Following are commonly used pet food ingredients and their definitions according to the AAFCO. When reading the description of these ingredients keep in mind that when a description includes "mammals" that means any mammal is potentially okay for the pet food manufacturers to use. That could be euthanized dogs and cats, roadkill, OR manure. Also note, animal or poultry fat could be nothing more than restaurant grease. Good animal source proteins are chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, buffalo, venison,etc. "Poultry" is any fowl, and if it were chicken or turkey that would be on the label. "Meat" or "Animal" is a generic term for "mammals" because if it were beef,lamb, goat, elk, etc. that would be shown on the label. BEWARE OF THESE GENERIC TERMS.

It is your responsibility to know what your dog should eat, how to read ingredient labels, and identify the best possible food for your dog. Major pet food manufacturers have a vested interest in getting you to feed THEIR food that is not necessarily based on obtaining optimal health for your dog. The average veterinarian does not receive education on the nutritional needs of dogs outside of that subsidised by the major pet food manufacturers. While genetics predispose to certain problems, proper diet is one way to limit expression of those negative genes.

Animal Digest
	material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed animal tissue. The animal tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed.

Animal Fat
	is obtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial processes of rendering or extracting. It consists predominantly of glyceride esters of fatty acids and contains no additions of free fatty acids. If an antioxidant is used, the common name or names must be indicated, followed by the words "used as a preservative".

Barley Flour
	soft, finely ground and bolted barley meal obtained from the milling of barley. It consists essentially of the starch and gluten of the endosperm

Beet Pulp
	the dried residue from sugar beets

Brewer's Rice
	the dried extracted residue of rice resulting from the manufacture of wort (liquid portion of malted grain) or beer and may contain pulverized dried spent hops in an amount not to exceed 3 percent

Corn Bran
	the outer coating of the corn kernel, with little or none of the starchy part of the germ

Corn Gluten Meal
	the dried residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm

Digest of Beef
	material from beef which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed tissue. The tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth and hooves, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice.

Digest of Beef By-Products

material from beef which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed tissue from non-rendered clean parts, other than meat, from cattle which includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially de-fated low-temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs.

Digest of Poultry By-Products
	material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed tissue from non-rendered clean parts of carcasses of slaughtered poultry such as heads, feet, viscera, free from fecal content and foreign matter except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice.

Dried Animal Digest
	dried material resulting from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed animal tissue. The animal tissue used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind or flavor(s), it must correspond thereto.

Meat and Bone Meal
	the rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents, except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

Meat By-Products
	the non rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low-temperature fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hooves.

Meat Meal
	the rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

Poultry By-Product Meal
	consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing

Poultry Digest
	material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed poultry tissue.

Poultry Fat (feed grade)

primarily obtained from the tissue of poultry in the commercial process of rendering or extracting. It shall contain only the fatty matter natural to the product produced under good manufacturing practices and shall contain no added free fatty acids or other materials obtained from fat. It must contain not less than 90 percent total fatty acids and not more than 3 percent of unsaponifiables and impurities. It shall have a minimum titer of 33 degrees Celsius. If an antioxidant is used, the common name or names must be indicated, followed by the word "preservative".

Note: when given a choice, people generally pick a food preserved with Vitamin E and have every reason to expect that the food has no other preservatives in it. Well, sorry. It still could have other chemical preservatives in the food if the manufacturer purchased the fat and protein from suppliers who, prior to shipping to the manufacturers, added chemical preservatives. So the food manufacturer's label says, "preserved with Vitamin E" because that's all they added. You have no way of knowing if prior to what the manufacturer did, someone else added other preservatives.

Rice Bran
	- the pericarp or bran layer and germ of the rice, with only such quantity of hull fragments, chipped, broken, or brewer's rice, and calcium carbonate as is unavoidable in the regular milling of edible rice

What Is The Guaranteed Analysis?

This listing, required on dog food labels, is intended to instill confidence in the product's contents; however, it only gives you a percent approximation of what you are buying. It indicates maximum or minimum amounts of the substance in the food. For example, if Crude Fiber is listed as "Not less than l0%", you have no idea how much over 10% is actually in the diet; or if Crude Fat "Not less than 15%" is listed, does the diet contain 16% or 36%? So the Guaranteed Analysis helps, but not much.

Finally, please consider that you are feeding a dog, which is a CARNIVORE!! Many would have you believe that because our dogs have been domesticated they have evolved to eat these cereal based diets. THIS IS NOT TRUE!! The number of diet induced illnesses, since the invention of commercially processed pet food, is ever growing. We are not feeding livestock and our dogs our not humans in little furry suits.