Choosing Your Canine Companion’s Food
Or, What’s the Difference Between Garbage and Packaged Dog Food?
by Alan R. Thompson

Princess, my first Samoyed, developed cancer of the mouth, tongue, and throat at 13 years of age in the 1980's. My second Samoyed, Tundra, had very high copper levels and liver enzymes in his blood and a stunted liver by the time he was 6 months old. I believe both of these conditions were caused or exacerbated by the food and treats they were fed. By changing Tundra’s food from the expensive, highly advertised brand, we were able to bring the copper and enzyme levels into the normal range, but his liver remains about 1/3 the size it should be.

Tundra’s diet, then, is a life-long concern to maintain low copper levels and to ensure that nutritious, easily digestible food goes into his stomach. I have, therefore, done some research beyond the glossy advertisements and other commercial propaganda.

I was given a 5 lb. bag of a prescription food recommended regularly
by many Vets. Having become a devout package reader, I saw such nice things as: Veterinary Oral Health Council Accepted--helps control tartar & plaque (a seal), "Veterinary Exclusive Pet Food", and "Our mission is to help enrich and lengthen the special relationships between people and their pets."

Oh how wonderful! They care about us and our pets. Yeah, right!

Tucked away, nearly out of sight, up under the folded-over and sealed top of the bag are the Ingredients, listed in order of quantity used. With the help of the API Pet Food Shopping Guide , let's analyze the contents of this "exclusive pet food" which is supposed to "enrich and lengthen the special relationship between people and their pets." (Emphasis mine.)

Number 1 ingredient: BREWER'S RICE - the small milled fragments of rice kernels that have been separated from the larger kernels of milled rice. This lower quality rice product is missing many of the nutrients found in Ground Rice and Ground Brown Rice.

Number 2 ingredient: GROUND CORN - the entire corn kernel, ground or chopped. Although a good quality source of carbohydrates, it is a common cause of food allergies.

Number 3 ingredient: POULTRY BY-PRODUCT MEAL - consisting of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines – exclusive of feathers except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices. This inconsistent ingredient includes multiple organs used and their constantly changing proportions. The origin is from any fowl (turkeys, ducks, geese, buzzards, etc.) instead of a single source, like chicken. Poultry By-Product Meal is much less expensive, lower quality proteins (from fowl other than chickens), and is less digestible than Chicken Meal.

Number 4 ingredient: POWDERED CELLULOSE 10% (a source of fiber) - purified, mechanically disintegrated cellulose prepared from fibrous plant materials, i.e. a fancy term for wood. Dried wood is cleaned and processed into a fine powder and used to add bulk and consistency to cheap pet foods.

Number 5 ingredient: ANIMAL FAT - obtained from the tissues of mammals and poultry in the commercial process of rendering or extracting. The origin of the contributing animals is never known, and the resulting oil is very low in linoleic acid -- an essential fatty acid that is important for skin and coat health.

The Animal Protection Institute gives additional information on this ingredient:

"Restaurant grease has become a major component of feed grade animal fat over the last fifteen years. This grease, often held in fifty-gallon drums, may be kept outside for weeks, exposed to extreme temperatures with no regard for its future use. "Fat blenders" or rendering companies then pick up this used grease and mix the different types of fat together, stabilize them with powerful antioxidants to retard further spoilage, and then sell the blended products to pet food companies and other end users.

"These fats are sprayed directly onto extruded kibbles and pellets to make an otherwise bland or distasteful product palatable. The fat also acts as a binding agent to which manufacturers add other flavor enhancers such as digests. Pet food scientists have discovered that animals love the taste of these sprayed fats. Manufacturers are masters at getting a dog or a cat to eat something she would normally turn up her nose at."

(PRESERVED WITH BHA, PROPYL GALLATE, AND CITRIC ACID) - BHA/BHT are chemical preservatives which have been banned from human use in many countries. In the US [& Canada], they are still permitted in pet foods and biscuits. Both BHA and BHT have been associated with liver damage, fetal abnormalities, and metabolic stress. They also have a questionable relationship to cancer.

Another preservative is ethoxyquin, an insecticide (bug killer) that has been linked to liver cancer.

Number 6 ingredient: SOYBEAN MILL RUN - coarse and fine particles of soy bran and soybean shorts (offal from the tail of the mill from commercial soybean milling). Commonly referred to as 'floor sweepings,' this ingredient is nothing more than an inexpensive filler with little or no nutritional value.

The 'Crude Protein' analysis on pet food labels is only a measurement of the amount of nitrogen in a food -- not the quality of the protein. Because of this, pet food companies can use the cheaper by-products of human food production, such as Soybean Meal.

Meat is always the best source of quality protein. Meat protein is better absorbed and retained and is higher in essential amino acids like methionine, arginine, and taurine. Soybean Meal has a biologic value less than 50% of Chicken Meal.

Number 7 ingredient: DRIED EGG PRODUCT - the product obtained from egg graders, breakers, and hatchery operations that is dehydrated, liquid, or frozen. Egg Product is the unused leftovers from eggs for human production. It can include undeveloped eggs, shells, and other tissues unfit for human consumption.

Number 8 ingredient: NATURAL FLAVOR: palatability enhancers made by cooking down meat and fats into concentrated liquid or dry product. Much like a reduced broth you would use in making gravy, this ingredient intensifies the flavor of the food.

Number 9 ingredient: VEGETABLE OIL - the product of vegetable origin obtained by extracting the oil from seeds or fruits which are processed for edible purposes.

Rest of ingredients: CHEMICALS & VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS including SALT - a natural mineral, necessary for life and good health. Most pet foods contain enough natural sodium to satisfy a pet's nutritional requirements.

"The added salt and sugar in dry and tin food causes a fast build up of tooth plaque. The average dog can consume as much as 26 pounds of preservatives every year from eating commercial dog foods." Read more.

Every one of the above ingredients except Number 8 (Natural Flavor) are listed as Ingredients to Avoid. These ingredients are of low quality, poor nutritional value, questionable origin, or pose safety and health risks for dogs and cats. Definitions based on American Association of Feed Control Officials data, where available.

The manufacturer of the prescription dog food recommends feeding an 80 lb. dog 7 cups of this stuff daily. I feed my 74-pound Tundra 3 cups of Wysong and Innova daily. Prince, at 55 lbs., gets 2 & 1/4 cups of Nutro Max per day compared with the recommended 5 & 3/4 cups of the prescription product. So where do the other 4 cups of Hills go? Right through your dog, leaving you more than twice the amount of poop to clean up daily. Somehow I have difficulty understanding how a 100% increase in poop-scooping is going to "help enrich and lengthen the special relationships between people and their pets."

And what, you might ask, is the dog living and growing on with all this filling, non-nutritious, largely indigestible gunk going through your dog's system? Try asking your vet. But be aware that very few vets have taken courses in pet nutrition.

Let’s look at another veterinarian exclusive brand for senior dogs.

Number 1 ingredient: CHICKEN MEAL - the dry rendered product from a combination of clean flesh and skin (with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts of whole carcasses of chicken or a combination thereof -- exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, or entrails. A high quality, low ash Chicken Meal is very digestible, very palatable, and very expensive. It is considered to be the single best source of protein in commercial pet foods.

Number 2 ingredient: DEHULLED OATS - (mechanically dehulled oats are also called oat groats) a good source of carbohydrates.

Number 3 ingredient: CRACKED PEARLED BARLEY - barley that's been dehulled and reduced by machine brushing into smaller particles. This less expensive fractionated grain product is missing many of the nutrients found in whole grains.

Number 4 ingredient: RICE GLUTEN - (Note: the following discussion is for rice gluten meal which is the only rice gluten substance listed in my source) the dried residue from rice after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling manufacture of rice starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm. A poor quality protein filler. See discussion on Crude Protein analysis in the Number 6 ingredient (Soybean Mill Run) in the first section above.

Number 5 ingredient: RICE - (assumed to be ground rice) the de-hulled rice kernel without the pericarp, ground or chopped; is the most digestible grain for pet foods and is relatively hypoallergenic. Ground white rice is slightly more digestible than ground brown rice. Rice is a high quality source of carbohydrates and natural fiber and provides excellent nutritional value and a 'nutty' flavor in dog and cat foods.

Ingredient 6: TOMATO POMICE - the byproduct of tomato processing, the fibrous dried mix of skin, pulp, and crushed seeds. Notes: This inexpensive by-product ingredient has the potential for pesticide residues in discarded tomato skins, the largest component of Tomato Pomace.

Ingredient 7: NATURAL CHICKEN FLAVOR - see Number 8 ingredient (Natural Flavor) in the first section above.

Ingredient 8: FLAXSEED - the whole seed of the flax plant. Flaxseed is added for its Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acids which help produce a soft, luxuriant coat.

This food rates better as ingredients 1, 2, 5, 7 & 8 are on the Appropriate Ingredients list.

Ingredients 3, 4 & 6 are Ingredients to Avoid.

For our last analysis, I’ve selected a premium food available at better pet supply stores–Innova. Note that with this premium food, you don’t have to look up under folded, tucked in places on the package nor do you need a magnifying glass to read it. In fact, I can read it without my reading glasses (it’s called large print).

Number 1 and 2 ingredients: TURKEY and CHICKEN, respectively - the clean combination of flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts or whole carcasses of turkey/chicken or a combination of thereof - exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, and entrails.

Number 3 ingredient: CHICKEN MEAL - see ingredient Number 1 in the second section above.

Number 4 ingredient: BARLEY - (assumed to be ground) at least 80% good quality barley; no more than 3% heat damaged kernels, 6 percent foreign material, 20% other grains or 10% wild oats. Barley is a good quality source of carbohydrates. Because it includes the entire barley kernel, it contributes additional protein, barley oil, bran, and vitamins and minerals to the diet. This is in contrast to fractionated grain ingredients, which are leeched of much of their natural value.

Number 5 ingredient: BROWN RICE - (assumed to be ground) the entire product obtained in grinding the rice kernels after the hulls have been removed. Notes: This is a high quality source of carbohydrates and natural fiber to provide excellent nutritional value and a 'nutty' flavor in dog and cat foods. Ground Brown Rice is slightly less digestible than Ground (white) Rice.

Number 6 ingredient: POTATOES - (assumed whole steamed potatoes) provide B vitamins, carbohydrates, zinc, vitamin C, copper, iron, magnesium, niacin and potassium.

Number 7 ingredient: CHICKEN FAT - obtained from the tissues of chickens in the commercial process of rendering or extracting. It is the highest of all animal sources in linoleic acid (over 23%), an important element for skin and coat health.

(PRESERVED WITH MIXED TOCOPHEROLS) - (Vitamins C and E) - Naturally occurring compounds used as natural preservatives. Tocopherols function as antioxidants, preventing the oxidation of fatty acids, vitamins, and some other nutrients. These are being used more frequently as preservatives, as many dog owners are more concerned about chemical preservatives. Tocopherols have a very short shelf life, especially once the bag of food has been opened.

Number 8 ingredient: HERRING - (related to white fish) White Fish is the clean, dried, ground tissue of un-decomposed whole fish or fish cuttings, either or both, with or without the extraction of part of the oil. Herring is an excellent single-source protein. It is also an excellent source of Omega 3 essential fatty acids.

Number 9 ingredient: APPLES - (assumed to be whole, raw apples) an excellent source of dietary fiber. About 81 percent of the fiber is soluble; most of it is of a type called pectin. Apples provide both soluble and insoluble fiber, some vitamin C and beta carotene, and potassium and boron.

Number 10 ingredient: CARROTS - fresh or freshly cooked (steamed) carrots, sold for human consumption.

Number 11 ingredient: COTTAGE CHEESE - an excellent source of calcium, phosphorus, protein and vitamins. Cottage cheese has only trace amounts of lactose and because of its limited inclusion in the formula, the ultimate amount of lactose in the finished product is insignificant and would not be in sufficient supply to cause an intolerance problem.

Number 12 ingredient: SUNFLOWER OIL - obtained by extracting oil from sunflower seeds. Notes: It has a high concentration of linoleic acid (73%), which is important for good skin and coat health.

Other ingredients include ALFALFA SPROUTS [the same sprouts you could find in a produce section or a salad bar. They are not pre-processed, so they retain the flavors and important nutrients (including 'protector' antioxidants) of the foods you serve at your own table.]; EGGS [Dried Eggs are USDA-inspected whole eggs, without the shell, in a dehydrated form. A cheaper Egg Product may contain eggs unfit for human consumption.]; and GARLIC [Garlic is the whole clove of the garlic plant. Garlic is valued for its anti-oxidant properties, as well as its enjoyable flavor. When comparing dog foods, ask if garlic is fresh and of table-quality.]

Would you believe that all 15 ingredients listed above are on the Appropriate Ingredients for Dog Food list? Well, I must admit that the list was extracted from Natura Pet, Makers of Innova, from their website.

If you want to feed your dog healthy, digestible food and treats, look carefully at the ingredients listed on the packages, compare them with the definitions of these ingredients on the API Pet Food Shopping Guide, then make your own decisions based on what you think is best. No perfect food exists, primarily because different dogs have different needs. And different people have different philosophies on what dogs should be fed. There are arguments for and against raw food vs. cooked food, all meat vs. meat + veggies, varied diet vs. single diet, etc. No informed person, though, recommends feeding a pet garbage, whether it comes from the home garbage can or is packaged and sold as "dog food."

For additional dog nutritional education, see Pet Foods We Recommend.

Also, see this excerpt from the book, "Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food," by Ann N. Martin.

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• Alan Thompson is a Canadian Sammy owner.