How To Select The Perfect Pet Food

I've been asked more than once - more than a bunch of times - what is the perfect pet food? I wish there was an answer to that - a perfect pet food. I have a food that I like - that I trust - but it might not be what you want for your dog or cat. There are many good manufacturers - many good foods to choose from.

The front of a dog food or cat food bag can sometimes be very misleading. If you are searching for that perfect pet food, you will probably need to ignore the front of the bag and the advertising. To explain this further, I have two pretend pet foods listed below. Image that you are considering these foods for your own pet.

Kirby's Kibble Super Supper

Premium Pet Food for Premium Pets!

Made with USDA meat proteins Freshness Guaranteed! Complete Nutrition

Or

Kirby's Kibble Plain Pet Food

Made from Chicken Feet, Peanut Hulls, And other by-Products

Guaranteed Fresh for 3 Years with Chemical Preservatives!

Our Ingredients from Worldwide Suppliers saves you money!

100% Complete Nutrition

Average nutrition for average pets!!

I can assume you only like one of these two pet foods. However, the real truth about them is that both foods contain the very same ingredients - identical ingredients!

Kirby's Plain Pet Food is the truthful label - but you are never going to see this type of pet food label. No pet food manufacturer is going to tell you right on the label they use chicken feet (and they actually do!) or buy cheap ingredients from China (yep, they still do that too).

Kirby's Super Supper is what you are going to see at the pet store. But remember - they contain the EXACT same ingredients.

Below is what to look out for on pet food labels and in pet food advertising...

1. Pictures of cute pets or healthy looking ingredients. The pictures are provided on my pretend labels - but they are almost always on a pet food bag or can. Don't believe what you see.

2. Super Supper. Everyone wants to feed their pet a 'super supper'. And when you see the word 'supper' you think in terms of human food. Since it's says 'super' and 'supper' it must be just like what Mom used to make. The truth is...the only way to know if the food is actually super - is to look at the list of ingredients on the back of the bag. A dog food or cat food name is just that - a name. It might not have anything to do with quality or good nutrition.

3.Premium Pet Food for Premium Pets. Again - every pet owner wants to provide their pet with premium food. Kirby's Plain Pet Food isn't going to be a top seller. AND - everyone also believes their pet is something special - a premium pet. Kirby's Kibble attaches itself to that emotion! It's an emotional trigger. Pay no attention to marketing sub-titles of the pet food. Some might be true advertising, some might not - the only way to know for sure is looking at the ingredients.

4. strong>Made with REAL USDA Protein. Guess where chicken feet come from? Yes - a USDA meat processing facility. This is a true statement that seems to imply something completely different than chicken feet.

5. strong>Guaranteed Fresh. Dog food and cat food labels only provide pet owners with a 'Best by' date. Guaranteed Fresh could be a pet food that is two years old that contains potentially dangerous chemicals to extend the shelf life.

6.100% Complete Nutrition. Most pet foods provide this phrase - more explained below.

Both Kirby's Kibble varieties have the same Guaranteed Analysis...Crude Protein: 23% Crude Fat: 14% Crude Fiber: 4% Moisture: 10%

Brief ingredient listing for both foods... Corn, Chicken by-Product Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA/BHT), Corn Gluten Meal, Peanut Hulls (source of fiber), Minerals and Vitamins.

The next part of this pet food lesson - my 'Made with REAL USDA Protein' - listed on the Kirby's Premium Pet Food label...Sounds good reading it doesn't it? You see 'Real USDA Protein' and you 'think' human grade meat. But...the real USDA protein is chicken feet purchased from a USDA meat processing facility. This is a truthful statement - chicken feet (while being a very inferior protein source) are a USDA Real Protein. Luckily for Kirby's Pet Food - the Super Supper food does NOT have to put 'chicken feet' on the label - even though that's what it contains. Rules of the pet food industry allow Kirby's Pet Food to call it 'chicken by-product'.

How comfortable does it make you to know that Kirby's Kibble purchase ingredients worldwide? Did they purchase corn gluten from China? Did they test the imported ingredients for safety? Testing of pet food ingredients is only recommended by AAFCO - it is not required.

I understand this is going to sound absurd...but if I decided to actually make Kirby's Kibble pet food, I would receive AAFCO approval for this food using chicken feet and peanut hulls and other cheap or imported ingredients. I would be provided with the 100% Complete Nutrition statement and I would be allowed to use the Kirby's Super Supper label above stating Premium Pet Food! However...I would NOT be allowed to make this pet food using the same ingredients and use the Kirby's Plain Pet Food bag telling you I used chicken feet in the food. Rules of AAFCO do not allow a pet food manufacturer to tell a potential customer the grade or quality of any ingredients.

As long as I use approved ingredients - chicken feet and corn gluten from China ARE APPROVED AAFCO ingredients and as long as the food analyzes as at least 18% protein for adult dogs and 26% for adult cats - (and with minimum of fat, moisture, fiber, vitamins and minerals) AAFCO would provide me with the '100% complete nutrition' status!!! I could say 'Premium Super Supper' on the label - and 'Made with REAL USDA Protein' - even using chicken feet and no other meat in the food. But I could not say chicken feet on the label. I'm not kidding.

To wrap this up, even though it's a tough pill to swallow, you need to realize that the pet food industry is set up with very long, broad list of approved ingredients and labeling regulations - but...they all fit nicely into a few methods to present them to petsumers. Quality minded pet food producers as well as profit minded pet food producers all have to follow the same rules. You don't need to read the AAFCO publication or go back to school and study nutrition to pick out a quality pet food. Just learn a few ingredients - and be aware of marketing techniques that are commonly used to sell pet food. It's not difficult - it's basically just changing how you think about pet food. We want to trust what the label says, but unfortunately they are not all telling you the truth. Some that want to tell you the truth legally can't. Take off the rose colored glasses when you are deciding on your perfect pet food.