Trying to figure out what dog foods to buy and which ones to stay away from can be a little difficult sometimes. However, there are some things you can do to make it easier to decide. You need to understand the AAFCO (Association Of American Feed Control Officials) pet nutrition standards and know how to read dog food labels. The AAFCO will give its approval to both low and high quality ingredients, and unless you know exactly what’s in your dog’s food, you might think everything is just ok.
Since 2007, there have been problems with many of the lower quality dog foods and the ingredients that are used that have been brought to light. This is when the dog food recall first came about, and was responsible for the devastating losses of canine and feline lives due to contaminated food. Check to see if your dog’s food is on the dog food recall list.
Various dog food recall reports indicated the numbers of affected cats and dogs hit the 39,000 mark across the U.S. alone. Dogs and cats became extremely sick or died due to the contamination of commercial pet foods with an industrial chemical – melamine, used to make plastics and fertilizers. This chemical was found in more than 100 brands of pet food that were recalled in Canada and the USA starting in mid-March.
Their were many harmful ingredients found: the major culprit was identified as rice protein concentrate (otherwise called rice gluten), NOT brown rice. Also, later in June of the same year, concerns were raised about reports of acetaminophen (Tylenol) being found in dog and cat food, followed by salmonella poisoning in others.
Another harmful chemical was also found with the melamine, it was cyanuric acid. One chemical is bad enough, but these two chemicals turn out to be deadly when combined. Both were found in the cat and dog food recalls in March 2007. Cyanuric acid is commonly used to slow the breakdown of chlorine in swimming pools and hot tubs. It has NO nutritional value and No PLACE in pet food!
It was previously thought that those two chemicals were in dog food because it was a cheap way to increase the reported nitrogen content. But the rice gluten contaminate with the melamine was simply what is known as a “filler”.
Unfortunately, the dog food recall, has not stopped some dog food manufacturers from using deadly chemicals or “fillers” in lower grade commercial dog foods. Many pet food manufacturers keep their costs down by loading the food with fillers and other ingredients which has absolutely no nutritional value. You need to check to see if your dog’s food contains one or more of a number of fillers, including:
- Cereal by-products
- Cottonseed hulls
- Citrus pulp
- Peanut hulls
- Weeds
- Straw
- Corn and corncobs
- Feathers
- Soy
These fillers are unfortunately used in the place of quality fiber, and can irritate the walls of your dog’s intestines. Yet as food prices continue to rise, the use of fillers will undoubtedly continue so that dog food manufacturers can keep their costs down and their profits up.
Some of the dog foods labeled as “meat meals”, which are protein sources in your dog’s food, can actually be fillers if they are not of good enough quality. Even the plant materials used as fillers carry a risk of toxic herbicide and pesticide contamination, and soy is one of the top cited allergens by veterinarians, which causes severe allergic reactions. Reactions can include coughing, sneezing, runny nose, hives, diarrhea, facial swelling, shortness of breath, swollen tongue, difficulty swallowing, fainting, and anaphylactic shock. So you need to make sure that no pesticides or herbicides have been used in making the dog food.
Higher end brands of dog food, are products both devoid of any byproducts, and containing the healthiest choice of carbohydrates, protein, fiber, and other nutrients.
Beware of “so-called” nutrients that are some obscure chemical number. Avoid general listings like potato product, rice or peanut hulls, and grape pomace. Look for something more recognizable than words that give you only a vague idea of what you are feeding your dog.
In your dog food analysis, you have to really know “how to read” a dog food label. Due to clever marketing, many of these dog foods are masked with general phrases such as: “Moist, chewy” or “contains vegetables,” among many more.
These large dog food companies pay people good salaries to come up with the marketing catch phrases and words which will entice you to buy their products. You need to know how to read the ingredients behind the descriptions, and decide if they really belong in the dish of your furry friend.
