A little advice on animal nutrition.

So, Nutro foods got recalled again. This time, their feline formulas, because they don't pay close enough attention to their production to properly calibrate the machines that add the nutrients to the food. The zinc levels were off the chart, and an independent lab found that the levels could actually prove to be fatal! Of course, Nutro (being Nutro) denied all this, as they always do. But this is not their first food recall in the past three years.
But this whole episode got me wondering, why should nutrients be added to pet foods? Why cant we all just feed our animals a specially formulated, healthy, complete meal? And why do people continue to feed their animals commercialized pet foods owned by large companies (such as Nestle, Proctor Gamble, or Mars to name a few) where pet food isn't as high a priority as it should be? Personally, I don't want to feed my dog a food from a company who also specializes in making bleaches and pesticides.
Now, I am at a clear advantage over the average Joan Doe pet owner. This is what I do for a living, I work in animal nutrition. I spend most of my free time investigating these different foods, reading both what the manufacturer has to say about the foods and independent studies, as well as listening to feedback from pet owners.
But most importantly, I read the labels of the dog foods. I've been a vegetarian for the past 10 years now, so for me, flipping over a commercial food product and scanning the nutritional labels is an old habit. But I'm surprised by how many people don't do this in their everyday lives. I challenge those of you reading this to go grab your pets food, and flip to the ingredient list. If the first two ingredients aren't meat, I advise you to throw the food directly in the garbage. And by meat I mean "Chicken, Beef, Lamb" or direct parts of the animal such as "Lamb Liver, Ground Lamb Bone". If you find something like "chicken by-product meal" or "Corn", slowly put down the bag and step away.
Dogs thrive best on a carnivorous diet. Yes, they can survive eating just about anything, but when wild Fido hops the fence and raids Farmer Browns farm, he's not going to go "Ohh, look at those shiney fields of grain. Let me eat some of that yummy corn." No. He's going to run right for the hen house, and feast on the livestock. Our feline companions on the other hand, are obligate carnivores. They should only be getting a diet consisting of meat, raw animal bones, and organs. Not to mention that cats should only be eating wet food, because they don't have a thirst reflex and in the wild obtain their fluids from the juices of the animals they kill, and dry kibble dehydrates them, but this is a discussion for another time. Ingredients such as corn, corn gluten meals, and beet pulp are all sugars, carbohydrates and fiber, and do not fulfill the nutritional needs of our carnivorous pets.
And what is a byproduct? Basically, a byproduct is anything that falls on the floor of a slaughter house that can not be identified as to what it really is. Think Mystery meat. According to the FDA, it can contain a certain amount per volume of feces, sawdust, insects, and chemicals. And, unfortunately, before the massive Menu pet food recalls the FDA only had about two people assigned to all pet foods. The sad fact is that there just aren't the same regulations on commercial pet foods that there are on foods meant for human consumption.
Now, most people question the cost of these higher quality pet products, and in these harsh economic times I don't blame people for being cautious, thrifty consumers. But in all honesty, the bags of the lesser quality foods are only within a dollar or two per bag than your higher quality foods. The reason for this is that your better quality pet foods only make pet foods, and don't have large advertising costs that they need to cover. I can guarantee you that any food you see advertised on television is a very poor quality food. Not only that, but if you feed an animal a poor quality food throughout their lives, you are depriving them of vital nutrients that they need to survive. The better quality foods have shown to help maintain healthy animals, therefore, cutting down on those astronomical veterinary bills.
But let me show you what I'm talking about. Listed below are two examples of large breed puppy dry foods. You be the judge on which you would rather feed your best friend.

Dog food #1: Ground Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dicalcium Phosphate, Brewers Rice, Fish Oil, Flaxseed, Soybean Oil, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Vitamins.

Dog Food #2: Turkey, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Barley, Brown Rice, Rice, Potatoes, Chicken Fat, Pea Fiber, Egg, Natural Flavors, Flaxseed, Apples, Sunflower Oil, Pumpkin, Carrots, Potassium Chloride, Sea Salt, Herring Oil, Cottage Cheese, Alfalfa Sprouts, Dried Chicory Root, Direct-Fed Microbials, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Vitamins/Minerals


Want to find out how your dog food rates up against different types of commercial foods? Check out: http://dogfoodanalysis.com/
This is a great site that rates dog foods on a 6 point scale. It's also a great place to research new possible foods for your fur babies!

Personally, I strongly recommend the raw diets listed below. They are closer to what mother nature had in mind for our companion animals all along, and these are what I feed my own animals.

http://www.stellaandchewys.com/

http://www.primalpetfoods.com/

http://www.naturesvariety.com/raw

Please take a look at their websites, and if you have any questions about animal nutrition, please feel free to message me on here!