| There are all sorts of dog food ratings and | | | | meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, |
| comparison charts and reviews you can get | | | | but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, |
| comparing one commercial brand to another, | | | | livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature |
| analyzing crude protein content, calorie values, | | | | fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of |
| ingredient sources, and so on. There are two things | | | | their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth |
| that are never mentioned, however: ingredient | | | | and hoofs. Sounds appetizing, doesn't it? |
| definitions and comparisons to home made dog | | | | If you are buying a can of "Beef Delight" for your |
| foods. Why not? | | | | Fido and it contains meat by-products, you would |
| One obvious answer is that it is difficult, if not | | | | expect those by-products to be beef, but you could |
| impossible, to compare a commercial brand to "home | | | | easily be wrong. The definition says derived from |
| made" because of the broad range of possibilities for | | | | mammals, which means they could be pigs, goats, |
| home made dog foods; there is no one standard | | | | any mammal, not just cows. They can also be from |
| home made dog food recipe. And there is some truth | | | | "downer" animals, animals that are sick or dying just |
| in this. Another not so obvious answer is that a lot of | | | | prior to slaughter. |
| these reviews are commissioned by the | | | | You wouldn't eat this stuff yourself, so why feed it |
| manufacturers themselves and they aren't going to | | | | to your dog, who is a member of your family? Yes, |
| put something in a review or comparison that makes | | | | it takes some time and effort to make your dog's |
| them look bad. | | | | food yourself, but when you do, you know exactly |
| If you read the ingredients lists on cans of pet | | | | what's in that food. You control the quality and you |
| foods, one ingredient that you will see time after | | | | control the nutritional content. You know exactly |
| time is "meat by-products". Do you know what that | | | | what your dog is being fed. That's more than can be |
| is? It's the non-rendered, clean parts, other than | | | | said when you read those dog food ratings. |