“meat By-products” Good Or Bad?

[2BSH]

Good plan IMO =)
Also, if a brand in your rotation is unavailable or recalled, it's great having cats happy to do a switch with no problems.
It's absolute HELL getting an imprinted on one brand, one variety, and one specific type of food to transition if something is actually wrong with the food.

I’m lucky my cats aren’t horribly picky and cooperate.... for the most part

 

[2BSH]

Some of the higher brands will list them all separately. "Beef, beef heart, beef lung, beef kidney, beef liver", and so on, and some just list "beef, beef by products", etc. I wonder what's up with that?

Hmmmm I have yet to see that. Maybe I’m not looking at the right foods.

 

[Daisy6]

I think perhaps by products get a bad rep bc Of the visual they inspire in our human imagination. They are exactly what a cat would eat in the wild though. You are so right.

Bingo. That is why they are collectively called byproducts. The thought of cats and dogs eating brain, heart, lungs, spleen, stomach, intestines, and kidneys seems to be awful. But if you think about it, why be squeamish about that if you don't mind seeing liver listed?

 

[1 bruce 1]

Bingo. That is why they are collectively called byproducts. The thought of cats and dogs eating brain, heart, lungs, spleen, stomach, intestines, and kidneys seems to be awful. But if you think about it, why be squeamish about that if you don't mind seeing liver listed?

When my cats eat a mouse, they leave either the head and guts or just the guts.
One eats the rear half then deposits the remaining front at my bed room door like "HERE!! I FEED YOU! WEIRD, FURLESS HUMAN BABY OF MINE"... They're so weird =D
I think the issue with by products is your point; modern day humans don't usually like imagining their pets eating things like kidney and spleen, which is probably why that mouse-meat based cat food has never hit the market. People see mice as filthy vermin and wouldn't dare feed their cats that =/
Mention to a random person you meet on the street that your cat or dog is fed a lot of chicken or beef heart, some pancreas, spleen, and raw bones and odds are they'll call Animal Control for your alleged "abuse". (This world is screwed, btw.)
My dogs in particular go nuts for tripe, trachea, heart, etc.
Some Native American tribes would eat organ meats and give the muscle meat to the dogs, because muscle meat is not as nutrient dense.
Modern society today has a kind of warped sense of what's actually nutrient dense, sadly.

 

[2BSH]

When my cats eat a mouse, they leave either the head and guts or just the guts.
One eats the rear half then deposits the remaining front at my bed room door like "HERE!! I FEED YOU! WEIRD, FURLESS HUMAN BABY OF MINE"... They're so weird =D
I think the issue with by products is your point; modern day humans don't usually like imagining their pets eating things like kidney and spleen, which is probably why that mouse-meat based cat food has never hit the market. People see mice as filthy vermin and wouldn't dare feed their cats that =/
Mention to a random person you meet on the street that your cat or dog is fed a lot of chicken or beef heart, some pancreas, spleen, and raw bones and odds are they'll call Animal Control for your alleged "abuse". (This world is screwed, btw.)
My dogs in particular go nuts for tripe, trachea, heart, etc.
Some Native American tribes would eat organ meats and give the muscle meat to the dogs, because muscle meat is not as nutrient dense.
Modern society today has a kind of warped sense of what's actually nutrient dense, sadly.

I'd rather feed my cats meat by products than processed carbs. And yes you're right. About the warped sense of what's nutritious and what isn't.

 

[Daisy6]

Bruce, that reminds me Americans are totally grossed out by the idea that insects are food too. Once I told a coworker my cat ate a bug. She said that is disgusting. But some raw diet feeders are known to have live crickets in the house to feed the cats.

When I asked my sister what she feeds her pets (2 dogs and 3 cats) she said they all eat 100% salmon treats. I told her about freeze-dried raw treats with stomach, heart, liver, and ground bone along with the "meat" ingredient She thought it was yucky and her facial expression showed it.

 

[Arirang]

The unspecified nature of the meat alone is unsettling. Purina especially is notorious for using euthanized animals of unknown species (yes, it could be dogs and cats for all we know and it'd be perfectly legal) and the barbital getting into the food (See: Beneful). Roadkill, too, is often used. This is why the only Purina product I'll ever buy is cat litter.

Plus, if it says "meal" (as in, by-product meal), that means it's rendered (high-heat cooking), and the beaks and bones and hooves and everything else hard gets turned to ash.

It's hard to digest, seeing as how it's literally non-food.

Aside from high protein, it has basically no nutritional benefit (many brands will say, "Source of glucosamine..." Bullcrap. It's got a tiny fraction of the glucosamine found in the actual meat.)

Unless starving, most animals (except perhaps hyenas) wouldn't eat it anyways.

It's a cheap alternative to meat in overpriced foods and simply shouldn't be used. If you're buying food that uses it, you're paying too much for it.

 

[10009891]

Meat by product comes from dead zoo animals, road kill, kill shelter meat of other dead cats and dogs. And unwanted meat left behind at cow, horse... slaughter houses.

 

[MissMolly08]

A Arirang and 10009891 ... I am assuming neither one of you read the whole post. All of that is untrue.

 

[maggiedemi]

MissMolly--- thanks for all that info, that was really interesting.

 

[Arirang]

I respectfully disagree. Remember the Beneful scandal? The byproducts had barbital and it was killing dogs. They never disclosed what sort of "meat" it was. In my opinion, any company that has to hide behing vague ingredient lists and deception cannot be trusted with my baby's health.

They are also proven to be difficult to digest due to the bone-ash. Just feed meat. My baby never gets anything with ingredients that are not human-quality.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Hmmmm I have yet to see that. Maybe I’m not looking at the right foods.

I'm not saying that Feline Natural is specifically a "right" food for everyone (my cat only decides it is "right" a few times a month, lol), but all those generic by-products are listed out on the label for this food, as an example, just like other posters have mentioned about certain brands.

Feline Natural Chicken and Lamb:
"Chicken, Lamb Heart, Lamb Kidney, Lamb Liver, Lamb Blood, Flaxseed Flakes, New Zealand Green Mussel, Dried Kelp, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Magnesium Oxide, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid. Water added for processing"

I'd much rather have by-products listed out on a label than not listed. In fact, for this food above, lamb blood is listed but some pet owners don't specifically want animal blood in their pet's canned food (if they know it's there). Blood can be nutritious but I don't think there is any required quality control or regulations for animal blood in commercial pet foods... so I guess one would wonder if that 'meat by-product' came from an ill animal or not. Depends on the known quality control of the brand.

 

[Blakeney Green]

Meat by product comes from dead zoo animals, road kill, kill shelter meat of other dead cats and dogs. And unwanted meat left behind at cow, horse... slaughter houses.

I have a question about this. I've heard this multiple times, but I'm confused about how the remains of shelter animals would get into the food supply.

Are there allegations that some shelters are selling dead animals to food producers? If so, have those allegations ever been substantiated with proof? Is there some type of paper trail or has someone admitted doing so?

I'm not saying I think it's true or not true, my question is "How would that actually happen and has it been proven?"

 

[Daisy6]

Blake, I never read shelter animals specifically are the ones being used but it has been proven euthanized cats and dogs are sometime added. There is proof of pentobarbital (the euthanasia drug) being used in pet food. One company detected it in dog food and recalled the batch.

 

[duckpond]

Sometimes farm animals are Euthanized too. Cows, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, it happens. I would imagine the phenobarbital came from one of those animals, not cats or dogs. At least i hope so.

 

[duckpond]

I agree with that 100% that’s why I’ve been searching for a decent food with organ meats other than liver to feed my piggies.

Have you tried Bravo? Its one i was thinking to try. not crazy about Agar-Agar, but hard to find food without something im not fond of

Bravo! Feline Cafe Chicken Fricassee Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 24

 

[Blakeney Green]

Blake, I never read shelter animals specifically are the ones being used but it has been proven euthanized cats and dogs are sometime added. There is proof of pentobarbital (the euthanasia drug) being used in pet food. One company detected it in dog food and recalled the batch.

Okay, but if so... again, how did they get in the food?

If this is accurate, someone sold or gave the remains away and someone bought or received them.

 

[MissMolly08]

I respectfully disagree. Remember the Beneful scandal? The byproducts had barbital and it was killing dogs. They never disclosed what sort of "meat" it was. In my opinion, any company that has to hide behing vague ingredient lists and deception cannot be trusted with my baby's health.

They are also proven to be difficult to digest due to the bone-ash. Just feed meat. My baby never gets anything with ingredients that are not human-quality.

I can't find anything about barbital and Beneful. I see a lawsuit against Beneful for containing "toxins" but apparently it was not proven and a judge sided with Purina. They did find trace amounts of things like propylene glycol but it was under the FDA approved amount and is considered food safe.

 

[MissMolly08]

I can't find anything about barbital and Beneful. I see a lawsuit against Beneful for containing "toxins" but apparently it was not proven and a judge sided with Purina. They did find trace amounts of things like propylene glycol but it was under the FDA approved amount and is considered food safe.

I do see articles regarding pentobarbital and Evanger's BUT the article specifically states this is illegal in pet food so as stated above, this has nothing to do with by-products in pet food and is more about being able to trust the company you purchase your pet food from.

 

[Vega's Dad]

...this is illegal in pet food so as stated above, this has nothing to do with by-products in pet food and is more about being able to trust the company you purchase your pet food from.

Yes, it could sneak into the cans as by-products, as meat or as supplements, but it is none of above.