Ten amino acids. Twelve minerals. Eleven vitamins. And two kinds of fatty acids.
Whew! No question about it… there certainly are plenty of canine nutrients to think about.
What’s more… each and every one of them is considered absolutely essential… and must be present in the correct amounts… and the right proportions… in every dog food… to help keep your pet free of disease.
So, how can you be sure a particular dog food meets some kind of minimum vitamin and mineral standards?
A Dog Food Insider’s Secret Revealed
Think about it… are you really prepared to check every product label to confirm the presence and quantity of each one of these vital nutrients?
Even dog food “obsessives” like me lack the time (not to mention… the patience) to perform that kind of detailed analysis.
But alas… there’s an easier way. And dog food “insiders” know this label reading secret as the Nutritional Adequacy Statement.
Now, once you know what it is… and where to find it… you can use this simple shortcut to instantly screen any dog food for proper vitamin and mineral content.
False Claims… Dangerous Nutrition
The dog food industry defines a nutritionally “complete” product as one that can be fed to a dog as its sole ration. In other words, it is capable of maintaining life without adding any other substance… except water.1
Guidelines go on by defining a “balanced” dog food as one that has “all known required nutrients in proper amount and proportion”.2
Now, here’s the problem…
Think about how dangerous it would be for any dog food to be sold as a “complete and balanced” diet… when, in fact, that product was actually deficient in one or more essential nutrients.
Hello. Does the word “unsafe” ring a bell?
That’s what makes a Nutritional Adequacy Statement so helpful. No… it’s not perfect. But it is the industry’s token (but welcome) attempt at policing itself.
What to Look for to Protect Your Dog
OK, now… in order for any dog food company to print the words “complete and balanced” on a package… that claim must first have been validated in one of two ways.
The first uses a product’s “recipe” (or the laboratory analysis of a sample) to assume it meets AAFCO’s Dog Food Nutrient Profile3. Dog food’s meeting this standard usually include words like…
“(Name of product) is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles”
The second method not only meets the AAFCO profile… but also verifies nutritional adequacy by conducting actual feeding trials with real dogs. This type of adequacy statement will probably look something like this…
“Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate that (name of product) provides complete and balanced nutrition”
Now, obviously, products tested using this more rigorous method should be given extra consideration.
Make Sure a Product Fits Your Dog’s Life Stage
Is your dog a growing puppy? An adult? A senior?
AAFCO also requires all Nutritional Adequacy Statements to clearly identify for which life stage a product is most suitable. Current standards4 include two specific dog food nutrient profiles…
- Adult maintenance
- Growth and reproduction
A maintenance type product is only suitable for non-reproducing adult dogs with normal activity levels. This same dog food may not be appropriate for growing, reproducing or working animals.
On the other hand, any product described as acceptable for “all life stages” must meet the more stringent “growth and reproduction” profile.
Sometimes, a product may be labeled for a particular use… or life stage… such as “for senior dogs”. Even though there are no clear-cut rules governing these various statements, one thing is certain… these special purpose dog foods have definite limitations.
Any product that cannot meet either the adult maintenance or growth and reproduction standards must state…
“This product is intended for intermittent or supplemental feeding”
In other words… it’s a product not intended for long-term use.
Save Time… and Maybe Save a Life
Especially with kibble, cooking and heat processing can destroy vital nutrients. No commercial dog food can possibly match nature’s built-in vitamin and mineral content.
Just the same… Nutritional Adequacy Statements can still save you lots of time. And they can at least make it possible for you to have some level of assurance your dog’s food might actually come close to meeting important dietary standards.
Unfortunately, though, the statements themselves are not always so easy to find. They can be located virtually anywhere on the package.
Yet rest assured… they’re supposed to be there… somewhere.
If you can’t find the statement… or if the statement itself does not declare the product complete, balanced and appropriate for your dog’s life stage… take a pass.
Don’t buy it.
Because feeding your dog the same deficient product day after day… and week after week… can multiply the error… and possibly cost your dog her life.
Bad dog food sucks. Spread the word.
- Official Publication 2008 Edition, Association of American Feed Control Officials, p. 241 ↩
- Official Publication 2008 Edition, Association of American Feed Control Officials, p. 239 ↩
- Official Publication 2008 Edition, Association of American Feed Control Officials, pp. 131-132 ↩
- Official Publication 2008 Edition, Association of American Feed Control Officials, p. 131 ↩
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
If nutritionally balanced pet foods were as great as we expect them to be, why are pets fed these diets sicker than ever before? Something doesn’t match our expectations.
Heidi… the Nutritional Adequacy Statement only suggests the product meets minimum industry standards for nutrient content (vitamins, minerals, etc). It does not guarantee ingredient quality. To see what I mean, be sure to read some of my earlier posts about the danger of cheap grains and the toxicity of artificial preservatives.