What you don't know could turn out to be bad for your dog! While most of us don't pay a lot of attention to what we're feeding out pets, we really shouldn't be trusting manufacturers to label things accurately and follow regulations. There aren't actually very many rules about what can be used in dog food, and what you don't know could make your dog very sick.
Not Fit To Eat
Dog food can contain a lot of things we wouldn't be happy about eating, including bones, nervous tissue, organs, skin, ligaments, hair and meat from animals with diseases. The bodies of euthanized pets and zoo animals have been used, too.
Most of the "good" meat that makes its way into dog and cat food has long since been processed so heavily that all its nutritive value is gone. If you see ingredients on your dog's food bag like "animal meal" or "poultry broth", you shouldn't imagine the sort of thing you'd eat.
Animal meals are what's left after all the meat and fat have been processed out of a carcass - any carcass at all. The remainder is ground and dried, producing a "meal" that's similar in texture to ground grains. The broths in dog food are similarly unpleasant, made up of processed carcasses from all kinds of animals, in all kinds of condition.
Not Illegal
Unfortunately, none of the disgusting or unhealthy ingredients in dog food are illegal. While we have reasonably strict rules about what can be part of human food and those laws are well enforced, pets don't have that protection. Rules about pet food ingredients are much looser and more poorly enforced.
That means that almost anything could end up in your dog's food, and that the labels on the package that claim it's "healthy and balanced" have little to no meaning. All that those words mean, in a legal sense, is that those foods contain a particular percentage of fat, protein, and added minerals and vitamins.
Additives
All of us have probably heard about the recent recalls due to melamine contamination. What you might not know is that this isn't the only additive in pet food that might cause illness or death. There are a number of preservatives used in pet food that cause real problems in humans who work with them, and could cause liver and kidney failure or cancer in your dog over time.
Not Only Cheap Brands
It's not just cheap pet food that's the problem, either. There's no regulation on high end or organic foods, as well. While these pet food may be of higher quality, we have no way of knowing whether they use the same ingredients as their cheaper relatives or not. That can make it hard to find a food that's good for your dog, even if it's one recommended by your vet.
Solutions
You have a number of choices when it comes to improving your pet's food. First is to learn how to read the labels. Ingredients that come first are there in bigger percentages, so look for named meats far up on the list instead of generic terms.
You can also learn about the additives and preservatives that can hurt your pets, and look for the foods with the lowest percentage of grains. There are also a number of excellent recipes out there that can help dedicated pet owners make their own foods. Just be sure to do something, since most foods are actually dangerous.
Not Fit To Eat
Dog food can contain a lot of things we wouldn't be happy about eating, including bones, nervous tissue, organs, skin, ligaments, hair and meat from animals with diseases. The bodies of euthanized pets and zoo animals have been used, too.
Most of the "good" meat that makes its way into dog and cat food has long since been processed so heavily that all its nutritive value is gone. If you see ingredients on your dog's food bag like "animal meal" or "poultry broth", you shouldn't imagine the sort of thing you'd eat.
Animal meals are what's left after all the meat and fat have been processed out of a carcass - any carcass at all. The remainder is ground and dried, producing a "meal" that's similar in texture to ground grains. The broths in dog food are similarly unpleasant, made up of processed carcasses from all kinds of animals, in all kinds of condition.
Not Illegal
Unfortunately, none of the disgusting or unhealthy ingredients in dog food are illegal. While we have reasonably strict rules about what can be part of human food and those laws are well enforced, pets don't have that protection. Rules about pet food ingredients are much looser and more poorly enforced.
That means that almost anything could end up in your dog's food, and that the labels on the package that claim it's "healthy and balanced" have little to no meaning. All that those words mean, in a legal sense, is that those foods contain a particular percentage of fat, protein, and added minerals and vitamins.
Additives
All of us have probably heard about the recent recalls due to melamine contamination. What you might not know is that this isn't the only additive in pet food that might cause illness or death. There are a number of preservatives used in pet food that cause real problems in humans who work with them, and could cause liver and kidney failure or cancer in your dog over time.
Not Only Cheap Brands
It's not just cheap pet food that's the problem, either. There's no regulation on high end or organic foods, as well. While these pet food may be of higher quality, we have no way of knowing whether they use the same ingredients as their cheaper relatives or not. That can make it hard to find a food that's good for your dog, even if it's one recommended by your vet.
Solutions
You have a number of choices when it comes to improving your pet's food. First is to learn how to read the labels. Ingredients that come first are there in bigger percentages, so look for named meats far up on the list instead of generic terms.
You can also learn about the additives and preservatives that can hurt your pets, and look for the foods with the lowest percentage of grains. There are also a number of excellent recipes out there that can help dedicated pet owners make their own foods. Just be sure to do something, since most foods are actually dangerous.
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Click Here to find out which dog foods have been proven to be harmful to a dog's health. Find out what the best dog food is to make sure your pooch is in perfect health.
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