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‘The Perfect Pet Food’ - is it a myth? Does it exist? The good news is that there are many quality pet foods on the market. Finding them however, might not be how you currently choose a pet food. Take off your ‘rose colored glasses’ and let’s look closely at pet food choices.

I want to examine the marketing techniques used to sell pet food. Finding the perfect pet food often times means ignoring the advertising or marketing. So…as an example, I’ve made two different pet food labels - seen below. Don’t cheat and scroll below the labels! Look at these two labels as if you were considering them for your own pet. Think about what attracts you or doesn’t attract you by what is said on the label.

Kirby’s Kibble Super Supper

Made from REAL USDA Proteins Guaranteed Fresh! 100% Complete Nutrition

Or

Kirby’s Kibble Plain Pet Food

Why Pay more? Kirby’s Kibble Plain Pet Food Is adequate nutrition for average pets!

Yes, it’s obvious which pet food you would consider for your dog or cat. I did that for a reason. The truth about these two pet foods is that they BOTH contain the EXACT same ingredients.

Kirby’s Plain Pet Food is the truthful label - but you are never going to see this type of pet food label. No pet food manufacturer is going to tell you right on the label they use chicken feet (and they actually do!) or buy cheap ingredients from China (yep, they still do that too).

Kirby’s Super Supper is how the pet food bags and cans look at the pet store - but keep in mind both foods contain the EXACT same ingredients.

Here’s a list of what to watch out for on a dog food or cat food label…

1. Pictures of Wholesome Ingredients. Often, pictures of ingredients placed on a pet food label is NOT what is inside the bag. Pictures of fresh meat and vegetables are marketing and meant to attract you. Don’t trust the pictures.

2. Super Supper. You want to give your dog or cat a ‘Super Supper’ don’t you? And pet food marketers know you do too! This pet food might be super - but it might not be. The only way to know if a dog food or cat food is providing your pet a quality supper is to examine the list of ingredients on the back of the bag.

3. Premium Pet Food for Premium Pets. Of course we feel our pets are premium and deserve premium food! But…just like above, the only way to know if Kirby’s Kibble is premium is to look over the ingredients listed on the back of the bag.

4. strong>Made with REAL USDA Protein. This is a true but very misleading statement common to pet food and pet treats. Chicken feet - while being close to useless nutritionally - do actually come from USDA facility.

5. strong>Guaranteed Fresh. Dog food and cat food labels only provide pet owners with a ‘Best by’ date. Guaranteed Fresh could be a pet food that is two years old that contains potentially dangerous chemicals to extend the shelf life.

6. 100% Complete Nutrition. Most pet foods provide this phrase - more explained below.

Next…The Guaranteed Analysis of both pretend Kirby’s Pet Foods is… Crude Protein: 23% Crude Fat: 14% Crude Fiber: 4% Moisture: 10%

Brief ingredient listing for both foods… Corn, Chicken by-Product Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA/BHT), Corn Gluten Meal, Peanut Hulls (source of fiber), Minerals and Vitamins.

The next part of this pet food lesson - my ‘Made with REAL USDA Protein’ - listed on the Kirby’s Premium Pet Food label…Sounds good reading it doesn’t it? You see ‘Real USDA Protein’ and you ‘think’ human grade meat. But…the real USDA protein is chicken feet purchased from a USDA meat processing facility. This is a truthful statement - chicken feet (while being a very inferior protein source) are a USDA Real Protein. Luckily for Kirby’s Pet Food - the Super Supper food does NOT have to put ‘chicken feet’ on the label - even though that’s what it contains. Rules of the pet food industry allow Kirby’s Pet Food to call it ‘chicken by-product’.

Kirby’s Kibble purchases corn gluten meal (and it’s vitamins and minerals) from a U.S. importer. Since we buy gluten and other ingredients all from the same importer - we get a better price for our purchases. Kirby’s Pet Food assumes our importer uses safe suppliers - we test ingredients when we can. Testing of ingredients is only recommended by AAFCO - not mandatory. Do you trust Kirby’s Pet Food - either brand - to test their imported ingredients?

I understand this is going to sound absurd…but if I decided to actually make Kirby’s Kibble pet food, I would receive AAFCO approval for this food using chicken feet and peanut hulls and other cheap or imported ingredients. I would be provided with the 100% Complete Nutrition statement and I would be allowed to use the Kirby’s Super Supper label above stating Premium Pet Food! However…I would NOT be allowed to make this pet food using the same ingredients and use the Kirby’s Plain Pet Food bag telling you I used chicken feet in the food. Rules of AAFCO do not allow a pet food manufacturer to tell a potential customer the grade or quality of any ingredients.