Reading Your Dog Food Bag
The ingredient list is a major key to what’s truly in that bag or can. Ingredients must be listed in descending order of weight (before processing). Sadly, the “before processing” piece of this rule, gives dog food manufacturers a loophole to make their dog food appear better quality than they really are. For example they may use a higher quality ingredient in a high moisture composition, and the substandard ingredients in dehydrated form. In this way, the high moisture ingredient will appear on the label before the more plentiful dehydrated content.
Meat: Dogs are carnivores, and do best on a meat-based diet. The protein utilized in pet food comes out of a variety of sources. When cattle, swine, chickens, lambs, or other animals are slaughtered, lean muscle tissue is trimmed away from the body for human consumption, together with the few organs that people like to eat, this includes tongues and tripe. About 50% of each food animal doesn’t get utilized in human foods. Whatever remains of the body — heads, feet, bones, blood, guts, lungs, spleens, livers, ligaments, fat trimmings, and other parts not often consumed by humans — is used in pet food, animal feed, manure, lubricants, soap, rubber, and other products. These “other parts” are known as “by-products.” By-products are used in feed for birds and stock as well as in pet food. Avoid the word “by-product” of any sort regardless of what its source is, named or not!
Meal: Meat meals, turkey meals, by-product meals, and meat-and-bone meal are common ingredients in dry pet foods. The term “meal” means these materials are not used fresh, but have been rendered. While there are chicken, turkey, and chicken by-product meals there is no equivalent term for mammal “meat byproduct meal” — it is called “meat-and-bone-meal.” It may also be referred to by species, such as “beef-and-bone-meal” or “pork-and-bone-meal.” Avoid dog food with the words “meat” or “meat meal” listed without a specific animal identified.
Grains: The volume of grain and vegetable products used in pet food has risen significantly over a period of time. Plant products now replace a substantial proportion of the meat that was employed in the earliest commercial pet foods. Most dry foods contain a large volume of cereal grain or starchy vegetables to provide texture. These high carbohydrate plant products also provide a cheap source of “energy”, what the remainder of us call “calories.” Gluten meals are calorie-laden extracts from which almost all of the carbohydrate has been removed. They are frequently used to increase protein proportions without pricey animal-source ingredients. Corn gluten meal is the most commonly used for this purpose. Wheat gluten is also used to form shapes like cuts, bites, pieces, shreds, flakes, and slices, and as a thickener for gravy. Mostly, foods containing grain proteins are among the poorer quality foods. Stay clear of dog foods that list disproportionate grains and fillers among the first few ingredients on the labels like ground corn, corn gluten, wheat gluten, soy bean, and so on.
For more in-depth info there are a considerable number of good dog food comparison sites online. You should be able to find more about how they use animal fats and additives, recalls and other issues round the best food for your puppy dog .
Lyn Jones has been breeding and showing for over 10 years. As a breeder of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels in Oregon she welcomes the chance to answer questions and to supply info to families attempting to find information about King Charles Cavalier puppies
