Whats in your food?
You are what you Eat. This is just as true for pets as it is to us. But if Fido could ask what's for dinner, would you really know? What are byproducts?
Yellow # 5 ? While these ingredients are not really dangerous, it is wise to "read" the ingredients list and understand what the food is actually made of.
Artificial Colors & Flavors
these make a bland food look or taste more appealing, or add a flavor it wouldn't otherwise contain. The artificial colors are in the pet food for the owners not the pets.
Byproducts
The Association of American Feed Control Officials, who set the pet food labeling standards, define meat byproducts as lungs, bone, blood, intestines, and anything other than actual meat. Poultry byproducts can include chicken heads, feet, undeveloped eggs. when it is stated as meat byproducts, that is when they can't even tell you what kind of meat it is and can consist of road kill any rendered dead animals and could even include cats and dogs that were euthanized.Be aware that byproducts can also contain "cancerous tissue", lungs filled with pneumonia and parts that were cut off because they were injection sites for drug or hormones.This is why it is advised to "avoid" diets that have any type of byproducts in them.
Fillers
Corn, wheat, soybean meal, midlings, hulls mill run and flours have little to no nutritional value for dogs and cats, yet it makes up the bulk of the foods. This is a real issue for our pets. They can't get enough nutrients from grain based diets. Too little vitamin A can cause eye and skin problems. A lack of vitamin B12 can hurt the nervous system, and taurine deficiency can lead to blindness in cats. Some high fiber fillers are not very digestible either, so the fillers just run through there bodies and create more fecal waste.
Preservatives
Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated Hydroxytouluene (BHT),propylene Glycol, and ethoxyquin are amoung the most common preservatives in pet foods
They have been linked to ailments from anemia to cancer, but there's no clear rulings yet on there long term effects. A much better alternative is vitamin E (tocopherols) and rosemary.