You may be unknowingly making your beloved pet sick by feeding him/her food that is preserved with chemicals, contains animal by-products, or unhealthy fillers. As a nation, we spend more than $20 billion annually on pet foods and treats, yet we don’t know how to read pet food labels. Most people don’t realize that the most popular pet foods contain chemical preservatives and by-products that are unfit for human consumption. These by-products include decayed meat, animal digest, feet, beaks, hair and all internal organs. There is no governmental agency watching over what goes in pet foods. It is totally up to you, the pet owner, to watch out for the nutritional well being of your pet.

The first ingredient should always be a meat or meat meal followed by another meat or a grain or vegetable product. The term meal simply means that the meat has been ground or reduced in particle size with no compromise in quality. If your pet food label has meat by-products listed as ingredients, here is what the AAFCO guidelines say meat by-products can consist of: “The non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat derived from slaughtered mammals, including, but not limited to: lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines, freed from their contents.” Poultry by-products consist of: “ground, rendered clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.” Based on the chemicals and by-products contained in the most popular pet foods, is it any wonder that there has been such an increase in cancer, skin problems, and allergies in pets? For more information about pet food ingredients, read “Food Pets Die For” by Ann Martin.

Corn or corn meal is a low cost filler that dog food manufacturers use to save money. Corn passes right through your dog with little to no nutritional value. If your dog food lists corn as the first or second ingredient, you are paying for up to 25% filler in that food. Not only are you paying for a filler, you are also having more dog stools in your yard. The presence of fillers tells you what the manufacturer thinks of their food.

Corn is an acceptable ingredient in cat food. The differences in the nutritional needs and digestive systems between dogs and cats permits corn to be a good ingredient for cats.

Flint River Ranch uses only all natural, human grade ingredients in all of their pet foods -- there are no chemicals, no fillers, no by-products contained in any FRR foods. FRR uses only human grade, high quality ingredients. For example, FRR could use a cheaper quality wheat as some manufacturers do, but FRR buys wheat only from reputable mills such as General Mills. The wheat is tested for quality before it leaves the mill, and then tested again when Flint River Ranch receives the wheat. It is more expensive wheat, but it is also a very high quality, human grade ingredient. Other pet food manufacturers buy their wheat directly from a grain elevator which contains insects, chaff, weeds, stalks, etc…. It is a less expensive and inferior quality wheat, but it is still listed as wheat on the pet food label. This commitment to quality is FRR’s standard with every single ingredient in every FRR pet food. FLINT RIVER RANCH DOES NOT CUT CORNERS ON QUALITY!

Quite simply, you will not find a higher quality pet food than Flint River Ranch anywhere. In the end, it is up to you to safeguard the nutrition and resulting health of your pet. Thank you for caring about your pet.