http://holisticpetfood.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/how-much-meat-is-in-dry-pet-foods/This ought to feed some interesting dinner table conversations…
1. Ingredients are listed on the label in order of WEIGHT.
2. If the weight is the same for various ingredients, the manufacturer gets to choose the order in which they are listed. (i.e., meat, rice, wheat, barley).
3. “Real meat” contains mostly water. For example, three pounds of “chicken meal” equals one pound of “real chicken” or “organic chicken”. So it’s not necessarily better to have a dry food that states “real” anything. It could simply be marketing.
4. In a formula such as this one — real chicken, brown rice, barley — it’s reasonable to assume that each is the same weight. Take the water out of the chicken, which represents 30% of the total weight, and you really have very little real chicken in the formula, maybe 7-15%.
5. The same formula, substituting chicken meal instead of chicken, retains a 30% value of meat protein because there is no “water weight”.
6. Having multiple meats on the listing doesn’t necessarily increase the meat protein. On the other hand, having only one meat doesn’t necessarily mean there is less protein. A food that states “chicken meal, brown rice, potato” can mean they are there in the same quantities — 30-30-30 — OR that the chicken meal is a much higher percent of the formula, with brown rice and potato there only in enough quantities to form the kibble. You simply cannot tell.
7. Watch for “splitting”. If a label says, “Chicken, brown rice, rice flour, rice gluten, rice protein”, it probably gets its protein from the rice, not the chicken, and there is a lot more rice than meat in the formula. If they listed simply “rice”, it would be the first ingredient. Same thing with corn, ground corn meal, corn gluten.
8. Watch for signs that the protein comes from the grains, not the meats. In holistic foods, we don’t like to see corn or wheat, but you can also get protein from the “good grains” such as brown rice and barley. Again, it’s very hard to tell. Your manufacturer could put 80% chicken meal and 2% brown rice, just enough to form a kibble (this is a good thing), or they could be using equal amounts of rice and chicken meal and choose to list chicken meal first.
The purpose of this article is to help you discard “old wives tales” in the pet food arena. Many people pick up false “mantras” such as “be sure real meat is the first thing on the label” and “you always want two or more meats in your food”.
Just learn to read the label, educate yourself on the pet food formulator and the company, don’t believe everything you read, and you’ll do just fine!
I am not a veterinarian. I am simply an animal rescuer who feeds holistic pet foods and has learned much over the years. This article is for information only. I hope it encourages you to work with your veterinarian as you seek to improve your pet’s health through better nutrition.
© Teresa Holladay 2008
The Holistic Pet Food Blog
http://holisticpetfood.wordpress.comThis article may be reproduced on your pet-related blogs with the above credits included.
