Did you know that a leather belt is a good source of protein and Pennzoil motor oil is a great source of fat?  Of course you wouldn’t  feed that to your precious pets, would you? 

I’m not suggesting that any pet food manufacturer would ever put those ingredients in their pet food, but you do need to know how to distinguish which ones use inferior protein sources in their products.

Healthy pet food is essential to your pets overall health and appearance.  Did you know that dogs and cats have the biological potential to live into their 20’s?  Proper pet food nutrition will significantly increase those odds.

I realize that in this economy, it’s hard to justify buying a superior, more expensive brand of pet food, but they are part of your family and you wouldn’t want to start feeding your children junk food for every meal!  Inferior pet foods are essentially the equivalent of junk food for dogs.

Here’s what you DO NOT want to have in your pet’s food. If you see these ingredients, just know that the product is inferior and the pet food manufacturer tried to cut corners.  A named animal protein (i.e., Chicken, Beef) should always be the number one protein source.

1.  Corn, Wheat and Soy – These are considered cereal grains and a low quality source of protein and highly indigestible that can cause stress on the kidneys.  In addition, corn is the 3rd leading cause of allergens in dogs and cats.

These come in many forms such as:  Ground Yellow Corn, Gluten Corn Meal, Ground Whole Wheat, Wheat Flour and more.

What, Duck Bill's in Dog Food!!

2.  By Products – We’ve all heard that by-products aren’t good for your pets, but exactly what are by products?  Not only are they also highly indigestible, but hold on to your hats – By Products can include:  Animal Organs, Chicken Heads, Bones, Intestines, Chicken Feathers, Duck Bills, Fish Heads, Hide, Feathers, Chicken and Turkey Feet and Hair!!  OMG, I wouldn’t feed any of those ingredients to my pets!

By Products also do not have to include any meat and can include diseased or contaminated meat from the slaughter houses.  Yummy!

3.  Meat and Bone Meal – These can legally include dead pets and animals from road kill.  Not only that, it can include euthanized pets from vets offices that are ground up in rendering factories.  These animals could have been shot up with antibiotics or been severely diseased.

4.  Chemicals – Chemicals are usually used to preserve the freshness for pet food storage.  The top three are:  BHT/BHA both are known to cause liver and kidney dysfunction and are known carcinogens.  The third chemical is Ethoxyquin which is used as a rubber stabilizer.  There are many natural preservatives that can be used such as, tocopherols (vitamin E), vitamin C and Rosemary extract.  Companies use these chemicals because they need a long shelf life.  Sometimes it can take 18 months before the pet food is even sold further lessening the nutrient content.

5.  Artificial Colors, flavors, sugars, beef tallow (lard) and corn syrup – The sugars are used to sweeten the deal for the dogs.  They are usually used to offset a product that contains little healthy animal protein.  Artificial Colors, what’s up with that!  Pets don’t care what the food looks like – they eat other dogs poop, I doubt they care about the color!  Natural pet food is a better way to go. 

Now that you are armed with some information, we need to talk about the Guaranteed Analysis which is the percentages of Protein, Fat, Fiber and Moisture set by the AAFCO (Association of the American Feed Control Officials).  If you just look at the percentages only, you won’t get the whole picture because as I said in the beginning, a leather belt is a source of protein.  You need to look at exactly what the quality of the ingredients are to make an informed decision.  Also, the higher the moisture percentage, the less nutritious the food is.

Now, go give your dog a nice big, fat steak!

Chris L Wagner

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