Taxonomically, domestic dogs belong
to the family Canidae. This family also includes the African dogs, wolves,
foxes, coyotes and jackels. Many of these animals are considered omnivors, as
is the domestic dog (Legrand-Defretin, 1993). In the wild, dry food is not
available to canids. Their natural diets contain from 60-80% moisture and are
rich in protein and fat. Canids have no nutritional requirement for
carbohydrates and that is why it is so harmful to feed them carbohydrate-rich
foods. It is important to keep this in mind, as the pandemic of obesity,
diabetes and other metabolic disorders in US pets are on the rise.
Personally, I wish I had more time
and patience to prepare home-made foods for my dogs. Home-made foods allow one
to more appropriately select ingredients of quality and assure that the diet
more closely resembles those natural diets of canids, which are rich in
protein, fat and water. However, for most of us time is a precious commodity.
If you don’t have time available to prepare home-made dog food, there are some
convincing reasons to offer your dog canned/wet foods as part, if not the
whole, of his diet:
- All canned foods contain an appropriate (high) amount
of moisture which is critical for good digestion. This is also critical
for dogs and cats with urinary tract problems.
- The protein in canned foods is more likely to have a
higher amount of an animal-based protein versus plant-based protein. This
is also important for cats which are strict carnivores.
- Canned/wet foods contain lower carbohydrate (sugar)
levels than most dry foods
With this introduction in mind,
let's understand how the US Pet Food Industry works. The agency responsible for
the regulation of the pet food industry is
not the United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA). Rather, it is a
non-governmental agency called the Association of the American Feed Control
Officials (AAFCO). Its board consists of state and federal representatives, in
addition to individuals directly involved in the industry. According to the
definition on their website, the AAFCO "provides
a mechanism for developing and implementing uniform and equitable laws,
regulations, standards and enforcement policies for regulating the manufacture,
distribution and sale of animal feeds". Since this process
includes business insiders, it is likely to provide some protection of their
business interests before anything else.
The AAFCO avoids using a detailed,
descriptive labeling system to pet foods in order to allow for products to look
better than they actually are. Their labels contain a plethora of information,
but it can be easily misleading to anyone who does not carefully study the
topic. AAFCO’s pet food labels offer ambiguous, confusing information which
seem to protect the interests of the industry over the consumer.
Inevitably, this effectively protects those companies that sell poor quality
food. Furthermore, many of the terms used by the AAFCO to describe foods and
labels in advertising materials are not legally defined because the pet foods
are not under USDA umbrella like human foods. With that said, don’t be allured
by the fancy description of mouth-watering gravy, grilled meat, mixed veggies,
spices, or the beauty of the package or miraculous manufacturer’s claims such
as “organic”, “whole”, “natural” or “premium”. These terms bear no legal
or technical meaning when applied to a pet food or ingredient. The
interpretation and use of a label term is variable and the definition is
therefore dependent on the philosophy and marketing strategies of the
individual pet food manufacturer.
What you need to know is what the food will actually deliver to your
pet! You will gather this information
only by breaking down all the products in the labels. In order to do so,
focus your attention on the following:
- The product name
- Net Quantity Statement
- Manufacturer's name and address
- Ingredient list
- Guaranteed analysis
- Nutritional adequacy statement
- Feeding directions
- Calorie statement
- Label claims
The Product Name: this is the first part of the label noticed by the
consumer, and can be a key factor in the consumer's decision to buy the
product. For that reason, manufacturers often use fanciful names or other
techniques to emphasize a particular aspect. Since many consumers purchase a
product based on the presence of a specific ingredient, many product names
incorporate the name of that particular ingredient to highlight its inclusion
in the product. The percentages of named ingredients in the total product are
also dictated by four AAFCO rules. For instance, if a food is named
specifically, e.g. "Lamb Dog Food", the named ingredient (lamb)
should constitute at least 95% of the total weight if the water required for
processing is excluded. Or, at least 70% if water is included in the calculation.
If more than one ingredient is named, e.g. "Beef and Liver Dog Food",
all of them combined must constitute at least 95% (or 70% if water is included
respectively) and they must be named in descending order of content by weight.
This description is used almost exclusively for canned foods.
If a food name includes the word
"dinner" (or similar ones like "formula",
"nuggets" etc.) such as in "Lamb Formula", the named
ingredient (lamb) must constitute at least 25% of the total weight. If more
than one ingredient is named, e.g. "Lamb and Rice Formula", all of
them combined must represent at least 25% and they must be named in descending
order of content by weight. Since the named ingredients are only required to
make up 25% of the total product, the manufacturers don’t even need to be
descriptive of the main ingredients! As such, you may see a package named
“Chicken and Rice formula”. Yet, in the list of ingredients they will appear in
this order: ground wheat, ground corn,
chicken and bone meal, chicken products, chicken, brewer’s rice. See how
misleading this can be? An honest use of the product’s name should appear like
this: chicken, whole rice (followed by others).
Beware of food with names that
include the phrase “with *ingredient*”
For instance, a food of Lamb and Rice with
Beef. In this case, the named ingredient (beef) must be at least 3% of the
total weight. This form of description does not help at all! You may see a
label like this: “corn, wheat, whole wheat, oats, chicken byproduct, animal
fat, lamb meal, rice, and beef meal”. As you can see, lamb and rice are not
first in the ingredients’ list, thus they don’t comprise the majority of the
ingredients used. In addition, lamb is appearing as lamb meal. Finally, beef is
not one of the first ingredients listed and the manufacturer is using beef
meal, which IS NOT pure meat.
Net
Quantity Statement: you must find out how much product
is in the container. This is particularly important when comparing products of
different sizes. For instance, a 35 lb bag of food from company “X” may cost
more than a 50 lb bag from “Z”, however, the smaller bag may contain better
quality ingredients and they may be concentrated, which means you will use a
lot less every time you feed your pet. Additionally, be aware that if a
particular food is sold in bags of different sizes, the smaller the size, more
it will cost you per unit of weight. Example:
Lamb and rice from “X” company sells
bags of 3, 15, 25 and 35 lb.
A 3 lb bag costs $10; the price per
pound is $3.33
A 15 lb bag costs $ 40; now the price per pound is $2.6
A 25 lb bag costs 50; now the price per pound dropped to $2
A 35 lb bag costs 60; now the price per pound is $ 1.7
As
you see, you are paying more than twice the amount per pound when you buy the
smallest bag.
Manufacturer’s Name and Address
(this is straight-forward): the
food should clearly state “manufactured by” identifies the company responsible
for the quality and safety of the product and its factory location. If the
label states “manufactured for or distributed by” that means the food was
produced by an outside source, but the name on the label still identifies the
responsible party. Not all labels include a street address along with the city,
State, and zip code, but by law, it should be listed in either a city directory
or a telephone directory. Many manufacturers also include a toll-free number on
the label for consumer inquiries. If a consumer has a question or complaint
about the product, he or she should not hesitate to use this information to
contact the responsible party.
Ingredient list: by law, all
ingredients must be listed in order of percentage by weight, including the
water content. They must be listed by their common names. This weight refers to
weight before processing! This is
important when you compare products with different moisture contents. This is
also important because different dry and wet foods have different moisture
contents. Companies often use of schemes like ingredient splitting to make
their product look better than they actually are. Other tricks include using
good quality ingredients that retain a lot of water in their wet versions, but
in dehydrated ones less desirable ingredients are used. Here are a few tips:
Look for the first named source of fat in the ingredient list. Everything
listed before that (including the fat) make up most of the food. Other items
are just added in tiny amounts such as flavors, preservatives, vitamins and
minerals. Example (with first source of fat in red): Food A: yellow corn, chicken meal, chicken
meat and bone meal, chicken fat, corn germ meal, wheat, potatoes,
rice, brown rice, sweet potatoes, carrots,
flaxseed, garlic, salt, vitamins, minerals. Food B: Lamb, lamb meal, barley, ground brown rice, sweet potatoes, fish meal,
eggs, beef
fat, herring, apples, blueberries, sunflower oil, probiotics,
vitamins, minerals.
So, even though Food B has lamb as first ingredient, the meat still contains
about 75% water. Once dehydrated, the moisture is removed to reach the final
percentage of about 10%; the meat will have shrunk to 1/4 of the original
amount, while relatively dry ingredients like the different rice components
will not change much. Food A lists yellow corn as first ingredient, but since
chicken is added in already dehydrated meal
form, the amount will not shrink any further. Yet, together with the lamb, fish
meal and eggs, Food B may contain higher amounts of better quality animal
protein than product A. Furthermore, look how many different sources of
underlined carbohydrates Food A contains (corn, corn meal, rice, potatoes,
carrots, brown rice). If you calculate the total amount of carbohydrate (sugar)
per weight delivered by Food A, your pet might be in trouble - particularly if
already overweight or with chronic pancreatic issues.
Ingredient definitions can be deceiving. While some animal proteins in “meal”
form are of good quality, including the whole carcasses of animals (minus
feather, head, entrails, feet, etc.) others like “beef & bone meal” are
made from leftovers after the high quality cuts of meat have been removed for
human consumption. Foods that do not contain a quality protein/meat source -
despite how nice the package may look - will have things like this on the ingredient
label: meat (whatever source)-bone meal; digest of cattle or poultry;
byproducts of chicken or beef; meat byproduct meal, etc. Again, remember that
companies can manipulate the list of ingredients in different ways to make
their food look a lot better than it actually is.
Guaranteed Analysis: pet food
manufacturers must include minimal the amount of “crude” protein, fat and
maximal amounts of moisture and fiber in their products. The crude does not
refer to ingredient quality but means the content regardless of quality or
digestibility, leaving you without any means to determine the true quality of
the product from this analysis. A nice chunk of meat and feet may have the same
amount of protein; however, the digestibility and quality of protein delivered
by feet/hooves to your pet is unquestionably inferior.
The guaranteed analysis is given on an "as is" or "as fed"
basis. Some manufacturers include guarantees for other nutrients as well. The
maximum percentage of ash (the mineral component) is often guaranteed,
especially on cat foods. Cat foods commonly bear guarantees for taurine and
magnesium as well. For dog foods, minimum percentage levels of calcium,
phosphorus, sodium, and linoleic acid are found on some products. In order to
compare products with different moisture
content you will have to calculate percentages for both products at equal
moisture content. If they differ, you need convert the values for all
products to an equal percentage of moisture. Important: the more
moisture/water the food contains, the less nutritious dry matter is present -
meaning you pay for extra water while you get less nutrients!
Additionally, different proteins and fat vary considerably in their
digestibility (i.e. how much of it is broken down and absorbed during digestion)
and availability (how much of the protein is actually delivered to the cells).
Dr. T.J. Dunn Jr. published the approximate digestibility values for some
proteins:
· Egg whites
and whey protein 100%
· Muscle
meats (chicken slightly higher than beef or lamb) 92%
· Organ
meats (heart, kidney, liver) 90%
· Fish,
whole soybeans (not leftover fragments!) 75%
· Rice 72%
· Oats 66%
· Yeast 63%
· Wheat 60%
· Corn 54%
Note: The above does not refer to the total digestibility of the item, but
specifically to the percentage to which the protein part can be utilized.
(part 3 to follow)
Cancer is a major cause of pet animal death. I say this based on a study that looked into more than 2000 necropsy cases. This study found that 45% of dogs that lived 10 years or older died of cancer (1). Of the more than 70 million household dogs and 90 million cats in the United States, at least 4 million dogs and about 4 million of cats develop cancer each year.
