Dog Food

Dog food is designed to be the single source of nutrition for your dog, so it is important to understand what is in the food and its nutritional value. Carefully researching pet food companies and understanding packaging labels are essential to finding good, healthy nutrients for your dog. The industry is rapidly changing and improving. In addition to traditional kibble and canned dog food, many pet food companies now offer raw, organic, and whole foods for dogs in frozen or freeze dried forms.

Labels

The Guaranteed Analysis is the equivalent of the nutritional information found on human foods and can be very misleading. Listing the quantities of substances such as crude protein, it does not mean that the kibble provides nutrition from these substances. For instance, crude protein can come from sources such as ground beaks and feathers and pass through the dog’s body completely undigested.

The most important part of the package label to understand is the ingredients section. Ingredients are listed in order of quantity, with the main ingredient listed first.

Meat

Specific types of meat, such as beef meal or chicken by-products, actually come from the type of animal listed but can be slaughterhouse rejects known as the 4d’s - dead, dying, diseased, and disabled animals. The law requires that slaughterhouse rejects be denatured before being sent to rendering plants to insure that they will not be sold for human consumption. Denaturing involves imbuing the meat with highly toxic chemicals.

Often the meat in pet food is listed simply as “meat”, with no animal specified. Meat, meat meal, bone meal, and meat by-products can include cancerous tissue that has been removed from animals, out-of-date meat from grocery stores - still in the wrapper - road kill, and euthanized pets from shelters and veterinarian’s offices. Sodium Pentobarbital, the drug used to euthanize pets, is not reduced, damaged, or deteriorated in any way during the rendering process and goes right into the food. Plastic bags and flea collars are not removed before rendering and also go into the product.

Preservatives

Preservatives range from safe, natural substances such as tocopherol (vitamin E) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to highly toxic chemicals such as ethoxyquin, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). BHT and BHA cause liver and kidney dysfunction. Ethoxyquin is listed as a hazardous material by OSHA, listed as a pesticide by the Department of Agriculture, and label as poison by some manufacturers. All three are known carcinogens. The absence of preservatives in the ingredients list does not guarantee that the food does not contain them. Dog food companies do not have to list preservatives that they did not add to the product. Preservatives that were added to the ingredients before the pet food company received them are not listed even though they are present in the food. Due to US Coast Guard regulations Fish meal always contains ethoxyquin.

Testing

Some dog food is never fed to any dog before it hits the shelf. It is completely formulated in a laboratory, but often package labels bear the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) stamp of approval, meaning that the food has passed the AAFCO feeding trial. The AAFCO feeding trial consists of eight dogs who are at least one year old, and of normal weight and health. These dogs eat nothing but the food being tested for six months. At the end of the six month trial, six of the eight dogs must have made it through the trial without dying or being removed for nutritional reasons, and none of these six dogs can have lost more than 15% of their bodyweight. The feeding trial does not test for the effects of toxic ingredients in the product. Even a very poor dog food can pass this test. Some companies conduct their own extensive feeding trials to ensure that their dog food is nutritionally balanced and formulated to maintain good health for a dog’s entire lifetime.

Choosing Dog Food

Do not be misled by so-called premium dog foods. Many brands have gained popularity by claiming to be healthier but do not meet the standards of safe and healthy kibble. Good canine nutrients contain only human grade ingredients and natural preservatives such as Vitamins C and E. Do not buy any pet food that lists “meat” as an ingredient and stay away from ingredients listed as “by-products”. Good ingredients are recognizable as real foods such as chicken giblets, eggs, ground brown rice, garlic, and so on. Call the manufacturer or look at their website. A reputable company is willing to answer any questions you may have about what goes into their dog food, how it is preserved, and how their feeding trials are conducted.

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