Timi Talks

Posted By Timi on July 16, 2009

While there is a whole slew of ingredients in commercial foods that one should avoid, in this post I’ll provide a short list for quick reference. To make it easy, just remember this - if you can buy the food at any grocery store or discount store (Big Lots, Target, Walmart, Kmart) then the food is NOT worth buying as I’ve found they all contain non-beneficial and down right “unhealthy” ingredients. Please do NOT feed your dog kibble that contains any of these ingredients:

“By-Products”: If you see by-product ANYTHING, I say - run! If you search hard enough, you will find reports online defending by-products, but I’ve found all those are written by those representing companies benefiting from their use! (Even if denying it.) Bottom line, responsible canine nutritionalists all agree by-products are NOT quality. The AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials) defines by-products as: consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice; However, this does not mean all food companies comply with the already ambiguous regulation and the reports of what some “by-products” may include should not be ignored: road kill, dead, diseased, disabled, dying livestock…even deceased (euthanized) dogs and cats which are reported to end up in the rendering vats passing the deadly chemical into pet food. I recommend reading http://www.newstarget.com/012647.html

Menadione: a synthetic form of Vitamin K that has been banned from use in human food and supplements in Europe and by the FDA. Many food manufacturers use derivatives of this synthetic ingredient, and some “hide” Menadione from the name. Please refer to this third party link for what to look for on the label and a more comprehensive explanation (including the dangers): click here!

BHT, BHA, Ethoxyquin, Propyl Gallate: chemical preservatives - Ethoxyquin is a poison.

Wheat Gluten: In fact, we’re not fond of any gluten. It is a cheap by-product of human food processing and offers no nutritional value to speak of. It merely serves to bind the food together. Wheat and Corn gluten were culprits in the 2007 Pet Food Recall and is often hard to digest in any animal (including me!)

“Poultry”: it has been described as an unpredictable ingredient, which can contain any type of fowl, including buzzards, geese and other birds. (In other words, if it’s chicken - it should say chicken!)

My next post on the subject of ingredients to avoid will be more involved, but please - start here. Chances are a kibble that omits the above ingredients will also omit other offending ones.

Categories: Nutrition
Tags: bad ingredients, kibble, quality dog food