Webster defines “crude” as a substance in its natural unprocessed state. The ingredients listed in all pet foods are defined as crude, as in “existing in a natural state and unaltered by cooking or processing.”*
The law requires manufacturers to list the ingredients of their food in descending order of their weight before processing, this is the guaranteed analysis of the CRUDE product.
What then is left in the bag of dry dog food after it has been extruded, and cooked or baked at 500 degrees? If you cooked a chicken or hamburger to the point that it resembles a dog food kibble, would eat it or throw it away?
Herein lies one of the problems with dry dog food.
The law should require makers to tell us exactly what our dogs are eating. Since they don’t, one way to find out is a digestibility study. You could spend thousands and have it done professionally or you could measure what goes in and what comes out in your own yard. A food that is digested leaves very little by-product. This means fewer stools and less volume. A food that is just processed for energy leaves considerably more by-product. What happens to this by-product differs as to what material is left over. Digested meat proteins are smaller and dry in the sun to become a crumbly fertilizer. Processed grain proteins pass thru like corn on the cob, a large volume that never goes away until you run over it with the mower.
The pet food industry is magical in the development of their products, what goes in the bag generally costs less than the bag itself. The machines used to produce dry dog food can accept no more than 30% fresh ingredients, that means a least 70% of the mix is dry fillers; meal and grains. Fresh meat is heavy, these machines are not designed to handle this weight. They haven’t been designed like a sausage grinder, because the industry is making tons of money mixing the bare minimums for your dog to live on. These grain-based products make up the lion share of the ingredients in all dry dog foods.
So when you read the label, think twice about how much protein your dog is getting. Starting with indigestible grain protein and then the extreme temperatures involved in a production, what exactly is he living on?
We all feel and perform better when we eat well…fresh (crude) meats, vegetables, and a little bread. Our dogs should not be an exception. His cousins in the wild have few of the ailments our pets have, he is following his instincts to eat species appropriate food. He is a hunter of meat, his diet is fresh (crude) meat, not questionable little kibbles from a paper bag.