What is really in dog food?

There is a very interesting article from the Animal Protection Institute, "Whats Really in Pet Food"

"Plump whole chickens, choice cuts of beef, fresh grains, and all the wholesome nutrition your dog or cat will ever need.

These are the images pet food manufacturers promulgate through the media and advertising. This is what the $15 billion per year U.S. pet food industry wants consumers to believe they are buying when they purchase their products.

This report explores the differences between what consumers think they are buying and what they are actually getting. It focuses in very general terms on the most visible name brands — the pet food labels that are mass-distributed to supermarkets and discount stores — but there are many highly respected brands that may be guilty of the same offenses."

Not all commercial pet foods fall into these categories, but it is important to do your research. While Science Diet and Hills Diet are often touted as high end foods, they contain some of the worst ingredients - including corn. Solid Gold, Taste Of The Wild, and Canidae are all high quality foods with quality ingredients.

Even though this article busts out companies that claim to use "human grade ingredients" as mostly marketing hype, I would like to go on the record and say that for us this simply is not true. We don't use vegetable scraps from human food processing...we have to buy it canned from Wal-Mart, and we buy our flour and yeast from Sams - just like you would for yourself. It's too bad big companies have watered down the meaning of this term. How else do you put in your advertising that you don't use sawdust in your dog treats? How about "Our treats are real food"????