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Home | Pets
The Perfect Pet Food...How to Find It 
By: Susan Thixton
I can't even count the time I've been asked 'What is the perfect pet food?' Every pet owner wants to know which brand is safe and healthy. All pets and their needs are different, however I can give you some great advice on what to look for to find your pet's Perfect Food.
Most pet owners are not aware that the front of a pet food label might be misleading. To find that perfect dog food or cat food - you might need to ignore the pet food advertising and/or marketing. With many pet foods, advertising is what you find on the front of the bag or can. To explain this completely, I've developed two pretend pet foods - seen below. Pretend you are looking at these two pet food labels just as you would look at the dog food or cat food in a pet shop. Think about what you like of the pet food and what you don't like.
Kirby's Kibble Super Supper
Premium Pet Food for Premium Pets!
Made with USDA meat proteins Freshness Guaranteed! Complete Nutrition
Now what do you think of this pet food?
Kirby's Kibble Plain Pet Food
Made from Chicken Feet, Peanut Hulls, And other by-Products
Stays fresh for 3 years with our blend of Chemical Preservatives!
Our Ingredients from Worldwide Suppliers saves you money!
Provides 100% Complete Nutrition
Average nutrition for average pets!!
Yes, it's obvious which pet food you would consider for your dog or cat. I did that for a reason. The truth about these two pet foods is that they BOTH contain the EXACT same ingredients.
Kirby's Plain Pet Food is the truthful label - but you are never going to see this type of pet food label. No pet food manufacturer is going to tell you right on the label they use chicken feet (and they actually do!) or buy cheap ingredients from China (yep, they still do that too).
What you are going to find in the pet stores will look like the Kirby's Super Supper - even though it contains the very same ingredients as Kirby's Plain pet food.
The following is a list of things to look for and possibly ignore on a pet food label...
1. What is not seen on these pretend pet food labels are the pictures of cute pets and wholesome looking ingredients. Don't fall for it! Cute or appealing pictures are placed on a pet food or pet treat label to attract you! Ignore them! Pay no attention to the pictures on a pet food or pet treat label.
2. Super Supper. Everyone wants to feed their pet a 'super supper'. And when you see the word 'supper' you think in terms of human food. Since it's says 'super' and 'supper' it must be just like what Mom used to make. The truth is...the only way to know if the food is actually super - is to look at the list of ingredients on the back of the bag. A dog food or cat food name is just that - a name. It might not have anything to do with quality or good nutrition.
3. Premium Pet Food for Premium Pets. And yes, we all want to give our pet a premium food instead of just a 'plain food'. We all feel our pets are special and deserve premium treatment! But again, to know for sure if this pet food is premium, you must look at the ingredients.
4. strong>Made with REAL USDA Protein. Guess where chicken feet come from? Yes - a USDA meat processing facility. This is a true statement that seems to imply something completely different than chicken feet.
5. Guaranteed Fresh. How is the food preserved? Natural preservatives or chemical preservatives that are linked to cancer and tumors? The only way to know how fresh a pet food is - - is from the 'Best By' date on the pet food label AND knowing the shelf life of the food. Each pet food manufacturer's shelf life is different. As an example...If the shelf life of the pet food is 2 years, if the date you are purchasing the food is February 1, 2008, and the 'Best By' date is February 2009 - this food is already 1 year old. Know the shelf life before you believe Guaranteed Fresh.
6. 100% Complete Nutrition. Most pet foods provide this phrase - more explained below.
Both Kirby's Kibble varieties have the same Guaranteed Analysis...Crude Protein: 23% Crude Fat: 14% Crude Fiber: 4% Moisture: 10%
Brief ingredient listing for both foods... Corn, Chicken by-Product Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA/BHT), Corn Gluten Meal, Peanut Hulls (source of fiber), Minerals and Vitamins.
The next part of this pet food lesson - my 'Made with REAL USDA Protein' - listed on the Kirby's Premium Pet Food label...Sounds good reading it doesn't it? You see 'Real USDA Protein' and you 'think' human grade meat. But...the real USDA protein is chicken feet purchased from a USDA meat processing facility. This is a truthful statement - chicken feet (while being a very inferior protein source) are a USDA Real Protein. Luckily for Kirby's Pet Food - the Super Supper food does NOT have to put 'chicken feet' on the label - even though that's what it contains. Rules of the pet food industry allow Kirby's Pet Food to call it 'chicken by-product'.
How comfortable does it make you to know that Kirby's Kibble purchase ingredients worldwide? Did they purchase corn gluten from China? Did they test the imported ingredients for safety? Testing of pet food ingredients is only recommended by AAFCO - it is not required.
I understand this is going to sound absurd...but if I decided to actually make Kirby's Kibble pet food, I would receive AAFCO approval for this food using chicken feet and peanut hulls and other cheap or imported ingredients. I would be provided with the 100% Complete Nutrition statement and I would be allowed to use the Kirby's Super Supper label above stating Premium Pet Food! However...I would NOT be allowed to make this pet food using the same ingredients and use the Kirby's Plain Pet Food bag telling you I used chicken feet in the food. Rules of AAFCO do not allow a pet food manufacturer to tell a potential customer the grade or quality of any ingredients.
I know it seems hard to believe that chicken feet and peanut hulls could be complete nutrition - but any pet food manufacturer would be allowed to use the complete nutrition claim as long as they use AAFCO approved ingredients and met the necessary nutrition requirements. 'Premium' and 'Super Supper' could mean chicken feet. I'm not kidding.
To close this pet food lesson, you must realize that not all pet foods are what they appear to be. It's not fair that a quality minded pet food company cannot provide pet owners with the information that they use a high quality human grade of ingredients and/or all US ingredients on the bag...and it's not fair that a pet food that contains chicken feet can be labeled premium. Bypass the marketing of your dog food and cat food choices and look at the ingredients - that is where you will find your perfect pet food.
Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles
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