Dog Food Ingredient Definitions
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The dog food industry sure makes it look like your dog food ingredient definitions are full of beautiful cuts of meat, healthy grains, and tasty vegetables. But is the image on the bag even close to what’s inside? Not even close.
Pet food is often created from the scraps of waste from human food production. Things that are “unfit” for people food are ground up and turned into pet food, a great way for the food industry to profit on their waste products.
Did you know that a pet food can be labeled “with real beef” even if only 3% of the food is real beef? You may feel like you’re feeding your dog the best food possible, but in reality, you’re being fooled by the dog food industry with their creative marketing and labeling practices. “Beef flavor” may not contain actual beef either – it could be an artificial flavoring agent.
Dry dog food is made by an extruder machine. It often contains corn gluten, wheat flour, rendered meat, meat byproducts, and flours. The dough is steamed, chopped into tiny pieces, and cooked. Once it’s cooked it is coated with fat to make it taste better. Dry food can easily accumulate bacteria during the packaging process and this bacteria can breed and multiply if you mix your dog’s food with liquids of any kind.
Wet food is made with ground up ingredients and additives that are cooked and then pressed into cans. These foods generally contain more protein that dry foods but are not necessarily healthier.
Since our dogs are carnivores by nature, the main ingredient in dog food is animal protein. This can come from cows, pigs, chickens, lambs, and many other animals. When these ingredients are used for human food, nearly half of the animal isn’t used. Where does it go? Into pet food, fertilizer, soaps, and rubber.
Do you want your dog eating the same ingredients that go into soaps and fertilizer? The term “meal” in a dog food ingredients list means that the meat has been rendered. Basically, all the animal parts are thrown into vat, boiled, and put back together again. There are even rumors that animal meal includes dead dogs, cats, and roadkill. Traces of the chemical used to euthanize pets have been found in commercial dog food.
Ever wonder what that smell is when you open a bag of dry dog food? It’s animal fat. This is the only reason why your pet will eat dry food – it’s coated in tasty fat. So while your dog would normally never eat plain kibble, if it’s coated into fat, it’s suddenly edible.
Since the ingredients used in commercial dog food are not high quality, the food must have vitamins and minerals added to it in order for it to contain balanced nutrition. Knowing all of these facts makes most responsible pet owners seek out better pet food for their dogs.
There are several new pet food manufacturers that are using organic ingredients, human grade meat, real grains and vegetables, and minimal preservatives. Other dog owners are choosing to take full control over the dog food ingredients by feeding them a BARF diet.
BARF which stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, or Bones and Raw Food is a diet closer to the natural eating habits of dogs in the wild. Whatever you choose, be aware that most of the dog food in the supermarket and pet stores contain ingredients that you probably shouldn’t be feeding your dog if you want him to live a long and healthy life.
