When one of my dogs started to have health problems at the age of six, I got pretty serious about dog health issues. I don’t watch TV much anymore, if I have any free time I’m usually doing research to try and improve and extend the lives of my dogs.
Those of you that know me also know that I believe the number one cause of health issues with dogs is commercial dog food. That is why I have been on a mission to spread the word about the best dog food, and I am a big believer in homemade dog food.
The fact is most people, even if they change to homemade food, they will need to add some type of commercial food. This is the reason why I dedicate as much time as I do to the topic of the best dog food.
One area of controversy that I encountered was the usage of meat by products in dog food. You’ll recognize this because a meat, such as lamb or chicken, will be shown with the word by-product attached.
What does it contain and is it any good for your pet? If you really get into this matter, you will discover there are two different groups, one the feels that by-products are just fine, and the other that feels that they are unhealthy to feed your dog.
The answer is, it depends; we need to explore what it really means when we say there are poultry by-products.
“Poultry by-products consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of slaughtered poultry carcass, including necks, beak, feet undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, “except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices”The problem is you don’t know what is in a by-product ingredient at any give time. There is no standard that says there are so many feet and so many intestines or any consistency of nutritional value what so ever. The truth is none of this stuff is fit for human consumption.
Some will argue that a dog in the wild will eat everything listed in a by-product ingredient and that is what makes it okay to feed it to your dog. That might be true enough, but that is like saying a homeless person eats out of dumpsters and garbage cans, does that make it the best things for you and I to eat?
Since I plan on feeding my dogs the best food possible, by-products will remain in the trash and won’t be found in any of the food I provide.
