Do you really know what is going into your dog's stomach? Part IV
In previous entry titled "Dog food history", I wrote about how dog food was invented. Then, in another previous entry titled "Do you really know what is going into your dog's stomach? Part I ", I wrote why I switched Palette's diet to raw diet.
Here, I like to write about how to read the ingredients list on kibble. I personally do not feed kibble anymore but,I thought it is good to share what to look for, how to interpret each ingredients in the list to compare kibble.
When Palette was on kibble, very first kibble brand we tried did not agree with Palette. She regularly vomited, fart a lot, frequent diarrhea.. and we decided to switch the kibble brand to the other.
At that time, she was just about learning good canine manner in the puppy training class and, the trainer told us what to look for ; choose the brand you can find meat source within top 5 ingredients list and read the ingredients list when you buy the kibble. She recommended Blue buffalo brand kibble by explaining it has no corn, no soy, no wheat which many dogs tend to be allergic to. And their unique cold formed vitamin bits. Many kibbles are made with high heat and the heat can lower the heat sensitive nutrient level. So, we started feeding the Blue buffalo brand. Overall, she did good on them; no more digestive upset, and somewhat, it seemed her coat looked better then the time she was on previous kibble. Yet, Palette looks much much better and does great on raw diet:shiny coat, white teeth, sweet smell on breath, no doggy smell on coat, fit and muscular body etc.
If you were interested in reading raw diet experience of Palette, you can read 4 parts entry on raw diet. In there, you will find what to feed, how to feed, how much to feed etc.. To read the entry on raw diet, please click here .
Later on, I started reading more on dog related books and magazines, and came across grading system for dog kibble. It seems this system information is going around among the dog lovers for so long but it did not sound accurate to compare and find the true better quality kibble. If you think about it, one ingredient's definition can be used for slightly different true ingredients. For example, "Animal digest" can be from poultry, can be from beef..unless specified you do not know exactly what is in the kibble. Then, if you use the grading system of kibble, on the paper, one kibble with animal digest in it and the other with chicken digest taken out the same points regardless true quality of true ingredients.
If I ever had to choose the one kibble between the two: one with animal digest and the other with chicken digest, I would pick the one with more transparent ingredients list one- in this case, chicken digest one because you would at least know the protein source.
Most accurate way to compare the dry dog food is to read the list with your eyes and know the definition of each ingredients, and I would think that shorter, simple ingredients list is better than the product with longer ingredient list.
I came across dogfoodscoop website that shows ingredients list definition. I think this may come handy for you to interpret the ingredients in your dog food's label and compare. You can see the dry dog food ingredients definition list at dogfoodscoop website here.
Now you know what definition apply for what ingredients in the kibble label. Lets read example ingredients list I picked up randomly.
<Product A>
Lamb Meal, Ground Rice, Rice Flour,Rice Bran, Whole Brown Rice, Pea Protein, Lamb, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Natural Flavors, Soybean Oil(preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E),Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E),Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Bicarbonate, L-Lysine, Salt, Choline Chloride, Egg Product, Monocalcium Phosphate, Dried Kelp, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate,L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Copper Proteinate,Biotin, Niacin Supplement,Potassium Iodide, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Thiamine Mononitrate (source ofVitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement.
First thing I notice is that is a long ingredients list. 37 ingredients in the list! This kibble is lamb and rice and if you feed real fresh food with same flavor, you need to buy just 2 things: Lamb and Rice. If I feed Palette with same flavor, since I do not feed grain in her diet, all I need to buy to feed is just lamb. One simple ingredients.
Notice that top ingredient in this list above is not "lamb", lamb meal. While I was reading more on dog diet, I came across the book titled "See Spot live longer". In the book, one of the chapter explain how meat meal is made.
According to the book titled "See spot live longer", to make a meat meal, meat is ground into small particles and cook for hours. That liquid fat on surface is "animal fat", and remaining protein/water that is dried and powdered is meat meal.
With raw feeding- the way I feed Palette, food is not exposed to the heat and lamb I would be feeding has all natural nutrients already in the meat itself and no need to add synthetic vitamins and minerals and no need to add any preservatives to make food shelf stable. Plus, I know what kinds of lamb exactly I am feeding Palette ; Hunk of lamb, Lamb Heart etc
With kibble, since heat sensitive vitamins will loose the potency of nutrient, you would notice many of the ingredients in the list are synthetic vitamins and minerals. And you would not know specifically what kinds of lamb is used.
If you look among just kibble, and compare each other, it is important to recognize that there is a system called "splitting" to make food label for kibble. Splitting is the way to make one ingredient into smaller category. Ingredients are listed in order by weights. So, this way, even if rice were main ingredients (more weights than protein source), by splitting, it can make lamb look like most weight ingredients.
Take a look at ingredients list of product A. Top ingredient is lamb meal. Remember that our puppy trainer has taught us to look for the kibble that has protein source within top 5ingredients list? If I use just that guideline to choose the kibble to feed from the bunch, this kibble can be okay category but think again.
Following the lamb meal in the ingredients list, you will find following 4 ingredients are rice. Rice is split into ground rice, rice flour, rice bran, brown rice. So, it could contains more rice than lamb.
Dogfoodadvisor website explain this splitting method with chart and it maybe easy to understand for you. To read article on splitting method at dogfoodadvisor website, please click here.
So, personally, when I was feeding kibble, I read the food label and tried choosing the one with lessor rice, corn etc, more protein source in the list when considering splitting method. Also, tried choosing the one with whole foods form rather than ground form.
Another informative website called dog food project explains more in detail regarding what to look for/what to avoid in kibble. To read the full article on what to look for/what to avoid in kibble at dog food project website, please click here.
I think each dog is different, and each dog has different needs. You might feel comfortable feeding with one way than the other. I think it is important for you and your dog to find the way your dogs do well on and you feel most comfortable with.
I personally feed Palette raw diet because you know what you are feeding, and I prefer to feed fresh food rather than highly processed food. Plus I feel most comfortable with. As for Palette's opinion, it is clear without a woof because as soon as I am ready to feed the meal, and place the feeding mat onto floor, Palette comes in super fast even before I call her for meal time. Her nub moves like windshield on her bun, and then she sits nicely in front of me, and stalk my every moves with her eyes and drool over the meal. Now you know she really really really really enjoy her meal.
What's on menu today? It will be Buffalo heart,Turkey gizzard, a whole egg, and Turkey. See? You can recognize everything I feed to Palette. No need to have list of ingredients definition list on hand
Here, I like to write about how to read the ingredients list on kibble. I personally do not feed kibble anymore but,I thought it is good to share what to look for, how to interpret each ingredients in the list to compare kibble.
When Palette was on kibble, very first kibble brand we tried did not agree with Palette. She regularly vomited, fart a lot, frequent diarrhea.. and we decided to switch the kibble brand to the other.
At that time, she was just about learning good canine manner in the puppy training class and, the trainer told us what to look for ; choose the brand you can find meat source within top 5 ingredients list and read the ingredients list when you buy the kibble. She recommended Blue buffalo brand kibble by explaining it has no corn, no soy, no wheat which many dogs tend to be allergic to. And their unique cold formed vitamin bits. Many kibbles are made with high heat and the heat can lower the heat sensitive nutrient level. So, we started feeding the Blue buffalo brand. Overall, she did good on them; no more digestive upset, and somewhat, it seemed her coat looked better then the time she was on previous kibble. Yet, Palette looks much much better and does great on raw diet:shiny coat, white teeth, sweet smell on breath, no doggy smell on coat, fit and muscular body etc.
If you were interested in reading raw diet experience of Palette, you can read 4 parts entry on raw diet. In there, you will find what to feed, how to feed, how much to feed etc.. To read the entry on raw diet, please click here .
Later on, I started reading more on dog related books and magazines, and came across grading system for dog kibble. It seems this system information is going around among the dog lovers for so long but it did not sound accurate to compare and find the true better quality kibble. If you think about it, one ingredient's definition can be used for slightly different true ingredients. For example, "Animal digest" can be from poultry, can be from beef..unless specified you do not know exactly what is in the kibble. Then, if you use the grading system of kibble, on the paper, one kibble with animal digest in it and the other with chicken digest taken out the same points regardless true quality of true ingredients.
If I ever had to choose the one kibble between the two: one with animal digest and the other with chicken digest, I would pick the one with more transparent ingredients list one- in this case, chicken digest one because you would at least know the protein source.
Most accurate way to compare the dry dog food is to read the list with your eyes and know the definition of each ingredients, and I would think that shorter, simple ingredients list is better than the product with longer ingredient list.
I came across dogfoodscoop website that shows ingredients list definition. I think this may come handy for you to interpret the ingredients in your dog food's label and compare. You can see the dry dog food ingredients definition list at dogfoodscoop website here.
Now you know what definition apply for what ingredients in the kibble label. Lets read example ingredients list I picked up randomly.
<Product A>
Lamb Meal, Ground Rice, Rice Flour,Rice Bran, Whole Brown Rice, Pea Protein, Lamb, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Natural Flavors, Soybean Oil(preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E),Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E),Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Bicarbonate, L-Lysine, Salt, Choline Chloride, Egg Product, Monocalcium Phosphate, Dried Kelp, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate,L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Copper Proteinate,Biotin, Niacin Supplement,Potassium Iodide, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Thiamine Mononitrate (source ofVitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement.
First thing I notice is that is a long ingredients list. 37 ingredients in the list! This kibble is lamb and rice and if you feed real fresh food with same flavor, you need to buy just 2 things: Lamb and Rice. If I feed Palette with same flavor, since I do not feed grain in her diet, all I need to buy to feed is just lamb. One simple ingredients.
Notice that top ingredient in this list above is not "lamb", lamb meal. While I was reading more on dog diet, I came across the book titled "See Spot live longer". In the book, one of the chapter explain how meat meal is made.
According to the book titled "See spot live longer", to make a meat meal, meat is ground into small particles and cook for hours. That liquid fat on surface is "animal fat", and remaining protein/water that is dried and powdered is meat meal.
With raw feeding- the way I feed Palette, food is not exposed to the heat and lamb I would be feeding has all natural nutrients already in the meat itself and no need to add synthetic vitamins and minerals and no need to add any preservatives to make food shelf stable. Plus, I know what kinds of lamb exactly I am feeding Palette ; Hunk of lamb, Lamb Heart etc
With kibble, since heat sensitive vitamins will loose the potency of nutrient, you would notice many of the ingredients in the list are synthetic vitamins and minerals. And you would not know specifically what kinds of lamb is used.
If you look among just kibble, and compare each other, it is important to recognize that there is a system called "splitting" to make food label for kibble. Splitting is the way to make one ingredient into smaller category. Ingredients are listed in order by weights. So, this way, even if rice were main ingredients (more weights than protein source), by splitting, it can make lamb look like most weight ingredients.
Take a look at ingredients list of product A. Top ingredient is lamb meal. Remember that our puppy trainer has taught us to look for the kibble that has protein source within top 5ingredients list? If I use just that guideline to choose the kibble to feed from the bunch, this kibble can be okay category but think again.
Following the lamb meal in the ingredients list, you will find following 4 ingredients are rice. Rice is split into ground rice, rice flour, rice bran, brown rice. So, it could contains more rice than lamb.
Dogfoodadvisor website explain this splitting method with chart and it maybe easy to understand for you. To read article on splitting method at dogfoodadvisor website, please click here.
So, personally, when I was feeding kibble, I read the food label and tried choosing the one with lessor rice, corn etc, more protein source in the list when considering splitting method. Also, tried choosing the one with whole foods form rather than ground form.
Another informative website called dog food project explains more in detail regarding what to look for/what to avoid in kibble. To read the full article on what to look for/what to avoid in kibble at dog food project website, please click here.
I think each dog is different, and each dog has different needs. You might feel comfortable feeding with one way than the other. I think it is important for you and your dog to find the way your dogs do well on and you feel most comfortable with.
I personally feed Palette raw diet because you know what you are feeding, and I prefer to feed fresh food rather than highly processed food. Plus I feel most comfortable with. As for Palette's opinion, it is clear without a woof because as soon as I am ready to feed the meal, and place the feeding mat onto floor, Palette comes in super fast even before I call her for meal time. Her nub moves like windshield on her bun, and then she sits nicely in front of me, and stalk my every moves with her eyes and drool over the meal. Now you know she really really really really enjoy her meal.
What's on menu today? It will be Buffalo heart,Turkey gizzard, a whole egg, and Turkey. See? You can recognize everything I feed to Palette. No need to have list of ingredients definition list on hand
Posted by yassy at 5/30/2010 12:31 PM 
Categories: Dog Diet
Tags: kibble food label dog diet definition of kibble ingredients
Categories: Dog Diet
Tags: kibble food label dog diet definition of kibble ingredients
Comments