What’s Really In Your Pet’s Food: Top 12 Ingredients To Avoid

Many of us are convinced that healthy, natural, premium, and label-recommended dog and cat food must mean that the food in the bag is good for our pets. Along with these words, it is claimed to be 100% complete and balanced, which makes us assume that we are providing the best we can for our pets, feeding them the same dry grain-based diets day after day. However, most people do not fully appreciate what goes into these pet foods. Pet food companies put pictures of freshly cut chicken breast, fresh fruits and vegetables, and healthy grains on packages, yet that’s rarely what’s actually inside the bag.

Chances are you are feeding your pet a food that contains more than one of the ingredients described below. The pet food industry has a wide range of unpalatable choices when it comes to substances that can be used in pet food and the freedom to print attractive, yet misleading, images on its packaging. It’s only when our pet’s health begins to degrade and eventually fails that most people begin to wonder why. After all, a healthy body can only be as good as what is put into it.

To promote the best health you can in your companion, please read and understand the uses of common ingredients below and be sure to always read labels.

Top 12 Pet Food Ingredients to Avoid

Corn, corn meal, or corn gluten meal

Years ago, pet food manufacturers discovered that pets love the sweet taste of corn. Corn is one of the most subsidized crops in agriculture, which makes its market price lower than the cost of corn production.

Corn gluten is used as an inferior protein source in pet foods. Corn protein itself is not a complete protein source and must be balanced with animal protein to create a useful amino acid profile for pets.

Unfortunately, corn is often abused as the most abundant ingredient in many pet foods, contributing to the many diseases associated with high-carb diets, including obesity, chronic inflammation, diabetes, and cancer. The corn on the cob becomes stuffing with very little nutritional value. Corn quality is also an issue, as many foods use low-quality corn that contains toxins, such as mycotoxins and mold, that damage the liver and kidneys of pets.

Carnivores were never designed to get most of their energy requirements from carbohydrates. In fact, they have zero nutritional requirements for carbohydrates or grains. However, most products on the market typically contain up to 50% carbohydrate, and some even higher.

Eons of evolution have engineered carnivores to derive energy from amino acids (proteins) and fatty acids, fat from animals of prey through the process of gluconeogenesis. Other than simple economics, there’s no reason to defy the eons of evolution that nature has set in motion when it comes to feeding carnivores like dogs, cats, and ferrets. When we force such a dramatic change in metabolism and use lower-cost ingredients, long-term adverse effects become much more likely. The same effects of junk food in humans can be seen in today’s companion animals.

Wheat

Wheat is another ingredient found in abundance in many foods. Repeated and persistent exposure of wheat to companion animals has led to allergies and intolerances to wheat and wheat gluten. This is another starchy crop that should be avoided.

Wheat gluten is also used as an inexpensive protein source. Wheat gluten contamination was the cause of the massive Menu Foods pet food recall in 2007, resulting in untold numbers of companion animals suffering kidney failure, wasting and death. Menu Foods has manufactured foods for hundreds of common brands. This ordeal would have been avoided if the pet food companies involved had used quality ingredients, such as human-grade meat, instead of lower-cost grain alternatives.

Soy

Along with corn and wheat, soy is one of the most common allergies in companion animals. Soy should never have been eaten by carnivores, it is commonly used in pet foods as an inexpensive substitute for meat protein. As an additional problem, it is estimated that around 89% of soybean crops and 61% of corn crops are transgenic. Genetically modified foods have been shown to negatively affect our pet’s health, just as it does ours.

Cellulose

Cellulose is essentially nothing more than 100% filler. It can be purified and obtained from any material, from plant material to sawdust.

by-products

Cat and dog food commonly contains by-products. Byproducts are waste left over from the production of human food. Byproducts come in two forms: named and unnamed. Examples of by-products mentioned include chicken by-products and pork by-products. By-products may include necks, feet, intestines, and undeveloped eggs.

Unnamed by-products include meat by-products. Meat byproducts can include brain, blood, kidneys, lungs, and stomachs.

Byproducts, in many cases, are derived from 4D meat sources: animals that have been rejected for human consumption because they were presented to the meatpacking plant as dead, dying, sick, or disabled.

fat animal

Unlike chicken fat (a named animal source), no-name animal fat is a rendered product of animals of unspecified origin.

Again, in many cases, animal fat includes meat sources in class 4D.

meat food

Meat meal consists of unspecified processed sources of animal tissues.

What this definition fails to mention is that the 4D class of meat sources can still be legally used in meat.

Meat and Bone Meal

Meat and bone meal is a product extracted from mammalian tissues, including bones.

Recently, many cat and dog food companies and processing plants have come under scrutiny over the inclusion of euthanized pets in meat and bone meal. Ann Martin, in her book, “Food Pets Die For,” exposed this disgusting practice and the detection of sodium pentobarbital in pet food, a veterinary drug used to euthanize companion animals.

Chemical preservatives: BHA, BHT, propyl gallate, ethoxyquin, or sodium nitrite/nitrate

BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) are petroleum-derived preservatives used in food and hygiene products. TBHQ (tertiary butylhydroquinone) is another petroleum-derived preservative.

Ethoxyquin is used as a food preservative and pesticide. In pet foods it is typically found in meat and fish-based ingredients. Ethoxyquin is banned for use in human products because it is believed to cause cancer. It is important to note that when a manufacturer obtains an ethoxyquin preserved ingredient from a supplier, the manufacturer is not required to list the ethoxyquin on the pet food ingredient panel.

Propyl gallate is another preservative used in foods, cosmetics, hair products, adhesives, and lubricants.

The use of these harsh chemicals is known to cause cancer and they are not considered inert or safe, but are widely used in pet foods.

Potent condoms provide an inexpensive means of extending the shelf life of the product. Naturally preserved products may use tocopherols (vitamin E), citric acid, and rosemary extract to prevent rancidity.

These natural preservatives are common in truly healthy pet foods as manufacturers realize that the little extra expense is worth it when it comes to the safety of our pets.

Sugar

Table sugar is often used to pique interest in the unpalatable concoctions that pet food manufacturers make. There is no reason to put added sugar in pet foods other than the reason mentioned.

Propylene glycol

Like sugar, propylene glycol is used as a flavor enhancer due to its sweet taste. It is another questionable ingredient in pet food. In human uses, it is a common ingredient in stick deodorant and makeup as a moisturizer. It is interesting to note that propylene glycol is ethylene glycol’s less toxic chemical sister, “antifreeze.”

artificial colors

The colored kibble is not for the benefit of the dog or cat, in fact it is to make it more attractive to you! Our pets don’t care what color their food is, this is just another marketing gimmick to get their attention in the crowd of pet food labels. Artificial colors are synthetic chemical colors that have no place in pet foods. There have been cases linking FD&C colors to cancer and other ill effects.

Conclusion

We can see that any pet food can claim to be healthy and natural when such is not the case. The recommended claims also have little impact on the quality of these pet foods.

Quality pet foods simply do not use these ingredients. Clearly, pet foods found in supermarkets and even chain pet stores do not have your pets’ best interests in mind.

So what are the alternatives?

Fortunately there are many! Whether you are looking for alternative dry or canned foods, or want to switch to a natural raw food diet, there are many healthy options available to you.