False advertising

[wolfsoul]

I was at a pet shop with Jynnelle yesterday, and we were talking to the owner.

He showed us a bag of Innova and told us that they were false advertising with their ingredients. Of course I was concerned because this has always been one of my favourite brands.

He pointed to the two ingredients, chicken and turkey. He said that you never want to see just plain chicken or turkey there. I asked why. He said that when you have a meal, all of the water, fat, and juices has been extracted from it, so it's pure dense meat.

However, when it's just plain turkey or chicken, it still has all of the water, fat, and whatnot in it, so all it really is is watered down meat. If you actually add up the meat particles in the watered down meat, it would probably be seen way down the list of ingredients.

He said, in the case of Senior Innova dry food, the ingredients SAY: Turkey, chicken, ground barley, ground brown rice, potatoes, rice, chicken meal, etc.

But really the ingredients are:
Ground barley, ground brown rice, potatoes, rice, chicken meal, turkey, chicken.

[guster girl]

This just sounds strange to me. I'm curious to see what others have to say about this.....hmmm.....Did you ask him how he knew this?

[binka_nugget]

I've heard that somewhere..

I just checked the ingredients for Chicken Soup. The first four are Chicken, Turkey, Chicken Meal and Turkey Meal.

[wolfsoul]

The guy said that he's quite new to dog food, so hes talked to several nutritionists, and that's what they told him. I was surprised; I'd never heard of this before. But it really makes sense...

That's cool Ashley, I finally decided on feeding 2/3 Chicken soup, 1/3 homecooked until my puppy's about a year old when I'll switch to primary homecooked. I think that Chicken Soup is probably the best food around here, and it's not as expensive as some.

[guster girl]

I haven't looked at a bag of dog food in a long time, so, it just sounded odd to me....but, homemade is the way to go, anyway! Good luck with your dog, what kind do you have? I just got a lab pup, how old is your puppy?

[wolfsoul]

Originally posted by guster girl
Good luck with your dog, what kind do you have? I just got a lab pup, how old is your puppy?

I don't have my catahoula puppy yet, I won't be getting him until next year. But I do have two dogs. Timber and Leather. Well, Timber lives at my aunt's house right now because I don't have a job, so my mom said we couldn't afford to keep her. But she's still mine anyways lol. Leather lives at my other house.

[guster girl]

that's cool! Those are interesting names, too. I've always liked the catahoula dogs, but, have never seen one in person.

[wolfsoul]

Thanks! Yes, catahoulas are awesome dogs. I plan on getting mine from Cat's Cradle Catahoulas. I already talked to one of the breeders there. I hope to get a red leopard with atleast one glass (blue) eye, but I can't be too picky.

[guster girl]

Be as picky as you'd like. I mean, if you're getting a dog from a breeder, and, you're paying top dollar for one, you have every right to be a little selective. Of course, you're nuts if you "connect" with one and don't take it cuz it doesn't fit the blue eye requirement. But, before I got my puppy, I was doing some major research on breeds, and, colors, etc.....I've always liked labradors, but, was really leaning more toward a more uncommon breed. But, my boyfriend and I were just looking at the puppies to look, we weren't planning to get a pup so soon. But, we fell in love with Finn when we saw him, and, within an hour, we were dog parents. He was slightly lacking in doggie things the first night, but, the next day, he was a couple hundred dollars richer for toys and other doggie things. I hope you're still on pet talk when you get your puppy!

[wolfsoul]

I never looked at it that way, but I guess you're right; I deserve to have a little bit of say on what colour I'd like. Hehe.

I'll definatly be here when I get my pup! I'll want to show him off!

Do you have any pics of Finn to share?

[guster girl]

Heck, yeah. I've got several photos posted on the site right now. If you look at "new lab puppy", there are several (I accidentally double-posted a couple, though, oops), and, there are a couple of photos in "behaviour" and "breeds", both under similar headings. All started by me, guster girl. :0) I'm at work, and, unable to post any here right now, but, let me know what you think!

[K9soul]

That is very interesting Jordan. I noticed the first ingredient to my dogs' food (Royal Canin Natural Blend) is chicken meal, and chicken as the third ingredient.

Recently the pups were almost out of food and I went to Petco to pick up some more but they were out of it for the next three days. I went to Petsmart but they don't carry it. When I was checking out, (bought my clicker there) the lady asked if I found everything okay and I mentioned that they didn't carry the food I needed. She asked what I fed and then began telling me she fed her dogs pro-plan and it was a good food. I said I preferred foods without corn and wheat as the main ingredients and she proceeded to try to convince me corn and wheat were just fine as ingredients. I finally just nodded and thanked her and left.

[clara4457]

Actually - I think what the employee at the petstore told you was incorrect. Here is the official definition of chicken meal:

Chicken Meal - chicken which has been ground or otherwise reduced in particle size.

That is the official AAFCO definition - so if one label says Chicken and another says Chicken Meal - it could be exactly the same thing. I'm pretty sure (but not positive) that it has nothing to do with the fat content.

I get my dog food from a Holistic Dog Food supply store which offers both prepared kibble and wet food as well as premade raw food, and they are very knowledgeable about the ingredients of dog food. They actually do not carry Innova. Their objection to it is more because they cannot be sure that the manufacturer of Innova also manufactures Natura (sp?) food which is not human grade ingredients and they cannot say for sure that they use different processing equipment and don't cross contaminate the two foods. They also highly recommend Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul even though they don't carry it. They told me it is terrific food with all natural human grade ingredients.

I'll be quite honest with you, I wouldn't change my dog's food on the advise of one petstore employee. He could be blowing smoke just to get you to buy the food in his store.

[wolfsoul]

He actually sells Innova lol. So telling me that it's not good wouldn't really get me to buy from him. He says he's not saying it's a bad food, but that he disagrees with their false advertising, and that he likes Nutro much better.

The term "meal" means that these materials are not used fresh, but have been rendered. What is rendering? Rendering, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is "to process as for industrial use: to render livestock carcasses and to extract oil from fat, blubber, etc., by melting."

Rendering separates fat-soluble from water-soluble and solid materials, removes most of the water

From http://www.api4animals.org/79.htm

[NoahsMommy]

I feed my cats Innova wet and am very happy with it.

All three petstores I get it at all rave about it. The company that makes Innova is a company that makes only pet foods, therefore doing a lot of research for their product.

Here is the website for Innova. You'll see it contains turkey, chicken, chicken fat AND chicken meal...

http://www.naturapet.com/display.php...%3D%2734%27%5D

The food has to be good as my cat with IBD does wonderfully on it. That accounts for something.