How to Read a Dog Food Label:
1. Ingredients are listed descending order by
weight. Do not buy any food that lists a grain as
the first ingredient. Dog's systems are designed
to digest and process the natural proteins found in
meat.
2. Meat meals such as chicken meal, fish meal,
lamb meal etc are to be preferred over meat
by-products. For example, poultry by-products
can (and do) contain heads,beaks, eyes, feet,
lungs,and intestines. These ingredients provide
bulk and weight to the food, but do not have much
high quality protein.
3. "Meat and meat by-products" is a very generic
term and can contain meat from any domestic
animal, including horse, donkey, goat, or
whatever else the slaughterhouse may be
processing that day. By-products are little more
than the sweepings of the slaughterhouse floor
after everything human grade has been removed.
4. Rice and oatmeal are good sources of
carbohydrates. Corn meal is acceptable, if your
dog is not sensitive to it. If you have a dog with
skin problems, try eliminating corn from his/her
diet (including corn gluten and corn oil) for at
least 6 weeks. Corn is one of the most common
allergens.
5. Avoid foods with artificial colors. Pet foods are
colored and shaped to appeal to human
consumers, not pets. They don't care if their
kibble is bone shaped or has green food coloring
in it.
Purina Beneful is a prime example of modern day
marketing. The first ingredient listed is corn
meal, followed by meat-by-products. It is a
mediocre food by any measure. But it is bright
and colorful, and the advertisements present it as
a healthy food, so uneducated consumers buy it,
thinking they are doing something good for their
dogs.
Definitions of Terms:
Meat: Meat is the clean
flesh of slaughtered
animals (chicken, cattle,
lamb, turkey, etc.). The
flesh can include striated
skeletal muscle, tongue,
diaphragm, heart,
esophagus, overlying fat
and the skin, sinew, nerves
and blood vessels normally
found with that flesh.
Meat By-products: Meat
by-products are clean
parts of slaughtered
animals, not including
meat. These include lungs,
spleen, kidneys, brain,
liver, blood, bone, and
stomach and intestines
freed of their contents. It
does not include hair,
horns, teeth, or hooves.
Poultry By-products:
Poultry by-products are
clean parts of slaughtered
poultry such as heads,
feet, and internal organs
(like heart, lungs, liver,
kidneys, abdomen, and
intestines). It does not
contain feathers.
Fish Meal: Fish meal is
the clean ground tissue of
undecomposed fish or fish
cuttings, with or without
the oil extracted.
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