Compare Dog Food Brands with Home Made

There are lots of commercial dog foods to choose from. Why would you want to spend the extra time and money and make your pet's food? If you read the labels and compare commercial dog food ingredients with the ingredients you would use in making your dog's food yourself, the answer to that question becomes a lot easier.

One of the popular brands of dog food, a mid-range food, has "Beef" on its label. Look at the ingredients. The first four ingredients are water, chicken, meat by-products, and beef. Beef isn't even the main ingredient! And what are "meat by-products"?

The official definition is: ""The non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs."

Since it's from a mammal, it doesn't have to be from a cow. It can be from "downer" animals, animals that are diseased or dying before slaughter. Even euthanized animals from animal shelters are classified as "animal by-products" and have been used in pet foods. You wouldn't eat this stuff yourself. Why expect your dog to?

And the fourth ingredient, beef; what kind of beef is it? These are cuts that are left over after every bit that would be eaten by humans has been removed. Again, it's parts you wouldn't eat yourself. Once all the human suitable meat has been removed from an animal, the processing plant doesn't just throw the rest away. There's still money to be made, so the remnants are sold to pet food companies.

When you shop for the ingredients to make your own dog's food, do you look for "animal by-products"? No, you buy the same food you would eat yourself - high quality cuts of meat, the quality of which is regulated so you have the best possible assurance of getting fresh, contaminant-free meat.

When you compare dog food brands with home made, you see there really is no comparison. The food you fix for your dog is prepared with greater care, is higher in quality nutrition, and is healthier - and safer - for your dog.