How to Avoid Choosing Dog Food with Inferior Meat Content

Finding it… and finding enough of it… has to be your top priority.  Yet just recognizing it can be incredibly difficult to do.

I’m talking about meat.  Meat is… without a doubt… the single most important ingredient to look for on a dog food label.

That’s because the protein found in meat is truly unique.  Unlike so many other protein sources, meat naturally contains all ten essential amino acids….. “life-or-death” nutrients dogs cannot make on their own.

What’s more… meat-based protein is especially easy for dogs to digest.

But here’s the problem…

Decoding the Mysterious Language
of Dog Food Ingredient Lists

Dog food labels are very difficult to understand.  Their ingredient lists are loaded with cryptic names for meat… names which disguise the true identity… and quantity… of the meat itself.

While scanning a product’s label it’s not unusual to come face-to-face with obscure names like “meat meal”… “animal digest”… and “poultry by-products”.

Some of these unfamiliar meat ingredients are surprisingly of very high quality.  Yet others are simply deplorable… and should never be fed to any dog.

For your dog’s sake… you really need to know the difference.

Here are three little-known secrets I’ve discovered that can help you avoid buying some pretty awful dog food…

Secret #1… Avoid Any Dog Food Made
with Animal By-Products

Now, to fully appreciate this first secret… it’s important to understand what I mean by the words “animal by-products”.

So, let’s take a look at the dog food industry’s official definition…

Meat by-products are… “the non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals.  It includes, but is not limited to lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents.”¹

Now, for the sake of simplicity… I’ve taken the liberty of assuming a broader definition of meat than just the muscles of mammals.  By using “animal by-products” in Secret #1… I’m also including poultry.

Here’s the industry’s official take on that definition…

Poultry by-products are… “the non-rendered clean parts of carcasses of slaughtered poultry such as heads, feet, viscera, free from fecal content and foreign matter except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice.”²

Unfit for Human Consumption…
Nutritious Food for Dogs?

Are you beginning to get the picture?

Meat by-products are nothing more than slaughterhouse waste… waste that’s been banned for use in human food… and then sold to the pet food industry.

Basically, it’s what’s left over after slaughter… and classified as inedible waste… unfit for human consumption.

Think about it.  This is the stuff that’s so bad the FDA won’t even let you use it to make sausage!

Here’s my argument for avoiding animal by-products…

They are simply… inferior ingredients.

OK… I already know what you’re thinking.  Yes… in “the wild”… dogs would eat the entire animal… organs and all.

But when by-products are used in dog food… your pet is not eating the whole animal.  He’s eating a mixture which exaggerates the natural percentage of by-products.

I love my dog, Bailey… and I would never consider feeding him anything that was so vile it’s been forbidden from use in my own food.

If it’s not good enough for me… then it’s not good enough for my dog.

Needless to say… animal by-products are some of the lowest-quality dog food ingredients out there.  Do your dog a favor… and avoid them like the plague.

Secret #2… Avoid Any Dog Food Made
with Generic Animal Protein

Now, by “generic”… I’m referring to meat-based ingredients which do not specify the source animal.

So, instead of listing a specific protein source… like beef… chicken… or venison… generic ingredients disguise crucial details with words like…

• Animal
• Meat
• Poultry

Here’s why that’s important…

According to the pet food industry, meat can come from virtually any kind of mammal³.  So, unlike “beef meal”… which must come from beef… generic “meat meal” can be legally made from…

• Road kill
• Euthanized cats and dogs
• Dying, diseased or disabled farm animals
• Dead zoo animals

Think I’m kidding?  Then, be sure to read my post… The Shocking Truth About Commercial Dog Food.

Secret #3… Favor a dog food when high
quality animal protein ranks near
the top of the ingredients list

Most dog food companies make no effort to let you know how much meat is actually in a product.  There’s nothing on the label to spell-out the exact ingredient break-down.

So… the only one way to get a reasonable idea for the amount of meat in a product is to pay attention to its list rank… its relative position on a product’s list of ingredients.

Remember… dog food manufacturers must follow the same “listing” regulation as human food manufacturers.  And that rule says…

All ingredients must be listed in descending order according to their before-processing weights.

That’s why the closer to the top of an ingredients list an animal protein is positioned… the higher that product’s likely meat content.

Now, a word of caution…

The Controversial Practice of Ingredient Splitting

In what many believe to be a deliberate attempt to deceive shoppers… to make the ingredients list look better than it really is… many companies use a controversial technique known as “splitting”.

Splitting is the process of subdividing a relatively abundant (yet inferior) ingredient into its smaller parts.  Doing this can artificially raise a lower quantity meat component… closer to the top of an ingredients list.

Now, to be fair… some companies defend the concept of splitting.  They claim the process is not intentional… but used because they are required by law to show as much detail as possible.

Deliberate or not… and if you’re not careful… you can be easily tricked into believing you’re buying a product with a higher meat content than is actually present.

To learn more about this misleading practice… read my article about ingredient splitting.

Now, before we leave the subject of pre-cooking weights… here’s one more thing to keep in mind…

Meat Meals Can Be Superior to Whole Meats

When I first heard this truth about high quality “species-specific” meat meals… I have to admit… I was surprised.

You see… meat meals are exceptionally concentrated dry forms of the corresponding whole meat.  Dog foods made with these protein “concentrates” contain more protein than the whole meats themselves.

That’s because whole meat… before it is cooked… contains about 70 percent water… and around 15 percent protein.  After cooking away the fat and water… the remaining protein weighs relatively little.

The actual “by-weight” nutrient content before cooking?  Whole meat, 15% protein… meat meal, 65% protein.  Pound-for-pound… that’s more than four times as much protein in meat meal… as in the whole meat itself.

So… don’t be turned off when you see an animal meal near the top of an ingredients list.  You should expect a high quality species-specific meat meal to contain significantly more digestible animal protein… than its corresponding whole meat counterpart.

To discover how to quickly spot dog foods made with inferior protein meal ingredients… read my article about meat concentrates.

The Bottom Line

If you’re looking for a superior meat-based dog food… remember these three powerful secrets to help you find what you’re looking for…

1. Avoid any dog food made with animal by-products
2. Avoid any dog food made with generic animal protein
3. Favor a dog food when high quality animal protein ranks near the top of the ingredients list

Whenever you come across a product that violates one (or more) of these important rules, do your dog a favor…  and take a pass.

Take my word for it… there’s certainly a better dog food out there.

The Dog Food Advisor publishes independent reviews to help pet owners make better choices when shopping for dog food.

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