The basics to dog food ingredients

Learning the basics to dog food is a must for all dog owners.
Please spend 10 minutes and read this honest and helpful article on the basics to dog food and it's ingredients. Don't worry we left the discussing stuff out, this is more about what is good for them to have and not how bad some companies dog food is.

Pet-nutrition experts say that the best dog food is made from human-grade ingredients like meat, whole grains and vegetables. What you don't want is a lot of filler as the primary ingredients; these are items that have less nutritional benefit. According to the Born Free USA united with Animal Protection Institute website, dogs can absorb almost all the nutrients from white rice, but grains like oats, flour and wheat have almost no nutritional value for dogs. Corn products aren't very valuable either, and peanut hulls have no value at all. Glutens are another group of ingredients that experts say don't provide much nutritional value to dogs, and are a particular concern since 2007's massive recall of pet foods tainted by contaminated wheat and rice gluten from China.

According to reviews, better-quality dog food results in a healthier coat, fewer digestive problems and firmer stools. Since your dog will absorb more nutrients from better-quality dog food, less will be passed as waste.

Dogs love meat and they need protein. Unlike cats, who need high amounts of protein and no carbohydrates at all, dogs need a diet that contains as much as 50 percent carbohydrates. Still, experts say meat should be the first ingredient, followed by healthy carbohydrate sources such as potatoes, or more absorbable grains like rice. If you've read any dog food labels, you might have noticed the term "by-product." Meat by-product consists mainly of animal parts that are not used for human consumption, such as bones, organs, blood, fatty tissue and intestines. If a label says "chicken by-product," all the parts must come from chicken; the same goes for lamb, beef, etc.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to by-products in dog food. Some say that because a dog in the wild would eat the entire animal when killing prey, including skin, organs and bones, some amount of by-products in dog food is just fine. What you don't want, say reviews, is unidentified by-products, often listed as "meat by-products." Experts say this could include zoo animals, road kill and what's often referred to as 4-D livestock (dead, diseased, disabled, dying). Most shockingly, meat by-products can even include euthanized dogs and cats. In 1990 the American Veterinary Medical Association and the FDA confirmed that some pet food companies were using the bodies of euthanized pets as by-products in their foods. It turns out that this practice wasn't widespread, but limited to small rural rendering plants and a few other assorted links in the pet food manufacturing chain. For these reasons, reviews that do approve of some by-products in pet food say that dog owners should look for specific origin, such as chicken by-product or lamb by-product.

Note that in poultry-based dog foods, the term "by-product" is used to identify by-product meals. However, in other types of dog food, by-product meal can be labeled as "meat and bone meal" (MBM) or even "beef and bone meal." This type of labeling is legal, but clearly misleading.

The other -- and prevailing -- school of thought is that by-products should be avoided entirely, and that a dog's diet should contain meat, vegetables and absorbable grains. These critics say that it's simply too hard to know what exactly is included in by-products, and some say that these unwanted animal parts may contain bacteria or even parts from cancerous animals. MBM used in cattle feed is suspected of being the primary agent in the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (also known as "mad cow" disease).

Related to meat by-products is a low-quality ingredient called animal digest, which is the dry or liquid by-product of the meat rendering process. Experts say that while there is meat content in animal digest, it's of little nutritional value as it is not very digestible.

In dry foods, be aware that listing meat at the top of an ingredient list can be misleading, as meat has a high water content that is removed when processed into dry pet food. However, so-called "meat meal" is meat with the water removed, and finding it high up in the ingredient list is a good indication of a high-protein dry food. Again, beware of foods that contain meat and bone meal or beef and bone meal, as those are low-quality ingredients.

Dog food companies are making moves to get away from using artificial preservatives in dog food. Chemicals used as preservatives, like BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin, have been under scrutiny, and many companies are switching to natural preservatives like vitamin C (ascorbate) and vitamin E (tocopherols). Reviews say natural preservatives are much safer.

According to reviews, better-quality dog food results in a healthier coat, fewer digestive problems and firmer stools. Since your dog will absorb more nutrients from better-quality dog food, less will be passed as waste.

Dogs love meat and they need protein. Unlike cats, who need high amounts of protein and no carbohydrates at all, dogs need a diet that contains as much as 50 percent carbohydrates. Still, experts say meat should be the first ingredient, followed by healthy carbohydrate sources such as potatoes, or more absorbable grains like rice. If you've read any dog food labels, you might have noticed the term "by-product." Meat by-product consists mainly of animal parts that are not used for human consumption, such as bones, organs, blood, fatty tissue and intestines. If a label says "chicken by-product," all the parts must come from chicken; the same goes for lamb, beef, etc.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to by-products in dog food. Some say that because a dog in the wild would eat the entire animal when killing prey, including skin, organs and bones, some amount of by-products in dog food is just fine. What you don't want, say reviews, is unidentified by-products, often listed as "meat by-products." Experts say this could include zoo animals, road kill and what's often referred to as 4-D livestock (dead, diseased, disabled, dying). Most shockingly, meat by-products can even include euthanized dogs and cats. In 1990 the American Veterinary Medical Association and the FDA confirmed that some pet food companies were using the bodies of euthanized pets as by-products in their foods. It turns out that this practice wasn't widespread, but limited to small rural rendering plants and a few other assorted links in the pet food manufacturing chain. For these reasons, reviews that do approve of some by-products in pet food say that dog owners should look for specific origin, such as chicken by-product or lamb by-product.

Note that in poultry-based dog foods, the term "by-product" is used to identify by-product meals. However, in other types of dog food, by-product meal can be labeled as "meat and bone meal" (MBM) or even "beef and bone meal." This type of labeling is legal, but clearly misleading.

The other -- and prevailing -- school of thought is that by-products should be avoided entirely, and that a dog's diet should contain meat, vegetables and absorbable grains. These critics say that it's simply too hard to know what exactly is included in by-products, and some say that these unwanted animal parts may contain bacteria or even parts from cancerous animals. MBM used in cattle feed is suspected of being the primary agent in the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (also known as "mad cow" disease).

Related to meat by-products is a low-quality ingredient called animal digest, which is the dry or liquid by-product of the meat rendering process. Experts say that while there is meat content in animal digest, it's of little nutritional value as it is not very digestible.

In dry foods, be aware that listing meat at the top of an ingredient list can be misleading, as meat has a high water content that is removed when processed into dry pet food. However, so-called "meat meal" is meat with the water removed, and finding it high up in the ingredient list is a good indication of a high-protein dry food. Again, beware of foods that contain meat and bone meal or beef and bone meal, as those are low-quality ingredients.

Dog food companies are making moves to get away from using artificial preservatives in dog food. Chemicals used as preservatives, like BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin, have been under scrutiny, and many companies are switching to natural preservatives like vitamin C (ascorbate) and vitamin E (tocopherols). Reviews say natural preservatives are much safer.

To some it up:

1. Make sure the food has meat (unless your dog is a vegetarian) as the first ingredient and that it says a kind of meat, but not with (meat name)meal or bone meal this means it can be almost anything.
2. If it has by-products then it's best to know that the by-products are from a chicken or cow so it should say beef by-products or chicken by-products. If it just says byproducts it could be dogs or roadkill. (But most likely it's not)
3. Corn is o.k. it's just means your dog will poop more and as it's only might have a hard times digesting it.
4. Most foods are fine and most dogs will be healthy on them, but some higher end foods have less risk for for diseased meat or causing digestive problems.

Vegetarian dog food

I would also like to throw in that I believe dogs can be vegetarians and be healthy and happy. At this time there is no food or process that has figured out the needs to compensate for not eating meat. Mainly dogs need lots of protein, so I would imagine they will have a soy high protein dog food with added healthy nutrients coming out in the near future. For now you can give carrots for dog treats and find a way to get him protein without meat. Like your own blend with bulk soy from Costco, or mushrooms have high protein.