Dog Food Labels - Know what all the OTHER ingredients are.

I hope the posts here and also here have helped you in learning how to choose healthy - safe dog food. This is part three and the end - we will look at all other ingredients in dog food. Again the information is from The Dog Food Project.

Flavorings
High quality foods do not really need any flavorings, but natural ones are harmless and may even add a little nutritional value.

What to look for:
►Specific stocks or broths (e.g. chicken, beef), liver of specified animals

What to avoid:
►Any highly rendered products (e.g. digests of any kind), ingredients of unknown origin ("meat broth"), glandular meal, artificial flavor(ing)
►Onion of any form is toxic to dogs and thus has no place in dog food!

Preservatives
Quality products are preserved naturally, but sadly there is almost always a possibility of products containing hidden preservatives and additives, since manufacturers only have to declare ingredients on the label that they have added themselves. If they purchase for example fish oil and meal, fats or other prepared ingredients from suppliers with stabilizers and other additives already added, these do not have to be listed.

The higher the ingredient quality, the less effort must be made to delay further degradation of the product, making natural antioxidants like rosemary extract and vitamin E very effective. Any chemical preservative should not be trusted, some of them are even banned from human consumption in some countries outside of the U.S. due to their questionable side effects.

What to look for:
►Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E), Rosemary-, Sage-, or Clove Extract, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Ascorbic Acid and other forms of Vitamin C

What to avoid:
►BHA (Butylated Hydroxysanisole), BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene), Ethoxyquin, TBHQ (Tertiary Butylhydroquinone), Sodium Metabisulphite

Sweeteners
Sweeteners have no place in food products that are consumed daily, period. They are generally only added to poor quality foods to make them more attractive, since otherwise dogs would simply refuse to eat them. Many dogs get addicted to sweeteners, which can cause or aggravate health problems, including ear infections and diabetes. This addiction frequently poses a problem when owners are trying to convince their pets to eat a better quality food that does not contain any sweeteners, so frustrated owners continue feeding unhealthy brands.

Blackstrap Molasses is not very sweet, a source of many trace minerals and not the same as Cane Molasses. It is harmless as a supplement in small amounts.

While any sweeteners should be avoided in food that a dog eats on a daily basis, small amounts of unrefined sugar, such as honey or molasses, are okay in dog treats.

What to avoid:
►Cane molasses, corn syrup in any form, sugar, sorbitol, sucrose, fructose, glucose, ammoniated glycyrrhizin, propylene glycol

Dyes
Dyes are another unnecessary ingredient in dog food, since dogs do not care about the color of their food. This is strictly aimed at making products look more appealing to humans, for example by hiding the grey color of poor quality rendered products or visible variations in ingredients, or attempting to make a food look like it contains more meat by adding red dye.

While natural substances like caramel coloring are harmless, they are still unnecessary and generally only serve to make a food look more appealing and uniform to the human eye.

What to avoid:
►Blue 2, Red 40, Yellow 5 and 6, other "numbered" dyes.

Supplements
All dog foods are required to meet certain nutritional standards, so manufacturers must add certain minimum amounts of vitamins and minerals. Like any other ingredients, these can vary in quality and in how well the body can absorb them. Any other supplements are not a "must" but some of them add considerable health benefits. Certain nutrients are lost or altered during processing, but manufacturers of quality foods take great care to add them back into their product after it has cooled down sufficiently. Do not hesitate to ask if you can't locate the information on the bag, in a brochure or on the internet or have additional questions. Trustworthy companies will gladly inform you about their procedures.

It is important to understand that supplements like glucosamine, chondroitin and probiotics are generally not included in large enough doses to actually provide a therapeutic effect for particular health conditions in the daily feeding amount. Their presence may reduce the amount you have to include of a separate supplement, but it is not a good idea to choose a food based on added supplements. A different food combined with a proper dosage of a specific stand-alone supplement product is likely to bring better results.

What to look for:
►Chelated or sequestered minerals (also labeled as chelates, proteinates, amino acid chelates or complexes, polysaccharide complexes).
►Nonacidic, time released versions of Vitamin C (labeled as Ester C, Calcium Ascorbate, Stabilized Vitamin C or L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate), natural Vitamin E (Tocopherol, Natural Tocopherol) and natural sources of Vitamin K (egg yolk, liver, oats, kelp, alfalfa).

What to avoid:
►Menadione in any form (also listed as vitamin K3 or "vitamin K supplement", please refer to www.dogfodproject.com/menadione to learn about this harmful version of synthetic vitamin K), Yeast Culture
►Harmless but poorly absorbed and thus mostly useless: sulfate and oxide based mineral supplements (e.g. zinc oxide, iron oxide)

In closing, a few “bad examples”
Next time you go shopping for dog food, have a look at the ingredient list and check it against the claims made by manufacturers in their TV commercials and print ads. Here are a few examples to spark your interest:

►Claim: "Double Helpings of Chicken and Rice"

Actual ingredient list, obviously lacking any quality chicken meat:
Ground Whole Corn, Meat and Bone Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Rice, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA/BHT), Natural Poultry Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp, Wheat Flour, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Wheat Mill Run, Carmel Color, Vegetable Oil, Wheat Gluten, Vitamins, Minerals, Added FD&C and Lake Colors (Yellow 6, Blue 2, Red 40, Yellow 5).

►Claim: "Made with real chicken, a high quality protein source, made with healthy real vegetables that dogs love, no artificial flavors or fillers"

Actual ingredient list: (no word about the inclusion of no less than 4 artificial colors and the artificial preservatives...)
Ground Whole Corn, Meat and Bone Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken By-product Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA/BHT), Natural Poultry Flavor, Wheat Flour, Chicken, Rice, Dried Whole Peas, Wheat Mill Run, Dried Beet Pulp, Wheat Gluten, Salt, Carrot Powder, Potassium Chloride, Vegetable Oil (Source of Linoleic Acid), Caramel Color, Vitamins, Minerals, Added FD&C and Lake Colors (Yellow 6, Blue 2, Red 40, Yellow 5).

►Claim: "Moist, chewy chunks made with real beef, Contains vegetables"

Actual ingredient list:
Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols, rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, sorbitol, tricalcium phosphate, water, animal digest, salt, phosphoric acid, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, sorbic acid), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, dried peas, dried carrots, calcium carbonate, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, vitamin supplements, added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, zinc sulfate, glyceryl monostearate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, manganese sulfate, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, calcium iodate, sodium selenite

►Claim: "Delivers real beef, real garden vegetables and wholesome grains for the health and happiness of your dog"

Actual ingredient list:
Brewers Rice, Ground Whole Grain Wheat, Chicken Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Soybean Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Beef, Peas, Carrots, Soybean Oil, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp, Iron Oxide, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Iodized Salt, L-Lysine, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, vitamins, Vitamin E Supplement, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Minerals, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, L-Tryptophan, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract

Your comments are welcome.

I use and recommend Flint River Ranch a natural healthy dog food.

Thank you for reading Dog Is My Teacher!