Thank you for answering my question about "lamb meal" at the end of your column. All the foods I've fed our dogs have it listed as one of the ingredients. I never thought something as simple as buying dog food could be so complicated.

Glad I could help! It really shouldn't be this rough, should it?

The only comment I had on this very informative article, is that most of the "fillers" in pet food are very bad for your pets. I would caution pet owners from using large amounts of corn fillers as it can cause intestinal problems in some animals. Looking for specifics on what is in the food is good...I woudldn't feed my animals anything that wasn't primarily identified (i.e. lamb/chicken meal) even though other things may make it in. Excellent article!

I have felt for a long time that I should be making homemade food for my dog and cat. The only things that have stopped me are time and lack of a recipe (I have no idea what kinds of nutrients are essential for dog and cat health.) I'm writing to ask for any simple quick recipes from all you pet food making pioneers out there!

Thanks!

My dog can't stomach wet foods and after reading all this, I doubt they are any better. So I try and buy what seems like the best for him (Solid Gold) but even though the first ingredient is "bison", the second one is "bison meal". I'm not convinced even the "bison" is anything great now either. Getting these emails are depressing but I feel like the only thing I can do is cook for him (which I don't even do for myself) and only let him play with, geez, now I can't even think of something he can play with. HELP!

Rob, I hate being the bearer of this bad news, but somepet's gotta do it! It's really only a matter of knowing what to look for because good foods are out there. But you might have to look farther than your local Pet Food Warehouse.

"Bison meal" should be pretty good because they're telling you what kind of animal it came from. "Meat meal" is the one that you really don't want. Just look for a food with a quality meat ingredient in the first three or four ingredients, avoid foods with lots of filler like corn and brewer's yeast, and stay away from "meat meal" and "by-products" (if not organic), and the little bits in this post.

And don't be afraid to share your healthy human meal with your pets! Dogs love veggies, and carrots make a great edible chew toy. If you need help with toys, check out my top toy picks.

Great article. I had reacted to the brief excerpt in the email before reading the article in which you write that a specifically identified meat source isn't as bad as meat meal. Before I read that I shot off an inquiry to Wellness as that's what I feed my 2 dogs. Chicken meal is listed as an ingredient. I was none too impressed with the response:

me: I've been using the Weight Mgmt product for a long time and am concerned that you are using chicken meal: Environmental Working Groups' Pets for the Environment cautions to avoid at all costs:" "Meat meal" is whole carcasses or parts of carcasses of condemned meat that have been cooked down, had the fat skimmed off, and then dried to form a meal. But it's not just sick and dying cows and pigs--it's grease and restaurant and supermarket waste, road kill, dead zoo animals, and even euthanized cats and dogs. It all gets cooked together and shipped off to pet food companies".

Wellness: At Wellness we believe in using human grade ingredients whenever possible. Our formulas are 80%+ human grade with only two ingredients that are not considered "edible to humans": chicken meal and fish meal. Interestingly, a division of the UN conducted research during the late 1960's on fishmeal because of its nutrient-rich properties. They found that although great for the body, humans did not like the taste.

Chicken Meal
As the chicken cooks, all of the fat and water are released, creating a concentrated, highly-digestible protein and fat source. For our cat foods, we source and select special low-ash chicken meal as to control mineral levels that contribute to proper urinary health. Wellness uses naturally preserved meat sources.

We do not use dead zoo animals, etc in any of our products or ingredients.

me: Thanks, I'll forward this on to EWG for their comments. I don't think it
says a lot that you're referencing a study from the 1960's on the
healthfulness of fishmeal. Was the fishmeal the same as now? Were the
standards for what is considered healthful or at least benign the same as
now...?

You leave me uneasy and in the market for a new food option.

Anonymous and uneasy, I agree with you. There's so much we don't know, and pet food companies aren't always ready to talk about their ingredients. Wellness should be telling the truth, though, about the zoo animals part since it doesn't sound like they have "meat meal" in the food you wanted to know about. ("Meat meal" is the catchall ingredient; "chicken meal" and "fish meal" should only be chicken and fish.)

I think one of the biggest misconceptions for people researching dog foods is the idea that "meal" ingredients are as good as the meat itself, or the dehydrated version. For example, the reviews at dogfoodanalysis.com don't take in to account the quality of the ingredients, and instead are based more on a combination of the nutritional breakdown and the 'number' of 'meat products' listed.

Something I'd like to see is a list of dog foods that do NOT contain meals. I've searched high and low, and only found a few, like Canine Caviar, Pet Promise, WySong and Artemis.

Anything that says meat meal, animal meal, animal fat, etc., could be dogs and cats, road kill, zoo animals, and the like. Some plants don't even remove the collars from deceased pets. I was very happy to learn that what I'm feeding my puppy and cat have none of that in it; however, I have found out that what I fed my dog and other cats in the past did have that foul stuff in it. My 16 year old dog, who has a kidney problem, has to eat food that I'm pretty sure has that awful stuff in it because it's made by the same company that makes what she ate in the past. What burns me up more than anything is that the food I used to feed them before was high end food; so is what I feed them now. The difference seems to be in the care the company that manufactures the food takes when making the product, and how much they truly care about what goes into their foods.

This is one more area that the Goverment and big business are in bed together. Our poor pets pay the price for the greed, that rules this Great Country. Anyone knowing this dirty little secret about, what is in our pet food ought to be shouting it from the rooftops. If we shout long and loud enough it will come forth and be known. I would love to see 60 minutes get ahold of this. I just learned after I received a new rescue pet. America this is not what we should stand for. Where are our values.?

So what sould I feed my dog. I am more confused now than ever.

Hi Confused,

I know it is REALLY difficult, but I have researched tons and have found some EXCELLENT foods that I use and then I also cook up a huge batch of homemade food for my German Shepherds and Saint Bernard. I alternate them ...the dehydrated food in the morning and homecooked meal at night.

the dehydrated food is made by "The Honest Kitchen." It is 100% human grade food and they have a variety with beef, chicken, turkey and meat free for those that want to add their own meat. Their website is thehonestkitchen.com and you can order there. It's simple to make, all you do is add warm water and mix, let sit for 10 minutes and serve. The dogs LOVE IT!!

I also mix it with The Blue Buffalo canned food or use one can as a midday snack for my dogs. The CANNED foods have Pure meat, all natural human grade ingredients and are gluten free. The meat is pure meat no by products, meat meal, or beef meal, chicken or lamb meal etc... Their website is bluebuff.com and you can find a retailer but some Pet Smarts are carrying it now due to consumer demand for better dog food. Their dry foods contain the chicken meal, lamb meal etc depending on variety so i do not use it since AAFCO standards require that only 30% has to be the described meat ie... chicken, lamb etc, but the canned foods are great!!

Now for homemade recipes there are tons out there, but this is a favorite of my dogs and they go absolutely nuts when they smell it cooking!!! Now this is for 2 large dogs and 1 extra large dog. This recipe makes appx 45 quarts of food, and I divide it into gallon ziploc bags and freeze. To do this recipe as it is you need a HUGE stewpot, restaurant size, 50 quarts. If you do not have it you can divide the recipe into halves, thirds, fourths etc. I use either beef brisket or whole ham leg as they are economical in bulk, but I also change it dependng, like chicken, beef, deer, etc and you can mix a variety of meats together. Here it is....

25-30 lbs beef brisket (or ham, or you can mix chicken turkey etc)
15 cups uncooked rice (white or brown or mix the two)
1 box barley
10 cups old fashioned oats (oatmeal,uncooked)
5 lbs sweet potatoes
2 dozen eggs
2 cans cranberries
2 large can tomato sauce (great source of antioxidants)
2-3 cans carrots/peas (or 15oz frozen bag)
2 quarts water or broth

** You can add a variety of veggies, just do not add corn as it is highly undigestible and it's just a waste. Also DO NOT ADD GARLIC OR ONIONS, these can be toxic to dogs in large quantities.

Just cut up the meat into chunks for larger dogs smaller bits for smaller dogs. Boil eggs and sweet potatoes, leave skin on. When done remove eggs and cool so you can peel them. Drain only some of potato liquid, mash the potatoes in the remaining water.

Add remaining ingredients except the peeled eggs, bring to boil and turn down to simmer until rice is done. Add meat/eggs to mix, let cool, divide into ziploc bags, freeze. If you want the meat partially cooked add it to mixture during last 10 miutes of simmering. I also give my dogs a multi vitamin, just regular One a day that people use, and add 2 teaspoons of salmon oil for omega 3 fatty acids, found at Petsmart etc... or online. These are the only suppements they get.

Your dogs will love this!!! It's easy and this amount feeds all 3 of my dogs one meal per day for 20 days and costs me around $40.00. I always buy my rice and oats in bulk, and meat on sale whenever I can and freeze as meat will keep at least 6 months, some cuts longer. If you're friends wih your local butcher you can gets all kinds of yummy scraps for your dog, especially fat strips, bones etc. They also REALY love liver, chicken and beef, and this is really good for vitamins and protein. I give it as a treat a couple times a month. If you feed bones make sure they are RAW and not cooked, because once cooked bones can splinter. My dogs get nice meaty bones once a week usually knuckle bones. Chicken wings also make a nice treat and are economical, but do not feed them solely as your dogs only meat source.

If you want more recipes or have questions, you can email anytime, monib1969@aol.com.

To you confused pet owners, I strongly recommend a raw food diet.
Cooking meat creates transfats and destroys Amino and Fatty acids (such as the ever-popular Omegas"
For cats, a mixture of chicken meat and organs is an excellent and nutritious meal, the heart contains the highest concentration of nutrients. Liver should not be fed too often.
For dogs, you can follow a similar diet using chicken or beef, but bear in mind that dogs are omnivorous. Give them some veggies too, popular options include green beans and carrots, but, as Monica said, no onions. if you decide to provide fruit, avoid grapes as they can also be toxic. They are not likely to enjoy Citrus, but apples are always well received in my house.

Don't be afraid of bones! As long as they are not cooked, chicken bones are perfectly safe for your pets to eat.

I appreciate how your blog digs behind the scenes of the pet food industry.

I attempt to do the same with the products my company produces. My company, Paw Naturaw produces the America's first lines of USDA certified organic, raw, frozen and dehydrated diets for dogs as well as complementary lines of jerky treats for dogs.

Paw Naturaw presents a new paradigm in providing healthy food for pets by focusing on the optimal nutrient needs of canines and fulfilling these needs by blending together the purest and highest quality ingredients possible. Paw Naturaw uniquely sources live animals for its organic meats as locally as possible from certified organic and documented family farms, humanely transports the animals to federally inspected processing facilities, processes the animals for human consumption, and produces each diet in its own, newly erected, USDA certified organic, FDA registered, manufacturing facility built to LEED green specifications in Lake Mills, WI. Paw Naturaw avoids using grains and leftovers from the human food industry such as high bone content ingredients like necks, frames, backs, and wings, and formulates its diets with popularly understood supermarket definitions of meat rather than pet food definitions of meat of which include the esophagus, diaphragm, tongue, blood, sinew, overlying portions of fat, and other lesser quality protein sources. Beyond simply featuring the best ingredients possible each Paw Naturaw diet is formulated with the assistance of Ph.D. Animal Nutritionists to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for All Life Stages. Yes, AAFCO levels are a starting point of which is why we formulate our products according to the optimal nutrient needs for dogs as recommended by the NRC's recommended Nutrient Requirements for Dogs.

Learn more about Paw Naturaw at www.PawNaturaw.com.