I remember the day when I became more conscious of what's really in pet foods.

That day, I opened the dog food bag to feed my dog dinner. I scooped some food and noticed a tiny white stick-like object sticking out of a kibble. It looked to me like a chicken feather. Since I didn't know much about the quality of pet foods back then (I had only learned there were good quality pet foods and not-so-good quality pet foods on the market), I wasn't alarmed at first (I was told the pet food I was using was a premium food! I assumed it was a high quality food.). I gradually started looking for information on what kinds of ingredients are usually used in pet foods. As I became more knowledgeable, I was surprised by the fact that a lot of low-quality ingredients can end up in pet foods.

The object I found in the dog food kibble might've been part of a chicken feather. I can't say exactly just because it looked like a feather part to me. It could've been something else. But what I found was worth doing more research on my own. I learned about "by-products" used in many pet foods. By-products include any animal part other than meat, such as lungs, hooves, liver, kidney, hair, skin, intestines and so on. Considering the fact that in the wild carnivores eat these as a part of their wholesome diet, some people may say there is nothing wrong with pet foods containing by-products. But what if pet food manufacturers use by-products as a dominant source of protein in their foods? (There is no way of telling the exact amount. Nutritional value of by-products is often questionable.) Shawn Messonnier, D.V.M mentions in his book 8 Weeks to a Healthy Dog that "as the price of the pet food decreases, the reliance of the manufacturer on byproducts (especially less desirable byproducts) increases, since byproducts are much less expensive than muscle meats or fish...the amino acid content (remember, amino acids are the important building blocks of protein) of ingredients like hair, hooves, intestines, and various connective tissues can't possibly meet even the minimum needs of a pet."

I guess I was lucky in a way that I had found the feather-like part in the dog food kibble back then. Although I had been told that the brand I bought for my dog was a premium dog food, I found out later that it wasn't the best kind. That led me to do more research on pet foods...

Life's Abundance Premium Health Food for Dogs and Cats contain chicken -- only muscle meats. No by-products.