The concept of dog food 1 "Human Grade"

Some foreigners say that "human grade food" is not the standard for judging the quality of dog food. Because the FDA does not stipulate what "human grade" is, manufacturers can put whatever materials they like. This should be an objective statement. Of course, this does not mean that "non-human level" is a bad element. The key still depends on the specific formula.

Dog food concept 2: A little trick for manufacturers to write formula tables

It is to break down the bad ingredients as much as possible, because the formula table is sorted by ingredient content , so the farther back the bad ingredients are, the better they look.
For example, cereals. Although many dog ​​foods are natural, they also contain grains, because grains are the most easily absorbed source of carbohydrates. Such as Kirby. This may also be one of the reasons why the card is more cost-effective. If manufacturers label all grains with one name, namely "Grain", then it is very likely that this material will surpass meat and be ranked first, then it is obviously not the best grain. Therefore, many manufacturers will label the grains separately. When writing recipes according to content, the grains will be listed at the back.

Dog food concept 3: grains

According to the pet food theory developed in the West, cats and dogs eat meat in nature. Their digestive systems are best suited to eating meat, so the more meat the better and the less grain the better. But the cost of making dog food is there. It is all meat and the cost will be very high. In addition, grains are also a source of carbohydrates that can provide energy for pets.
So some of the good natural foods contain grains. Of course, such foods are lower than grain-free, but they are still good dog foods.
In the dog food containing grains, there will also be some subdivisions. For example, some manufacturers will insist on "no corn, no soy, no wheat", etc. The reason is that these ingredients are not easily absorbed by cats and dogs. And may cause allergies, etc.

Dog food concept 4: Meat and meat meal

There is a common misunderstanding that meat is better than meat meal because People think the meat is fresh meat, which is better than ground meat meal that you don't know what to do with. This should be separated. Fresh meat can be good or bad. Meat meal can also be ground by merchants who don't have grain, such as Grain on Road B.

However, the quality of the source of the ingredients does not actually represent the quality of the ingredients themselves. The meat and meat powder we are talking about here should be compared on the same level. They are both made of good ingredients.

Editor’s summary

BigIt is easy for everyone to understand that fresh meat contains water, and the production process of dog food will remove 90% of the water. Generally, dry dog ​​food only contains less than 10% water. Therefore, during production, the formula table is ranked first. After being made into dog food, the ranking of fresh meat from a famous brand will actually fall far behind.
Meat powder is dehydrated and has much higher animal protein content than fresh meat. If meat is ranked first, the proportion of animal protein in dog food will be the same and there will not be a big change. Of course, we can not emphasize who is better or worse, meat meal or meat, but when looking at dog food, we cannot look at whether meat meal or meat comes first. The general point of view is to look at how many of the top five items are meat. Whether it is fresh meat or meat powder, the more meat, the better.

Dog food concept 5: natural food and organic food

There is a difference between the concepts of natural food and organic food of.

The standards of natural food, for example, when using grains, use whole grains, not stems, leaves, roots, etc.; when using meat, do not use offal, hair, heads, claws, etc.; and do not add artificial chemical ingredients, such as Pigments, chemical preservatives, etc. There are others, not to list them all. Organic grains should first be subordinated to natural grains. In a way, they are mostly premium products among natural grains because the selections are grown, raised, and produced organically. The characteristics of organic food production are pollution-free, chemical additive-free and environmentally friendly. The formula of natural food does not contain chemical ingredients, while the ingredients of organic food themselves do not contain chemical ingredients from the beginning. Because of the high cost, organic food is also more expensive than ordinary natural food.
However, I personally think that from the perspective of nutritional content, organic food may not be much higher than ordinary natural food. I have been translating manuscripts for a foreign bilingual pet magazine in Chinese and English for a long time. The above content is based on my own experience of raising dogs and learning to raise dogs. I hope it will be helpful to everyone, and I welcome criticisms and corrections.