Dog Food Ingredients

I found an interesting video by Dr. Shawn Messonnier, DVM that explains what a “by-product” is and what goes in it. Dr. Shawn is author of several dog care books and is the host of the weekly award-winning radio show, “Dr. Shawn-The Natural Vet”, on Martha Stewart Radio.

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To find out more about what is in meat “by-products” and meat “meal” and how it is killing your dog I highly recommend a book by dog care expert Andrew Louis called Dog Food Secrets. In the book Andrew gives a simple 3 step solution to increase the life span of your dog.

In the second article of the “How To Read A Dog Food Ingredients Label” I used propylene glycol as an example of an ingredient that was Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS), but later studies showed it to be harmful to cats. As a result, the USDA Center For Veterinary Medicine banned the use of it in cat food. If you think that ban would extend to dog food however you are, like me, mistaken. Read more »

In the second part of “How To Read A Dog Food Ingredients Label” we learned that dog food ingredients must be listed in order by weight. We also saw that as we go down the list we find more ingredients that are less common. We also learned about ethoxyquin, the dog food industries studies of ethoxyquin, and the USDA’s request to lower its presence in dog food. In part 3 we’ll learn about “Guaranteed Analysis” portion of the label and find out how to compare dry dog food vs. canned dog food. Read more »

In the first article, How To Read A Dog Food Ingredients Label – Part 1, we learned about the four basic rules that manufacturers follow in naming dog food. In this part we are going to take a look at the dog food ingredients list itself and learn about one ingredient that some pet foods may still contain. Read more »

The product name is the first part of the dog food ingredients label that should be noticed. Manufacturers often use fanciful names or other techniques to emphasize a particular aspect of their product and there are four basic rules that are generally followed. These rules specify exactly what the product name can claim. In this article we’ll explore these rules and we’ll start to see what is in the food we feed our dogs. Read more »