Did you know
there is very little regulation for what is required for a company to make pet
food in Canada?!?!
Determining
quality can be tricky as there is no way to determine this by reading the
ingredient list or guaranteed analysis.
The quality of a food is based on the blend of ingredients that work
together to provide the proper nutritional balance for your pet based on
his/her age and stage.
Let us help
you understand pet food labels so you can feel more confident when choosing the
right pet food for your pet.
We’ll start
at the beginning with…
Ingredients:
Ingredients
are the delivery method of nutrients to your pets body and are listed on every
bag of pet food but the interesting part of this is they are listed by weight
from heaviest ingredient to lightest and this is done prior to processing. What this means is that the protein (let’s
say chicken) is weighed when it is still intact with water, bone and fat. This makes this ingredient far heavier than
the rice or corn or wheat that is in the diet.
Also, the chicken we talked about has to be processed meaning rendered ,
dried and ground becoming chicken meal before it is used in pet food so if we
weighed it in this state it would be more comparable to the other ingredients.
By-product
is a word that carries a connotation that it is an inferior product, however, by
–products are common in both the human and pet food. A by-product is simply “something produced in
the making of something else” so to give an example of this oils are extracted
from seeds making oil a by-product.
Grains are
another great ingredient providing our pets with both energy and
nutrition. There are a lot of myths
surrounding grains, particularly corn.
Despite the misconception that it is filler, corn is actually a great
source of nutrients. Corn once cooked is
highly digestible carbohydrate which provides great energy as well as its
protein promotes muscle and tissue growth.
It contains essential fatty acids for healthy skin and coats and antioxidants.
Guaranteed Analysis:
The
guaranteed analysis (GA) provides nutrient information. It indicates the minimum and maximum levels
of nutrients such as protein, fat and fiber. If the diet makes a nutritional
claim based on the nutrients (for example a diet to aid in mobility it must
then list those nutrients that support that claim in the GA). The GA can be tricky to interpret as it
only provides the minimum or maximum NOT the actual amount. For example, a product with a maximum
guarantee of 5% may only contain 1% and a product containing a minimum
guarantee of 15% could contain 30%.
More information
on nutrient and caloric content can be obtained from calling the manufacturer
and is advised.
The Nutritional Adequacy Statement:
This is
where the pet food indicates that it is balanced for growing animals, pregnant
or nursing mother, adults or seniors.
Caution if the product indicates it is for “all lifestages” as this
indicates the diet is formulated to meet the needs of the most demanding stage
which would be a growing animal and hence could contain excess levels of
nutrients for adult and senior pets.
AAFCO Statement:
AAFCO is the
Association of American Feed Control Officials and they set the standards for
pet foods sold in the United States. Canada
recognizes these standards. You should
look for an AAFCO statement on the bag.
AAFCO does not have any bias and does not speak to the quality of ingredients;
however, it does confirm that it is a balance diet. There are two different methods they use to
determine the nutritional adequacy
· Feeding Trial Method
On the bag (we’ll say it is a bag of Adult Cat Food) this
would read as “Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate that
Brand X Adult cat food provides complete and balanced nutrition for maintenance
of adult cats.
This means is that the manufacturer of the food performed an
AAFCO protocol feeding trial using the food as the sole source of nutrition to
determine how the pet will perform on the diet and its nutritional adequacy. This method is the “Gold Standard”.
· Formulation Method
On the bag (we’ll say it is a bag of Adult Cat Food) this
would read as “Brand X Cat Formula is formulated to meet the nutritional levels
established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials Cat Food
Nutrient Profiles for Maintenance.
This method is less expensive as actual feeding trials are
not required.
Please feel free to reach out to us for
nutritional recommendations!