I thought you might find this interesting.
The whole statement is too long, but here is part of an official quote from the AAFCO rule book about what goes into pet food: “derived from the parts or whole carcasses of poultry or a combination thereof”
This statement means if your pet food states the first ingredient is “CHICKEN” it could be ONLY THE CHICKEN BONES & SKIN left over from the slaughter house after the good parts go to the human industry OR animals that are completely REJECTED for the human food chain coming FROM a USDA facility!
Here is a conversation I found on the net between a consumer and a pet food company:
Question to dog food company: Is the grade of meat you use Prime, Choice, OR Grade A?
Answer from company: “All our meats come from USDA inspected facilities.” Remember that “rejected for human food” animals come from’ USDA facilities – they are rejected ‘from’ USDA facilities.
Question to dog food company: But what grade of meat is in your kibble?
Answer: “Our meats are sourced from the same USDA meat processing facilities as the meats you would purchase in the grocery store….USDA approved facilities”. (Again, rejected animals ‘come from’ USDA approved facilities – as well as skin and bones ‘come from’ USDA facilities).
Question: But you still didn’t answer my question; what is the Grade of meat that you use in your kibble?
Answer from dog food company: “I’m sorry, I don’t have an answer for you.”
For real meat you want the response “Grade A” for chicken, and with Beef and Lamb it would be “Prime” or “Choice”. If the company can’t or won’t tell you??? That says plenty! :-/
Karen, will you help me with feeding Oso? He is a large for 8 weeks at 20 pounds but has not been eating much and I can tell he is hungry. We bought some Wellness food at your recomendation but he does not like it at all. I can not find the Love food that Julie had him on – what should I do?
Hi Kelli!
The Honest Kitchen is purchased at “doggy boutiques” instead of pet chain stores, so google that with your city and state and see what comes up. You can also have the HK “auto shipped” to your home directly from them at http://www.thehonestkitchen.com
In the mean time you could try a small bag of Orijen Large Puppy. The only chain store I’ve seen the Orijen at is called Pet Supply Plus, otherwise also at the boutique.
For tonite, if you feel he has not eaten properly for the day, take about 2 Tablespoons of either some raw hamburger or ground turkey or tuna fish that you have in the house, moosh it up in warm water then mix in the dry food.
Let me know if he eats tonite! 🙂
The raw hamburger worked like a charm. He ate more that he has since we brought him home. Thank you, Karen!
Oh, I’m SO glad! 🙂 You are very welcome!
Kelli – we have WTRanger on Earthborne Holistic Puppy Vantage and he loves it. I thought that’s what Julie was feeding them. Were they eating something different?
Kirsten, that is what they were eating but in the last few days I switched to Honest Kitchen Love and the pups will now not eat kibble. I really do not like the size of the Earthborn kibble it is so small they would choke on it. If you want to keep on a kibble I would switch to Royal Canin Germany Shepherd Puppy* or Orijen. Karen gives full approval to Orijen and not Royal Canin GSD. But the dogs did really good on the Royal Canin.
Karen, I have another question for you – do you feed glucosamine supplements?
Hey Karen!
Yes, I do add Chondroitin/Glucosamine/MSM product called ChondroSamine Plus by Biotics Research Company. I purchase this at http://www.covenanthealthproducts.com Item #7815, 90 caps for $36. I rotate this with Perna from DaVinci Laboratories and a combination of Pure Incapsulations Glucosamine HCL and MSM by Biotics Research since the Pure product does not contain MSM. All purchased from Covenant under “Professional Products” category. Let me know if you are interested in any of the Item #’s so you don’t have to search forever! 🙂
Karen, thank you this is very eye opening.
It’s absolutely INCREDIBLE what the AAFCO let’s the dog food companies get away with!!!
BTW, there are many industry representatives on their “Pet Food Committee” but not one consumer! 🙁
This certainly puts things into perspective.
Great info. Figured I would ask this question here so everyone could see it – I’m almost out of my bottle of krill oil, should I rotate this with something else? He’s been on this since the summer and looks great and his fur is so soft, no itching even normal winter itches he used to get in the past. Are there any other kind of fishy oil products you recommend? I have tried coconut oil in the past and he doesn’t like the liquid kind and I didn’t feel like the pills I bought really helped his skin. Right now he’s getting mostly beef for his raw dinner and is on a beef kibble so I could try hemp oil…. When you buy it cold pressed is it a liquid or a pill? Thanks. 🙂
Hi Becky,
I can share with you what Dr. B has learned from her studies:
Liquid Cold Pressed Hemp Oil to be given when feeding beef.
Virgin Coconut Oil or Flax Oil (my dog itches with flax!). The Coconut is in a solid form in jar, and the Flax Oil is also cold pressed. Either one to be fed with fowl.
And Krill Oil, along with each feeding every day except when feeding fish on that day.
The brands of the above should be rotated with each bottle when you finish. Each brand will be a little different so that is why changing brands is a good thing. Mercola (mercolahealthypets.com) has a nice Krill Oil and my favorite is DaVinci Krill (from Covenant).
There are definite differences in oils. Here is a quote from a company called Zone Labs: “There are three grades of fish oil. The first is cod liver oil. The second is health-food grade fish oil. And finally there is ultra-refined fish oil. What distinguishes one from another is the purity and concentration of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. The levels of contaminants in fish oils is often determined by the size of the fish and their relative rank in the food chain. Small fish (such as sardines and anchovies) are short-lived and therefore are less prone to accumulate environmental pollutants.” So if it’s cheaper it’s not so good. Also, farm raised fish carry a lot of toxins because of what they feed them and the over crowding in the tanks they are kept in.
Hope this helps!
Ok thanks! I’ve been feeding the Mercola krill so I’m just going to buy the DaVinci kind. I’ll get some hemp too when I go to the health food store next since I’ve been feeding mostly beef lately. I still have some coconut oil that I can use if I do feed some turkey or chicken (I have to put extra goodies in his food though to get him to eat the coconut oil but oh well). Thanks again!
I think you might see a difference of him liking the coconut oil if you get the virgin one in the jar. You’d probably have to give 3 or 4 giant coconut oil pills 2x a day, I think. Really hard to give and not as good. Let us know if he likes the new kind!
Becky, I alternate between Salmon Oil (made by Carlson) and Krill.
http://www.luckyvitamin.com/p-10670-carlson-labs-norwegian-salmon-oil-bonus-50-free
This is the coconut oil that Karen recommended, I keep it in the fridge so it’s solid and I mix a tsp in his food everyday
http://www.luckyvitamin.com/p-13216-garden-of-life-extra-virgin-coconut-oil-16-oz
Thanks! I bookmarked these so I can rotate with them next time! 🙂