Only the best of course! But what is the best?
– from nutritionist Tanja Schneewind
Alps. During the dog mole, there should be a lot of meat, a little vegetables, fiber for digestion, oil for the fur and all minerals and vitamins that a healthy dog needs. All of this can be found in the dog futs on the shelves. Or?
Reading declarations needs to be learned.
If you want to know what is really in the food bowl, you cannot avoid dealing with the declarations. All components that fall under the declaration obligation must be listed on the respective label (EU regulation (EC) No. 767/2009) – also means that there are also other components, more on that later.
A distinction is made between an open, a partially open or closed declaration. The legislature mandatory is only the closed declaration, where the individual ingredients are summarized in collective terms. Possible conclusions about the exact quantity distribution of the individual components can only be drawn from the order, here the rule applies “in a quantity in descending order”. The open declaration, on the other hand, gives precise quantities of the individual components, for example 75 percent beef (Of which 50 % muscle meat, 15 % stomach, 5 % liver, 5 % heart), 10 percent sweet potato, 10 percent beetroot, 4.9 percent apple, 0.1 percent linseed oil. The partially open declaration is a mixture of both, about 75 percent beef (Muscle meat, stomach, liver, heart). However, if you find statements such as “meat and animal sidelines” can fall, among other things, beaks, feathers, animal flour, claws. Something that of course does not like to be disclosed. The term “vegetable sidelines” also appears more often – behind them are hidden things like molasses, beet dry schnitzel, straws and the like.
The fine difference
Another point that mainly affects the dry feed area is the concept of meat. There is a big difference between poultry meat flour and poultry flour or poultry protein. Meat flour means dried and ground meat – with poultry flour or poultry protein, the word “meat” is missing – because all parts of the animal are used here. And the word “poultry” alone leaves a lot open. Is it chicken? Or duck? Or turkey or goose or a mix of everyone? This would be very important information for dogs with feed intolerance.
Attention is also required when it comes to protein assignment: a feed in which the association is created on a certain protein due to the presentation and the designation, for example chicken, is not necessarily a so -called monoprotein – only chicken. In order to be able to call a feed “chicken”, just 4 percent chicken must actually be present in the feed.
And what else is there?
In order to be allowed to be considered sole feed, it must be ensured that all relevant nutrients are available for the holistic diet of the animal. However, are not due to the selection of the ingredient or the type of preparation (more) All nutrients are available, they must be supplied afterwards. A list of these additional substances must also be declared accordingly.
Also under the term “additives” aroma substances, preservatives, emulsifiers, stabilizers and the like fall. These are often not done with the specific name, but on the basis of the so -called E – numbers. For example, behind E407 the fabric used as a gelling agent and the microcrystalline cellulose hidden behind E460.
And what does not have to be declared?
All added feed additives must be declared and marked if they are kept with the highest (i.e. upper limit values) were approved for the respective animal species. From this one can – unfortunately – conclusion: If no maximum values are set, nothing has to be shown.
Dry food vs. wet feed
Dry food is more pragmatic for the pet owner – easy to store, easy to feed (also in summer), easily portioning and transportable. On the other hand, it has a lot of carbohydrates, because this is the only way to keep the brackets in shape. The wet food does not always come here, but has the unbeatable advantage of being able to forego excessive carbohydrates and similar additives.
Conclusion
Based on the declaration, the quality of the feed can be estimated well. The more precisely the information, the safer, the more secure can be assumed from a high -quality selection of raw materials and gentle processing. The less percentage information and the longer the list of ingredients, the inferior the starting products and/or processing.
If you want to know what really ends up in the dog's food bowl, you cannot avoid reading the declaration. A trained dog nutrition consultant can provide help here and help with the correct nutrition of the individual animal.
To the author
Tanja Schneewind, www .THP -SCHNEE Wind .de, is a veterinary practitioner, laser therapist and nutritionist with a focus on dog with a mobile practice in the Alpen/Niederrhein area. It combines individually adapted nutritional counseling with holistic methods such as laser and color light therapy, bioresonance and laser acupuncture. Their focus is on activating the self -healing powers and bringing the dog into balance in the long term. The aim of your work is to deal with complaints originally and to sustainably promote well -being.