Shih Tzu - Selecting a Commercial Food

Commercial pet food is a great convenience to pet owners. Responsible pet owners who want the best for their animals have a bewildering array of foods and claims to choose from. How do you know what's best for your animals?

The most reputable manufacturers of premium and "natural" pet foods agree with holistic veterinarians that the very best diet for your pet is one that you make yourself. A home-prepared diet, carefully balanced nutritionally and using raw and organic foods, is the best you can do for your pet. However, many of us do not have the time or energy to do home-cooking, especially for multiple animals or very large dogs. So, for those of us who rely, partially or entirely on commercial foods for our animals, here are some guidelines to use in selecting a good-quality diet.

CONTENT:

The name of the flavor is strictly regulated and tells us what is actually in the food. "Chicken for Dogs" must contain at least 95% chicken (excluding water). Similarly, "Fish and Giblets for Cats" will be 95% fish and giblets together, and there must be more fish than giblets since fish appears first on the label. If the label says "dinner", "platter", "entree", "nuggets", "formula" or similar term, there must be 25% of the named meat source. That is, "Fish Dinner" must contain 25% fish. If more than one ingredient is named, such as "Fish and Giblets Entree", the two ingredients must comprise 25% of the total and the second ingredient must be at least 3%. Ingredients labeled as "with" must be present at 3%, such as "Fish Dinner with Giblets". An ingredient labeled as a "flavor", such as "Beef Flavor Dinner", may not actually have a beef meat, but more likely will contain beef meal or beef by-products which give the food a beef flavor.

WHAT IS A BY-PRODUCT?

Even on premium brands such as Science Diet and Iams, you will notice the first ingredient listed is "by-products". By-products may include muscle meat, but more often comprise intestines, feet, hooves, beaks, and other waste organs, spoiled meat, and road kill.

THE 4 D's:

When a manufacturer claims to use meat as an ingredient, this is not usually a grade of meat fit for human consumption. If it were, the cost of pet food would be prohibitively high. Pet food meat may be from animals that are disabled, diseased, dying, or already dead before reaching the slaughterhouse: the "4 D's". It may include cancerous tissue or fetal tissue (which is very high in hormones). It may even be meat from dogs and cats that have been euthanized at animal shelters, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and confirmed by the American Veterinary medical Association, though vehemently denied by pet food manufacturers.

COMPLETE & BALANCED:

A food may be labeled "complete and balanced" if it meets the standards set by a regulatory group such as AAFCO, the American Association of Feed Control Officers. They may do this in two ways: (1) meeting the published standards for content, or (2) feeding trials.

The nutritional standards set the required amounts of protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and so forth. These theoretically have the benefit of extensive research in various species behind them.

However, the fundamental research supporting standards for adult cat food includes one study on protein requirements, one study on amino acid requirements, and zero studies on vitamin requirements. Yet AAFCO publishes standards stating exactly how much of each vitamin must be included in adult cat food. Where to these values come from? They are interpreted and extrapolated from research in kittens (which has been more extensive), and from research in other species. Is this valid? We do not know.

Moreover, any manufacturer can synthesize a food containing the exact amounts of each ingredient according to the standards, yet an animal will ultimately starve to death on it. How could this happen? Because the standards do not address the issues of digestibility or "bioavailability" of nutrients to the animal. Certain forms of vitamins and minerals, for example, cannot be absorbed from the digestive tract. One veterinarian reportedly concocted a food using old leather boots, crankcase oil and wood shavings, that met the technical content requirements for protein, carbohydrates and fats. Unfortunately, given the ingredients used by many manufacturers, "Old Boot" may be closer to the truth than anyone wants to admit!

Feeding trials are considered the "gold standard" of pet food formulation; however, when you look at the actual AAFCO standards, a manufacturer must feed exclusively the test food to a minimum of 6 animals for 6 months. Most reputable pet food producers, including Iams, Purina, and similar companies, test on hundreds of animals for a year or more. However, it is easy to see how a marginally ethical manufacturer could feed a poor quality diet for only 6 months without seeing adverse health effects, and then be able to state that their food is "complete and balanced".

Keep in mind that the standards, such as they are, only set "minimums" and "maximums", not "optimums". Commercial foods are designed to be adequate for the average animal, but may not be suitable for an individual pet's variable needs.

ADDITIVES:

Virtually every commercial food contains additives and preservatives. Some of the worst include BHA, BHT and Ehoxyquin. Monsanto, manufacturer of Ethoxyquin (a rubber stabilizer and pesticide), was ordered to conduct a new study on Ethoxyquin due to doctoring of data in its initial report. Not surprisingly, the new study, just completed, found no problems associated with Ethoxiquin in pet food. Given Monsanto's track record, do you believe this? Ethoxyquin is banned in human food products due to its cancer-causing properties. Worst for the consumer, many chemicals may be added by the renderer or have been used on grain products in the field or during processing, and since the pet food makers are not the ones adding them, they need not be disclosed on the label. For instance, probably most, if not all, animal fat destined for animal consumption has been treated with Ethoxyquin by the renderer.

WHAT TO DO?

When selecting a commercial food for your pet, be sure to read the label. Although percentages are misleading due to the moisture content of various ingredients, they are the only data available. In general, select brands promoted to be "natural": while they are not perfect, they are better than most. Several foods are now preserved with Vitamin E rather than synthetic preservatives. While these preservatives may still be present, the amounts will be less. Stay away from "light" or "special formula" foods; manufacturers barely know enough to produce a fair quality maintenance food, let alone tinker with generally workable formulas. Avoid generic or store brands; these are usually repackaged rejects from the big manufacturers. Change brands every few months to avoid deficiencies or excesses of ingredients which may be problematic to your pet. Cats in particular need a daily serving of wet food to reduce the workload on the kidneys. Above all, supplement with organic raw meats (these are safe as long as they have been previously frozen), and cooked organic grains and vegetables (most cannot be digested by our pet animals raw). There are many excellent books available for more detailed guidelines on ingredients, proportions, and preparation.

Dog Food Ingredients Guide

Dog food manufacturers are subject to guidelines provided by the government and the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)and must list ingredients and contents of each product they make. Although the actual amount of each ingredient is not provided, one can determine the basic proportions of the contents to the whole of the meal; ingredients are listed in descending order according to weight. For instance, if corn meal is the first ingredient listed, as a whole, the food contains more corn meal by weight than any of the other ingredients. Likewise, if chicken is the first ingredient, the food has more chicken by weight etc.

One thing to understand is that these orders of ingredients can be misleading (and often times are) as content like grains can be broken into different parts and listed independently of one another. If for example, the label reports chicken as the first ingredient, but goes on to list corn meal, ground corn, chicken by product meal, and corn gluten meal, the food as a whole might primarily be corn based, even though chicken was reported first. Another common trick is listing fresh meat as the first ingredient suggesting it is the staple portion of the contents. However, fresh meat has a much higher percentage of moisture, therefore some what less protein, than does meat meal, which has less moisture as it is removed during processing. So the protein content in 1 pound of fresh meat is lower than 1 pound of meat meal.

The AAFCO helps us to understand the ingredients by applying standards that apply to all manufacturers and regulates the definitions of ingredients so that they mean the same thing to all companies and suppliers. It also regulates terms such as fresh, dried, natural, organic, toasted and rolled. It also protects consumers from the false advertising of dog food companies.

Below are definitions to the ingredients that can be applied to all dog food manufacturers.

Animal by-product meal: The rendered tissue and parts of animals, not including added feet, hooves, horns, stomachs, hair, hide trimmings, manure and rumen except as unavoidable during processing.

Animal Digest: A compound as a result from the chemical and enzymatic decomposition of clean and undecomposed animal tissue not including hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except as unavoidable in processing.

Meat and Bone Meal: Rendered from meat and bone not including hair, blood, horns, hooves, manure, hide trimmings, stomach or rumen contents except which is unavoidable during processing. Only 14% of this may be indigestible residue and no more than 11 percent indigestible crude protein.

Beef, chicken and animal fat: Fat obtained from poultry and mammalian tissue during the process of rendering.

Corn gluten meal: The dried residue from corn after the starches, germs and brans are removed.

Meat meal: Rendered meal made from mammal tissues not including hair, hooves, blood, horns, hide trimmings, stomach or rumen, and manure except for what is unavoidable during processing. It cannot contain added any foreign matter and may not contain more than 14% indigestible materials. Indigestible crude protein cannot be more than 11%. Meals are also used after process and give a more true actual weigh on the list of label ingredients for placement over whole meats.

Meat or meat based: This is meat that is the clean flesh of slaughtered cattle, pigs, sheep or goats and can include striated skeletal muscle, tongue, diaphragm, hear or esophagus, overlying fat and some skin, sinew, nerves and blood vessels already in this flesh. After processing these meats can loose up to 80% of their total weight pushing it down the list from number 1 to 4 and beyond.

Grains: Whole, ground cracked and flaked, including corn, barley, whet, rice, oats, brewer's rice, brown rice and just about any other grain.

Ground corn: The whole corn kernel.

Poultry: The clean flesh and skin either with or without the accompanying carcass bone but not include feathers, feet, entrails and heads.

Poultry by product meal: The ground, rendered, clean poultry parts like necks, feet, intestines and partially developed eggs while not including feathers except as unavoidable by processing.

Poultry by products: The nonrendered clean parts of poultry including heads, feet and viscera but it must be free of fecal and foreign matter except as unavoidable by processing.

Amaranth: A superior grain and source of good carbohydrates, minerals and flavor.

Alfalfa meal: The finely ground meal of the alfalfa plant.

Semolina: The endosperm of durum wheat and is high in protein.

Barley: Contains at minimum 80% good quality barley and no more than 3% heat damaged, 6% foreign material, 20% other grains or 10% of wild oats.

Barley flour: Ground barley meal

Brown rice: Left over unpolished rice

Soybean meal: Rendered by product of soybean oil production

Grain sorghum: Member of the grass family; can be either grain sorghums, grass sorghums, sweet sorghums or broomcorn.

Cereal food fines: the by product meal made from leftovers during commercial human cereal production

Flaxseed: Known also as linseed which is high in Omega-3 fatty acids

Linseed meal: The residue of flaxseed oil production

Mesquite bean meal: By product of production but high in nutrients that help regulate blood sugar

Oatmeal: Real healthy oats made into a meal

Whole Eggs: The best source of usable protein and rates above all meats and meat meals and meat products. Shells contain calcium carbonate goof for strong teeth

Beef tallow: Hard, white, fatty substance that provides difficulty in digesting

Animal digest: A liquid or powder made with clean under-composed animal tissue broken down through a chemical or emblematic hydrolysis. I cannot contain horns, hooves, teeth, hair or feathers except that which is unavoidable. Digest names have to be descriptive of their specific source i.e. chick, beef, lamb digest.

Fish meal: Clean and dried ground tissue of whole fish or fish cuttings which may or may not have oil still. Fish meal in a dogs diet is an excellent source of Omega-3 fatty acids.

Salmon: Clean whole salmon meat or meat cuttings that may or may not still have oil. Salmon in dog food is great as it contains Omega-6 and good quality protein.

Turnip greens: Fresh vegetable which contains calcium, Omega-3, vitamin A & C. Great product for pet foods.

Tomatoes: Whole vegetable with carotenoids, beta-carotene, and vitamins A & C.

Peas and carrots: Fresh vegetable full of fiber with an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. Also used for a palatable flavor.

Oranges: Used to combat some of the toxins in food as well as provide vitamin C for good immunity and reduces cholesterol.

Pumpkin: A squash with nutritious properties including fiber.

Papaya: Also added for fiber as well as its enzymes used in the digestive process and absorption of critical vitamins and minerals.

Guava Leaves: Helps to combat effects of diarrhea.

Peppermint Leaves: Sometimes added for good dog breath.