What you don't know could be bad for your dog, causing illness and even death. Most of us don't pay a lot of attention to what we feed our pets, trusting manufacturer labeling to be accurate and regulations to be followed. The truth is that there really aren't very many rules about what can and can't go into dog food.

Unfit For Consumption

Did you know that many different brands of dog food could contain unpleasant substances like hair, ligaments, organs, skin, nervous tissue, and meat from diseased animals? Or that spoiled meat and the bodies of euthanized zoo animals and pets could be used?

Most of even the good meat that ends up in dog and cat food is heavily processed, removing any nutritive value it once had. Ingredients like poultry broth, animal meal, and other nonspecific foods are unappealing and bad for our pets.

Animal meal, for instance, is what's left after fat and meat have been processed out of a carcass. What's left is dried and ground, resulting in a meal similar in texture to cornmeal. Broths are made up of processed carcasses from many different animal types, in just about any condition.

It's Legal!

Unfortunately, none of this is against the law. We're used to fairly good rules about what can and can't go into human food, and we're used to those laws being reasonably well enforced. The regulations about what can be put into pet food are much looser, and may not be enforced at all.

This means that just about anything might turn up in your dog's food, with labeling meaning little. Even the words "healthy and balanced" mean only that there's a particular ratio of protein and fat, as well as some added vitamins and minerals.

Preservatives and Additives

All of us have probably heard about the recent recalls due to melamine contamination. What you might not know is that this isn't the only additive in pet food that might cause illness or death. There are a number of preservatives used in pet food that cause real problems in humans who work with them, and could cause liver and kidney failure or cancer in your dog over time.

Not Just Cheap Foods

This is happening in cheap dog foods, but there's no way to tell if the expensive ones are affected, too. these pet foods are often higher in quality, but sometimes they're not. That means that even if your vet recommends it, you have to do your research.

Your Options

You have a number of choices when it comes to improving your pet's food. First is to learn how to read the labels. Ingredients that come first are there in bigger percentages, so look for named meats far up on the list instead of generic terms.

You can also learn about the additives and preservatives that can hurt your pets, and look for the foods with the lowest percentage of grains. There are also a number of excellent recipes out there that can help dedicated pet owners make their own foods. Just be sure to do something, since most foods are actually dangerous.

Click Here to discover what dog foods have been proven to be harmful to a dog's health. Find out what the best dog food is to make sure your pooch is in perfect health.

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Written by Greg McNaughton using tags: animals, dog food, Dogs, healthy dog food, Home, natural dog food, Pets