Dog Food Ingredients: Where’s The Meat?
There are literally hundreds of different types of dog food in the market, and almost all of them boast that they are a healthy dog food full of fresh meats. But are they? Only the dog food ingredients label can tell you how what kind of meat is actually in there – if you know how to read them.
How do you know what is a healthy dog food though? In reality, what is healthy for one pet isn’t necessarily healthy for another. Certain dogs may have different levels of activity or be in different stages of their life. Others may have a food intolerance or be diabetic. Take all of these into consideration when determining the type of dog food best for your pet.
Figuring out the type of dog food will narrow your list of dog foods greatly. Now you need to determine which has the healthiest ingredients for your dog. The first ingredient that should be listed is a meat. And that is where is starts to get tricky. Meat, meal, by-product. Huh? What happened to just meat?
Meat, Meal, or By-product? Meat is the clean flesh derived from an animal. Meal is an ingredient that has been dehydrated and ground. A by-product is what is left after all meat is removed (necks, feet, intestines, undeveloped eggs, etc).
Do You Want an Animal Meat or an Animal Meat Meal? So let’s further confuse things now. You have two bags in front of you. The first one has lamb as the first ingredient. The second has lamb meal. Which is a better dog food, protein-wise? The one with lamb meal.
By law, ingredients in food must be listed in order of weight. Since meat meal has had all moisture removed, it will be lighter than meat. If you start with two identical pieces of meat, and make meal of one, it will be lighter and therefor lower on the ingredients list. So this is a rather sneaky way of getting a meat in the top of the list, because once the meat is processed, it is made into a meal and put in the dog food it is made.
What Does An Unidentified Meat Mean? Any dog food that is worth it’s weight will have identifiable animal meats in it. For example, chicken, or lamb meal. But what if you see poultry? An animal class means that more than one type of animal in that class could be in the meat, such as geese, chicken, and/or turkey for the poultry class. The worst is when the manufacturer classifies his meat source as ‘meat’ or ‘meat meal’. This means it can be from any kind of animal.
The bottom line is that if a specific animal source cannot be identified, the dog food manufacturer is probably more concerned about their bottom line than the health and well-being of your pet.
There are many more factors to take into consideration when determining what is a healthy dog food for your dog. Learn more about how to read your dog food ingredients label at the Healthy Dog Food Blog – assisting you in figuring out what makes the healthiest food for your dog.
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