There are five characteristics to consider:
- Biologic Value-this refers to the quality and usability of the protein in the food and is based on the completeness of the amino acids that make up the various proteins. Eggs have the highest biologic value of 100%, meaning they contain all amino acids. Fish Meal is next at 92%, followed by Beef, Chicken, Lamb and other Meat's (78%) Milk (78%) Wheat (69%) Wheat Gluten (40%) and Corn (54%). A label can be misleading however. Beef or Lamb may be listed first because by weight, it is the leading ingredient. But if the next five ingredients are various kinds of wheat and corn products, their total weight may far exceed the beef or lamb. "Splitting" or listing the same ingredient under several names is an industry trick to hide the prevalence of inferior ingredients in food. In human food this technique is often used with sugar.
- Digestibility-no matter what the ingredients are, if your dog's body doesn't make use of the food, it's simply not nourishing him or her. Although you can get digestibility data from manufacturers, one of the easiest ways to evaluate this is by noticing the quantity and frequency of your dog's stool. In short, if your dog poops often (more than once or sometimes twice a day) or in large volume, chances are high that more food is leaving the body than is being used to nourish it. Also, if your dog's stool is regularly loose, mucous-y looking or the dog has diarrhea, this is another indication that the food is probably not right for him or her. These latter symptoms frequently happen when your dog has a food allergy to some ingredient or ingredients in the food. A food allergy can show up after an animal has been eating the same food for along time, seemingly with no problem.
- Quality of Ingredients Used-this is related to digestibility. High quality ingredients simply provide more useable nourishment for the animal. Many of the ingredients used in major brands of pet food are either indigestible or of little nutritive value. This includes brands carried by veterinarians and some of the higher priced specialty brands. The pet food industry has no mandatory inspection of plants or ingredients and often what is used are by-products (waste products) from other sectors of the food industry. These may include:
- food deemed unfit for human consumption
- carcass, bones, internal organs, or tissue from slaughterhouses
- grain by-products after anything nutritious has been removed for human food production
- ingredients that may be contaminated with fungus, mold, pesticide residue or that may come from diseased animals.
- rendered, rancid fat purchased from the restaurant industry
- Chemical Preservatives/Additives-As in human food, chemical preservatives are typically used to prolong the stability and shelf life of pet foods. There has been little study of long term toxicity of these agents. Many veterinarians believe the primary preservative in dog food, Ethoxyquin, to be a major cause of disease, skin problems and infertility in dogs. Vitamin C and Vitamin E (present as "mixed tocopherols) are the natural alternatives. Thousands of food additives may be used to give color, flavor, texture or other properties that make the food more saleable to the consumer. Almost half of these have no toxicity information available about them.
- Cost-Price may be an indicator of food quality but not necessarily. Many higher priced brands as well as the more common supermarket and pet store brands contain junk. It is true, however, just as with human food, that a higher quality, more nutritious product will cost more than most doggie junk food. But if a higher quality food means a healthier pet, the cost increase will easily be offset by what you don't spend at the vet's office. There is no reason to think that animal health is any less related to quality of diet than human health. Another important point is that your dog will eat significantly less of a higher quality food, because his or her body is extracting more useable nutrition from it, instead of eating primarily filler that only gets deposited in your backyard! So purchase price alone does not reflect the true cost of the food.
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