The Most Common Dog Food Ingredients To Avoid

Though we predominantly always recommend feeding a fresh diet where possible (raw or cooked), we recognise this is not a viable solution for every dog and household for a variety of reasons and in some cases dry dog food must be fed. 

In those circumstances, it's important to ensure we are trying to avoid as many of the common harmful ingredients as possible and so we hope this article, along with our healthy food database and recommendations, will help you in making the best choice for your needs! 

Grains 

Always check for grains! Some Dog foods sadly contain up to '80% grain! It is often the first ingredient in dog foods. They are used far too often by too many pet food manufacturers who will try to tell you that they are an excellent source of fibre and carbohydrates. However, the domestic dogs of today share 98.8% of their genetic build-up with wolves meaning; dogs are facultative carnivores. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for grains to sustain life. Since the 1950s, dog food manufacturers have used grains abundantly in their food as they are shelf-stable and much cheaper per/calorie than protein or fat and it's worth noting that grains can be in the form of so many different ingredients from rice, cereal, barley, millet, wheat, rye, spelt etc

To sum it up, think of grains as nothing. More than a cheap filler with no nutritional value for your dog. Instead, find a dog food with high protein and low carbohydrate content.

Legumes and legume by-products ( peas, pea protein, pea flour & pea fibre) 

With pet parents becoming more aware of their dog's diet, more and more pet parents are turning to grain-free pet foods, the problem with this though is that most manufacturers are now using peas/legumes to replace the grains peas/legumeswelke

As sources of fibre and protein. However, including peas/legumes also presents many other problems;

1. They are high in phytic acid. These phytates tend to bind calcium, magnesium and iron in dogs.

2. Even more concerning with using these alternatives, is the lectins which aren't easily processed by our carnivorous dogs. Lectins are sticky, binding proteins that attach to leptin receptors which regulate carbohydrates into glucose. In time the lectins disrupt the receptors which can lead to health issues like obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and many other conditions which are very prevalent in dogs today. 

3. Lectins also attach to the villi in the dog's digestive tract, dramatically affecting the absorption of nutrients. Over time, the continued exposure to these lectins causes irreversible damage in the forms of several canine health issues, including, most recently, dilated cardiomyopathy and 'intestinal permeability (leaky gut).

Byproducts & derivatives 

Byproducts & derivatives depending on which country you're from, are the leftover waste from the production of animals or vegetables/plants for human consumption. In most cases, these scraps do not contain much of the ingredient as we know it. Instead, it will include things like; lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, blood, bone, fatty skin tissue, feathers, feet, hides, horns, hides, poultry heads, rodents, insects, eyes, peelings, sawdust, wood shavings, leaves, bark etc.

At first glance, the ingredients listed above may not sound too bad, since wild carnivores would consume the organs of their prey etc. However, these byproducts in the pet food industry often come from diseased, dead, dying or disabled animals that were not deemed fit for slaughter for human consumption. 

A key aspect of this is that the manufacturer can change the animal source at any time and can use any combination of meat and animal derivatives. Therefore, at the time of production, they will use whichever ingredients are the cheapest. This equates to poor quality and interchangeable ingredients - meaning no two batches of dog food will be the same not ideal for you; you don't know what you're purchasing from one bag to the next. But also, far from ideal for your dog; unpredictable, poor quality food is never advisable particularly for sensitive dogs with food intolerances.

What to look for when choosing dry dog food 

The problem with kibble is its high carbohydrate nature. Carbohydrates when eaten are metabolised into sugar, so eating a high carbohydrate diet is Never going to be healthy for your dog in any way shape or form. It's important to remember that sugar feeds disease, this is why canine cancer, obesity And diabetes rate is similar to that of humans, of course, your dog can still eat a small number of carbohydrates but, they should come in the forms of fresh fruit and veg like berries etc. When you look at dry dog food- you'll see that the protein level is low and the carb level is high. 

The best diet to feed your dog is a high protein low carb diet

A fresh diet is the best diet for a dog, however, if you do not want to feed a fresh diet (raw or home-cooked diet) then the next best thing would be to feed your dog a wet food as they contain less sugar/carbs than dry dog food. If those options aré still/not suitable for you then there are some much better quality dry dog food out there;

● akela 80:20

● wolf worthy 80:20

● Eden 80:20

● Europa 80:20 (potato free)

● millies wolfheart 80:20

● growling tums - superfood adult

It's worth noting though, that some of these dry foods with the higher protein levels can be more expensive than feeding a fresh diet and less beneficial - so do be sure to do your research. 

We have a wide range of resources on our website to help you make informed decisions - from our articles to our raw food alternatives list for both the UK and USA.

We also have our healthy food database which is great to compare prices and proteins and will show you brands in many different forms; raw, cooked, wet, freeze-dried.