by Terry Courts
Woof! What’s For Dinner?
FEEDING your dog NATURALLY "Woof woof Grrrr Woof… woof " (Snicker Doodle, waiting patiently in front of his large silver food bowl.)
For those readers who don’t speak dog Snickers just asked (roughly translated) "What’s for dinner?" What happens next is that most good humans open the bright yellow bag of Whole Corn, Soybean Meal, Ground Whole Wheat, Beef & Bone Meal, Animal Fat, BHA/BHT, Corn Syrup, Wheat Mill Run/ Middlings, Water, Animal Digest, Salt, Potassium, Caramel Color, Sorbic Acid, Vitamins/Minerals (the ingredient list of a generic dog food) and reply “Dig in ” 20
Unfortunately for man‘s best friend, pet foods available in grocery stores and large chains today are so highly processed and full of preservatives that their nutritional value is questionable at best (aside from the fact that "Animal Digest" sounds like a magazine, or like something really gross). If you believe ol’ Snickers is just a dog and it doesn’t matter what he eats, then read further. There are hundreds of different pet foods available in this country, and your dog deserves the best. While many of the foods on the market seem virtually the same, not all of the pet food manufacturing companies are using high quality and safe ingredients. Like human foods, pet foods are regulated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and must be pure and wholesome and contain no harmful substances. They also must be truthfully labeled. Foods for or pet (or human) consumption, however, do not require full FDA approval before they are marketed if they’re made with ingredients that are "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS). The old saying, "You are what you eat" goes for your pets, too. The pet food industry now mirrors our human diets, and gives the consumer a better variety and choice. Dog and cat food have now been segmented into Generic, Economy, Premium, Super Premium (humangrade), Holistic, and Raw, and each grade gets closer to an animal’s natural carnivorous lifestyle. Although the purchase price doesn’t always determine whether pet food is good or bad, it can still be a good indicator of quality. It’s impossible for a company that sells a fortypound generic brand of dog food at $9.95 to use
quality protein and grain in its food, because the cost of the ingredients would be much higher than the selling price. Many generic dog foods will use soybean meal, wheat, corn glutens, cornmeal, and whole, crushed, or ground corn as fillers for their cheap protein content. Even more shocking is the fact that byproducts like the internal parts of animals (necks, heads, undeveloped eggs, feet, intestines, lungs, spleen and liver) may also be part of your pup’s dining experience. Although they’re used by many manufacturers, are these the ingredients you would knowingly feed your pet? Better food is also a better value because it takes less good quality food to feed your dog, so even at a higher price per bag, you’ll save several cents per feeding per dog. (You might also be saving on vet bills.) A good rule to remember is that all ingredients used in the pet food must be listed on the label in descending order of predominance by weight, so educate yourself and read your dog food label. The next time Snickers asks what’s for dinner, give him a silver bag of Turkey, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Ground Barley, Ground Brown Rice, Cottage Cheese, Tomatoes, Hemp Oil, Chicken Fat, Flaxseed, Whole Steamed Potatoes, Herring, Whole Raw Apples, Whole Raw Carrots, Alfalfa sprouts, Whole Eggs, Garlic, Dicalcium Phosphate, d-Alpha Tocopherol, Vitamin C (Sodium Ascorbate), Probiotics & Vitamins/ Minerals (the ingredient list of super premium dog food). Demand the best, learn more about super premium foods, and visit local specialty stores like Flipper’s Pets, Bark-n-Purr, and Gallery of Pets for the best choices.