Would You Feed Your Dog This?
A friend and colleague texted me yesterday with a dog food question, which happens often these days. She wondered why a veterinarian would recommend a large breed kibble puppy food for a fast growing puppy with a growth-related orthopedic disease. There are many feeding philosophies about how best to nourish these puppies while protecting their bones and joints, but few include using puppy formulations. The only thing I could think of was the vet thought the calcium to phosphorus balance was better in this product than in others.
And then she told me the product that was recommended, so I looked it up. To say I was shocked is an understatement.
Ingredients: Chicken By-Product Meal, Wheat Gluten, Corn, Oat Groats, Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Fat, Brewers Rice Flour, Brown Rice, Natural Flavors, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Fish Oil, Sodium Silico Aluminate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Vegetable Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Pea Fiber, Potassium Chloride, Psyllium Seed Husk, L-Lysine, Salt…
Five of the first six ingredients are grains. After the chicken fat, there are three other grain or starchy ingredients. Does this sound nourishing to a growing puppy? And what is chicken by-product meal anyway?
The legal or regulatory definition is provided by AAFCO, the Association of American Feed Control Officials. According to their manual, chicken by-product meal is a dry, ground, and rendered product made from clean parts of a slaughtered chicken, such as the feet, neck, intestines, and undeveloped eggs. Feathers are not included, except for trace amounts that may occur during processing.
A quick web search defines chicken by-product meal as a dried, ground, and rendered ingredient in pet food that comes from non-edible parts of chickens, such as the feet, livers, lungs, brains, spleen, and kidneys. It’s a primary source of protein in pet food and is often inexpensive to produce.
Purina explains it differently. From their website “By-products from poultry are simply parts of the animal that remain after meat is removed. They may include lungs, spleen, liver, and kidneys. These nutritious poultry by-products are high-quality ingredients contributing nutritional value to dog food.”
All of these definitions agree on one thing — there is no muscle meat in the product, at least not intentionally. While organ meats can contain beneficial nutrients, it’s important to remember that by-product meals are rendered products, not fit for human consumption. The nutrients may have been lost as the chicken carcasses rot or decay, as well as during the cooking and other rendering steps. (Click this link to get a PDF of the rendering process from USDA. Pay special attention to page 7.)
So would you rely on some organ meats as a primary source of protein for a growing large breed puppy? Would you want to feed a product that contains more of an anti-caking agent (sodium silico aluminate) than recognizable ingredients? Keeping in mind the general rule that salt is present in kibble at 1% of the recipe, what do you think of this string of ingredients …Fish Oil, Sodium Silico Aluminate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Vegetable Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Pea Fiber, Potassium Chloride, Psyllium Seed Husk, L-Lysine, Salt…
We know the fish oil and vegetable oil will be rancid within two weeks after the kibble is exposed to air. And pea fiber and psyllium husk — what benefits do they provide? Finally, the need to add lysine, an essential amino acid (building block for protein) reflects the lack of meat origin protein. Would you rather feed a synthesized form of this essential amino acid, or get it from something as simple as chicken thighs?
If you are still possibly (or should that be impossibly) on board with feeding this product, how do you feel about paying $4 per pound for it online, and probably more in retail pet store? Keeping in mind that grocery store chicken is often available for under $0.99 a pound, and Thanksgiving turkey promotions can land you a whole bird for the same price or less, sometimes even free, how in the world is this product being sold at $4.00 per pound? And is it any wonder, as people fall for the marketing hype behind kibble brands, and the mythology perpetuated by the pet food industry and, sadly, many of my colleagues, that our dogs are less healthy than ever before, cancer rates are rising, and lifespans are decreasing?
I can already visualize what the comments section on this post will look like. “So what should I feed?” “Where do I find a good product?” ” How can I make my dog’s food and keep it affordable?” To save some time, I am going to give you a couple of resources you can take advantage of now. With the availability of digital downloads, you can have your answers in your device of choice in minutes. First, for those looking for commercial solutions, I recommend the Truth About Pet Food List. This list includes a large number of foods for dogs and cats available in the US. The majority of them are raw, cooked, or freeze-dried, so if you are looking for kibble (which I recommend against, as the problems discussed in this blog are almost universal in the kibble industry), you will find only a few options. Also note that now the 2024 List is available, but on this Sunday, December 1, the 2025 List will be replacing it. Click here to go to the List page, and here to go to the Treat List (2024). Pages will open in a new tab. You will receive the lists as downloadable PDF’s in return for a donation to support Truth About Pet Food.
Ready for a hands on, DIY option? Making your dog’s food yourself can save you money in return for devoting some time to put together a batch that will last days or weeks. Of course you must follow a nutritionally complete recipe. My recommended starting point is The Forever Dog Life book, available on Amazon as well as all the usual places. This book contains 120 recipes, with even more available at the book website. I really enjoy putting together new recipes for my dogs, and taking advantage of sales to both save money and provide more variety in the bowl. And remember, the kibble that inspired this post was $4.00 a pound. Using fresh food allows you to use human quality ingredients, a huge step up from kibble. And if you pull out your grocery store sale flyer, how many ingredients are under $4.00 a pound? That feeding fresh food costs less than “high quality” kibble is one of the best kept secrets of the pet world! When you factor in the savings in veterinary care for things like vomiting and diarrhea, ear infections, skin problems, and more, fresh food can be significantly less expensive.
I hope sharing this info will open your eyes to the unacceptable quality of kibble ingredients, and inspire you to feed your dog better. With every new piece of information you learn, you can do better for your dog. The resources you need are at your fingertips, the ingredients as close as your local supermarket. You can begin to make changes to improve your dog’s health today.