Your Pet Deserves the Best Learn Seven Secrets to Finding the BEST Pet Food
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The ongoing pet food recall has pet owners shaking in their boots! What food is safe for my pet What food is REALLY healthy Keep reading to learn seven valuable secrets to finding the absolute best food for your dog or cat.

Secret #1 All pet foods use descriptive words like choice and premium though few of them actually use premium or choice ingredients. The secret is per the rules of the pet food industry no pet food can make any references on their label or advertising as to quality or grade of ingredients. When related to pet food the word premium or choice DOES NOT imply that the ingredients in the food are premium or choice. With pet foods premium does not (can not) describe the food nor does it (can it) describe the quality of the food. It is a marketing term and that is all. Per the industries own rules regulations There are no references to ingredient quality or grade (regulation PF5 d 3). So words like premium or choice or quality are just marketing or sales terms dont use them to influence your buying decisions.

Secret #2 If I can compare people food to pet food for just a second we all know there are different qualities of people food. There is White Castle (I love em!) and there is Outback Steak House (another favorite). Both restaurants serve meat and potatoes. At White Castle for under $3.00 you get a couple of hamburgers and fries. While at Outback you can get a steak and baked potato for around $16.00. Both serve beef and potato yet you already realize that there are huge nutritional differences between a fast food hamburger and a steakright

The problem in the pet food industry is that most pet owners dont think in the same terms when it comes to pet food. They dont think in terms that there are fast food types of pet foods and there are sit down restaurant more nutritious types of pet foods. Now imagine your pet eating this fast food type of food its entire lifetime.

OK so back to our two mealsif a chemical analysis of your meal at White Castle was compared to a chemical analysis of your meal at Outback both would analyze with a percentage of protein carbohydrates and fat. The choice cut of steak at Outback and the hamburger from White Castle both analyze as protein. The analysis doesnt measure quality of protein.

So here is the secretAll pet foods come with a Guaranteed Analysis stating the percentage of protein fat fiber and moisture in the food. The REAL secret lies in the quality of the percentages of protein fat and so on.

In a chemical analysis of a pet food chicken feet would analyze as protein although granted it provides very little nutrition. And as well a cow that was euthanized (put to sleep) because of a disease that made it unfit for human consumption would analyze as protein although that could be considered dangerous for consumption. Both of those things chicken feet and a euthanized cow are allowable ingredients and commonly used in pet food. You see the secret within the pet food industry is manufacturers have a WIDE OPEN door to where they obtain their ingredients. The only strict rule they must follow is an adult dog food must analyze with 18% protein and an adult cat food must analyze with 26% protein. Sources to acquire those particular percentages range from a human grade meat to chicken feet to euthanized animals to grain proteins to even man made chemical proteins and many variations in between.

So how can you know if your pets food uses chicken feet or euthanized cows or if it contains human grade ingredients

Secret #3 This big secret is found in ingredient definitions. All people food must meet particular USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and FDA (Food and Drug Administration) guidelines. The same is not true for pet food. Chicken feet and euthanized cows are NOT allowed in people food for obvious reasons they have no nutritional value or they could be dangerous to consume. The same is NOT true for pet food. The only way to know if those chicken feet or euthanized cows are in your pets food is to know what ingredients they can be used in.

The common pet food ingredient Meat and Bone Meal is basically a combination of many different discarded leftovers from the human food industry. Components of meat and bone meal can be anything from cow heads stomachs and intestines to (horrifying but true) euthanized animals including cows horses and dogs and cats. The pet food ingredient meat and bone meal can also contain diseased meat rejected from human foods. In other words this commonly used ingredient is a mix of highly inferior and potentially dangerous leftovers from the human food industry.

The pet food ingredient Meat ByProduct or Meat ByProduct Meal is pretty much the same thing as meat and bone meal. Another similar ingredient to the above is Animal Digest.

As to the chicken feet I mentioned earlier this item can be found in the ingredients Chicken ByProduct or Poultry ByProduct or Chicken ByProduct Meal or Poultry ByProduct Meal. Any leftovers in the chicken or poultry division including but not limited to chicken feet skin including some feathers chicken or poultry heads and intestines are found in these ingredients. BEFORE you purchase any pet food flip the bag over and closely examine the list of ingredients. The above mentioned ingredients would be listed within the first five or ten ingredients. Please avoid pet foods that contain ANY of those ingredients. Remember chicken feet and euthanized animals do analyze as protein. That is all that is required in pet food just the correct analysis.

Secret #4 A very well kept secret of the pet food industry is the common use of chemical preservatives. BHA/BHT are very popular chemical preservatives used in pet food and science has linked them to tumors and cancer. Another common preservative is ethoxyquin which has known risks to cancer. You want a pet food that is preserved naturally common natural preservatives are natural mixed tocopherols or vitamin E.

Secret #5 The very best food to provide to your pet is a well made food using human grade ingredients. That should be simple enoughHow do you find that Pet food manufacturers that are APHIS European certified assures you that ALL ingredients in their pet food are human grade. APHIS Animal Plant Health Inspection Services is a division of the USDA. APHIS European certification provides this pet food manufacturer with the opportunity to ship their foods/treats to Europe. When importing pet foods from the US European countries demand that all ingredients are human grade and thus require this certification. Most pet food manufacturers that have APHIS European certification do not ship their products to Europe they si