How To Read Pet Food Labels

DOG FOOD DEFINED!

Barbara J. Andrews, Publisher

How to read dog food labels, terminology and ingredients in dry or canned dog food. 

Maybe you don't want to know your neighbor's euthanized cat is in that can of dog food?  Is that what "meat meal" means?  What are by-products, digest, bone meal?

Lets make it simple.  Most premium-grade “prepared” foods are good nutrition and frankly, they are all about the same – meaning none of them are really complete.  A certain cereal says it is “total nutrition” but you would not raise your children on nothing but cereal! 

In order to read a dog food label, you must understand the terminology.  If the first ingredient is “beef” or “chicken” you're off to a good start - unless that devious word "flavor" is in the same sentence.  If the label says meal, as in meat meal,  it may contain hide, hair, and hooves.  If it says chicken meal or lamb meal, it means the meat has been all processed together but depending on the manufacturer, may contain indigestible parts such as feathers, beaks, or wool.

 If the label says “meat and bone meal” it is meat meal with bone added but the law doesn’t require them to state how much bone.  Cheaper for the manufacturer to throw in the bones and that is probably better than beet pulp for hardening the stool so your clean up job is easier.  Be aware however, a no-smell, hard, dry stool is neither natural nor healthy.  Food makers try to make it that way so people will not mind picking it up.  A fresh healthy canine stool is moist and to our noses, it stinks.  If you're a dog, it is like reading the previous day's menu.

If the dog food label says “by-products” the product contains junk.  Worse yet, it can contain diseased organs such as the brain of a cow that died with Mad Cow Disease.  Byproducts also include stomach and intestines, along with whatever was in there, which, if the animal was healthy and grass fed, isn't bad.  You should know however, that "by-products" is a huge hole in the safety net and a clever way to avoid truth in advertising.  Manure from the slaughterhouse floor is an animal by-product.

Even more disgusting and less nutritious, if it says “digest” such as “poultry digest”, it is a soupy glop that contains all of the scraps and waste which is then dried out and mixed with the good stuff, if there is any and in a dog food that contains digest, that is unlikely.  It is the lowest grade of "food" and along with by-products, may contain contaminated waste from the slaughter house, or worse, the veterinary practice or animal shelter.

“Animal digest" could be your neighbor’s lost dog.  Or euthanized pets from the humane society. The bodies of dead dogs and cats may contain the deadly drug that "put them to sleep."  That goes right into your dog!  It will also contain flea collars which are poison.    Nothing is wasted and nothing is refused.  Someone’s beloved little lap dog that got lost, the litter of kittens the people down the street said they “found homes for” or the sadly diseased pet that was put down - it all becomes “animal digest.”

A good rule of thumb; look for specific names like “chicken” and steer clear of a catch-all word like “poultry.”  The order of dog food ingredient acceptability is; Lamb (hasn't lived long enough to be as full of antibiotics and hormones) Beef, Chicken, and Fish meal.  If it also says bone meal, there's no guarantee where the bones came from (no, not the pet cemetery but it could be just as bad) and regardless, it means there’s less real meat.  You can and should feed raw bones at home.  Get them from the grocery store.

Cut dog food costs by buying real, fresh food locally.  Watch for chicken leg quarters on sale.  It is cheaper than dry dog food and half the cost of canned!  When you find meat on sale, stock the freezer!  Veggies are great, buy fresh or frozen vegetables for your table and share leftovers with your dogs.  If you feed canned vegetables, be sure to pour the sugary, artificially flavored liquid off.  Your dog does not need MSG or corn syrup!!

Fresh veggies and fruits are important, especially to high-rise dogs that can’t get outside to eat grass!  If you have "inside pets" don't deprive them of what nature intended.  Plant a little grass inside.  Seriously, get one of those little pre-seeded planters for cats.  Your dog needs the live green vegetation just as much as the cat!

Your pets will be healthier, have less skin problems, allergies, and other immune deficiencies, and may even behave better when not reacting to chemical additives.  NO CORN.  Read Corn Is For Cows! and you will never feed any corn-based product.    Dogs are carnivores - meat eaters.  Do not turn your 5 pound Chihuahua into a junk food junkie.  A little cheese or other dairy product is fine, even a little ice cream won’t hurt. 

No healthy dog is a "picky eater."  None of our puppy owners ever call with that complaint. They are educated owners.  They feed real food and their dogs know the difference.

10113 http://www.thedogplace.org/Nutrition/Dog-Food-Defined_Andrews.asp #19981106