In my ongoing effort to teach as many people as I can to understand the ins and outs of the pet food industry - this month I want to explain some of the fine print on your pet food label.

Minerals are a required ingredient in human diets as well as diets for our pets. Copper, Iron and Zinc are common minerals found in pet foods. Just as they are - copper, iron, and zinc are basically rocks, very difficult for anyone or any pet to utilize. Science has developed several ways to introduce minerals into the body (human and pet) for better absorption thus benefiting the individual far more. This scientific development is called chelating or proteinating and it's actually been around for years. Through the chelating or proteinating process minerals are absorbed about 60% better than just the minerals alone.

So why am I sharing this ‘fine print’ on the pet food label with you? Well, it is so simple and so beneficial for a pet food manufacturer to add chelated or proteinated minerals - any manufacturer that doesn’t, in my opinion is cutting corners. And it leaves me with the feeling that if they cut this corner which is so simple to avoid, what other corners are they cutting? I don’t like that feeling. Notice on your pet food label, way down on the list of ingredients the minerals. You are looking for minerals that read ‘copper proteinate’ or ‘chelated copper’. If you see just the mineral listed, your pet is sort of like Charlie Brown at Halloween saying ‘I got a rock’.

And one more thing in the fine print…it’s called friendly bacteria. Although ‘friendly bacteria’ sounds a little scary, the reason for it lies in your pets’ intestinal system. A large portion of your pets’ immune system is found within the intestinal system. So keeping the immune system healthy helps to keep the animal itself healthy. This friendly bacteria is similar to what’s found in yogurt however in pet food it is introduced in a fashion that the cooking process doesn’t destroy. It’s a very simple benefit of science. Yet again, just like with minerals, many pet food manufacturers don’t take the little added effort to provide our pets with them. Looking at the fine print on your pet food label, this time you are looking for lengthy, scientific words like Lactobacillus Acidophilus or Bifidobacterium Thermophilum. Probably one of the words at the National Spelling Bee Championship!

Again with the known scientific data as to the benefit of friendly bacteria, why would a pet food manufacturer not provide them to pets? If they don’t it would appear they are cutting corners again.

Thanks for listening! I hope everyone has a wonderful June. This is my birthday month, so I’m looking forward to a little celebrating with family and friends. But regardless of getting another year older (the only bad thing about birthdays!), I will be watching the pet food industry like a hawk and providing you with any updates you need to know. Until next month or the next message.

Susan Thixton
Pet Behavior and Nutrition Consultant
Truth About Pet Food
Petsumer Reportâ„¢
TruthAboutPetFood.com
Susan Thixton has worked in the pet industry for over 20 years helping thousands of pet owners to enjoy their pets. She's produced an internationally distributed dog training video, authored the tell all book Truth About Pet Food, and recently has begun publication of a one-of-a-kind pet owning consumer report Petsumer Report. For more information please visit TruthAboutPetFood.com