The first dry pet food was introduced in 1860. Since the end of the last century, when the owners of dogs and cats fully appreciated the convenience of their use, they have become an indispensable part of the diet of pets. Manufacturers promise to provide your pets with a complete and balanced diet, containing everything they need for their health, for relatively little money. But to what extent is this really so?
What is in dry food for cats and dogs?
The earliest "dog biscuits" consisted of beef blood, vegetables and cereals. And although more than 150 years have passed since their introduction on the market, the main ingredients remain the same - cheap vegetables, grains and offal. And this dry pet food recipe actually takes into account their desires least of all, and to a greater extent - the desires of producers and owners of animals.
The choice of components is explained by the availability and a large amount of waste from meat production, flour and grain processing industries, and missing vegetables. They are less suitable than natural meat for feeding dogs and cats, but the technology for making food from them is quite simple, they are stored for a long time and their production does not require large material costs.
Owners often forget that not everything that is useful to them is equally useful to their pets. Taking into account the food preferences for which the digestive system of cats and dogs is designed, the meat component in them should occupy at least 80% of the total volume. Fish, vegetable fats, dairy products, grains and vegetables are included in the natural diet only as additives, and their amount should not exceed 20%. Therefore, the predominant amount of grains and vegetables in the composition of dry animal feed is not at all a plus.
In a quality feed, vegetables and fruits should be present in greater quantities than cereals.
Dry food does not compensate for natural meat, which should be on the menu of a cat or dog, the meat missing in it is replaced, most often, by food industry waste, cheap fats and bone meal.
How to choose a food with the maximum meat content
On the packaging, the list of ingredients is always given in descending order of their weight; manufacturers do not indicate the percentage. Learn how to correctly determine the amount of meat component in the feed, taking into account the fact that manufacturers can divide the same type of ingredient into components and list them several times.
Do not buy foods that are simply labeled as “meat,” “animal,” or “poultry.” Cereals in the feed should be high quality whole grains.
For example, beef meat, offal and beef flour are meat ingredients. White and brown rice, crushed rice grains, rice bran, rice gluten and rice flour are all grain ingredients. The manufacturer will put beef meat in the first place, of which a tenth will remain after evaporation, beef flour, and then will include products - derivatives of rice. If you add them as one meat and grain ingredient, it turns out that there is almost no meat in such a feed.
