of animal or poultry meal or by-products.
Artificial preservatives such as BHA, BHT, and ethioxyquin are found in most low cost dog foods to preserve the shelf life. If your dog food can be left on a shelf for several years without turning rancid, then it contains these chemicals. In animals, ethioxyquin (EQ) has been linked to immune deficiency syndrome; spleen, stomach, and liver cancers; and a host of skin allergies
Artificial colors are added to dog food to appease you, the human owner, not the dog. Dogs are color blind and could careless what color their food is. Artificial colors are not good for you or your dog.
Sugars such as corn syrup, sucrose, fructose, cane syrup, or ammoniated glycyrrhizin, to name only a few of the names to disguise sugar, are added to improve unappealing food. Obesity and tooth decay are only two of the problems that too much sugar causes.
Propylene glycol is a toxic substance, when consumed in large amounts like daily feedings, and is added into the goop at the processing plants to give a moist appearance and texture to the “chewy” dog foods.
I can never stress enough to research and learn what the ingredients in your dog food mean and to read your dog food labels. By educating yourself, you may find out what the causes of your dogs illnesses are and be able to cure you pup yourself without the help of the medicines from the vet.
Just by the simple action on your part, of changing you dogs food from an over processed, full of chemicals food, to the nutritious food he needs can eliminate many of the disease, allergies and common ailments that dogs face in todays over processed world.
Is Pedigree Dog Food Good For My Dog?
Pedigree Dog food is another food to avoid feeding your dogs. They claim that their Mealtime With Lamb and Rice is “nutritionally complete and highly digestible food formulated for the growth and maintenance of dogs. This product contains real lamb meat not lamb meal and has no artificial colors or soy.” Listed below are the ingredients for this particular flavor.
Ground Corn
Chicken By-Product Meal
Ground Wheat
Animal Fat(Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols, source of Vitamin E)
Lamb, Rice, Natural Poultry Flavour
Salt
Dried Egg Product
Potasium Chloride
Titanium Dioxide
Sunflower Oil (source of Linoleic Acid)
Take notice that the lamb and rice are the 5th ingredient, not the first. We already know that dogs have a very difficult time digesting corn and corn is the first ingredient. The second ingredient is chicken by-product meal which you already know if you have read “Are you Poisoning Your Dog?” can be anything from euthanized pets to bone, feathers, and beaks among a multitude of other grotesque animal parts.
I have discovered that many guide dog schools are recommending this food to their students because Pedigree is donating free food for the dogs in exchange for the recommendations. They also give discounts to the students. This again is another reason to read your labels before buying food for your dog, no matter who recommends it.
Keep in mind that no matter what commercial food you do decide on, it is important to supplement the diet with raw and homemade food.
Answer to “Is Pedigree Dog Food Good For My Dog”
What Is A Healthy Dog Food Diet?
In order to provide your pet with a healthy dog food diet it is important to understand the nutritional needs of your dog . Every dog breed is different in the amount of feedings that are considered to be necessary. Your dogs lifestyle, age, medical condition and activity level are all factors to consider in the amount of food to feed, however, all dogs are basically the same when it comes to nutritional requirements.
Your dog’s body, just like your own, is made up of cells, and like all living creatures, these cells need nutrients to function properly. These nutrients include a combination of proteins, consisting of essential amino acids, carbohydrates, fiber, fats, vitamins, minerals and lots of water. A healthy dog food diet needs a combination of these nutrients, in balanced proportions, to provide the calories that are needed to fuel their daily energy needs for growth and activity.
Answer to ” What Is A Healthy Dog Food Diet?”
Are Commercial Dog Food Manufacturers Wising Up?
First, let me tell you that I order my pet food for both my dogs and cats online and have it delivered to my door. I alternate the commercial food that I purchase with a raw and homemade diet. My pets diets vary with the different animals and their individual circumstances.
This weekend I went out to a local pet food store to see if anything had changed over the last year. With all of the media attention dog food has had, I wanted to find out if any of the manufacturers had wised up and changed their ingredients and/or formulas.
These are the results that I found in my area of upstate New York. Keep in mind that these results came from one national pet supply chain. I did not visit any of the local “pet health food stores”.
Answer to “Are Commercial Dog Food Manufacturers Wising Up?”
Knowing Your Dog Food Ingredients
The first thing that you must be made aware of is that not all dog food is created equal. And I repeat, “Not All Dog Food Is Created Equal”. “Well, Duh! That’s pretty much obvious”, you think.
You are already aware of the multitude of choices when you walk into the Pet Store. There are bags and cans of dog food in every color, weight and size under the sun, all screaming, “Buy Me! Buy Me! Buy Me!”
There is food for puppies, food for senior dogs, food for working dogs, food for show dogs, pedigree food, food for indoor dogs and food for outdoor dogs. They have food for couch potato dogs and food for hyperactive dogs. There is diabetic food and kidney problem food, skin allergy food and gum disease food. There is organic food, holistic food and all natural food. There is chemical free, preservative free, there is 100% meat and 100 % meat free. Meat free? There is vegetarian and vegan, dairy free and lactose free. Are you confused enough? Well, it just gets worse.
Are You Poisoning Your Dog? No? Before we go any further, you must learn what the actual ingredients are in that huge bag of food that you just bought Bruno and that fancy little can of pedigree food you just purchased for FiFi.
Answer To: “Knowing Your Dog Food Ingredients”
