Purchasing dog food is already overwhelming, and with the range of information online it’s hard to know if you’re feeding your pup all the right things. This article will focus on TEN red flags we can identify on a dog food label.
- Grains First Ingredient
- Always look for a food that has nutrients like protein and fats from meat sources listed first. While grains do supply some protein, it is not as sufficient as animal meat and can lead to other health problems if overfed.
- Mystery Meats
- If no meat is listed or mentioned on the product, the food commonly will be rendered meat. Rendered meat is meat that is separated, heated and combined back together. Some examples of mystery meat you may see are: Poultry meat, meat meal, animal by-product, porcine plasma and animal fat; Low-grade and cheap to sum it up.
- Un-named Fats
- Similar to grains being first, grains lack nutrients for fat. Not only does grain lack fat, but rendered meat also loses some fat properties. This leads to lower quality food. Look for labels with chicken or beef fat.
- By-Products
- A by-product is when a product is changed or synthesized by the manufacturer to produce a cheaper but similar outcome. Since this involves combining different products there is lower regulation on a product’s use and source. One statement made about by-products that has stuck with wise woofs is, “By-product would not be deemed fit for human consumption by laws.”
- Artificial Flavors and Colors:
- As humans, we care deeply about what food looks and tastes like. While we want to indulge in chocolate cake and buttery potatoes, dogs want to indulge in meat, fat and blood. In all, there is NO NEED for any artificial flavoring or coloring to be added to our dogs food. Their food may look disgusting to us, but definitely is not to them. These artificial additives have also been linked to serious conditions such as cancer and diabetes.
- Stay away from → Flavor, corn syrup, caramel, propylene glycol (a sweet-tasting sister to antifreeze), Blue 2, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6
- Artificial Preservatives
- Artificial preservatives are added to most of the canine food on the market, specifically kibble and canned food. This allows the food to last longer and extends shelf life. While there is a need to preserve the food, there are natural preservatives we can use instead of chemical preservatives.
- Natural preservatives to look for: mixed tocopherols, citric acid and rosemary oil. Common and dangerous chemical preservatives to avoid: Ethoxyquin, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate and tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ)
- Fillers
- Fillers are food, or grain that are added to the product in order to bring up the minimum guaranteed analysis requirements. This leads to poorer quality food. Common Fillers found in Dog Food: Corn, maize, peanut hulls, cellulose, apple/grape pomace, pea bran, dried beet pulp, oat hulls, rice hulls, wheat mills, brewers rice and soy.
- Ingredient Splitting:
- When manufacturers manipulate similar ingredients so that they can separate the weight and move the ingredients lower on the panel. While it’s not uncommon, ingredient splitting with other red flags is a big no go.
