I just saw this article posted on a Facebook dog group and thought I’d post it here too. Just in case there’s anyone still feeding commercial kibble to their dog.
The brown powder in the photo below is what is known as “meal” (“chicken meal” or “meat meal”) on pet food labels. The article I linked above shows what this product is made from. I hope you will take a moment to look at those photos.
Why is this stuff still being fed to our beloved companions?
I think the biggest thing that keeps people feeding this unspeakable dreck to their dogs is that they just can’t imagine a vet or store would have the audacity to sell a product like this and call it “premium.” But so-called pet health professionals not only sell it, they also want you to think that your dog is in jeopardy if he eats anything else.
Like “Balanced” and “Complete”, “Premium” is also a meaningless marketing term
The brands sold in vet offices are actually among the heaviest users of this brown powder. They know they are safe because the salespeople (vets) are so trusted by their clientele. So much so, I would venture, that most of the latter don’t even bother to read the ingredients label. Here are the first 19 ingredients in Hill’s “Digestive Care” kibble: “Brewers Rice, Whole Grain Corn, Chicken Meal, Pea Protein, Egg Product, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Fat, Chicken Liver Flavor, Pork Liver Flavor, Ground Pecan Shells, Lactic Acid, Potassium Chloride, Flaxseed, Dried Beet Pulp, Dried Citrus Pulp, Dicalcium Phosphate, Iodized Salt, Fish Oil, Soybean Oil…”
There it is, #3 on the list. And ground pecan shells? Since when do dogs eat pecan shells? How much do you think Hill’s has to pay for pecan shells? Probably just a little bit less than they have to pay for the mystery meat powder, according to this article by Susan Thixton. But just ponder for a moment what they must pay for marketing, packaging, advertising, “endowments” to veterinary academia, PR management (including paid social media trolls), processing, shelf space at vet’s offices and transportation. Now you can begin to understand the high price tag these products carry. The money they rake in is not all overhead, however. There is plenty of profit left over. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have new pet food companies coming on line everyday.
Secrecy is necessary.
The topic of my next blog article will be the new attempt by the pet food industry to appear “transparent” with their new labeling design. After seeing these photos, do you think that this industry can afford actual transparency?
Update: As of April 2026, we still haven’t seen hide nor hair of the promised new labeling that was going to provide transparency to dog owners. We’re still getting the meaningless “guaranteed analyses” that allow producers to deceive consumers.
Just say “NO” to commercial pet foods. Home feeding is easy, affordable, accessible, simple, and best of all it keeps your dogs OUT of the sick dog system. And nothing is better at fulfilling all those criteria than Rotational MonoFeeding.
Thank you for this information. I’m appalled!!! I do read labels but unfortunately I don’t always understand every component to all the ingredients! And, I’m one of those pet parents that’s using a vet recommended food!!! I have a mini schnauzer that has had pancreatitis and to think they would recommend a food that had pecan shells and high fat in it is beyond me. Where are the “industry standards”???
Hi Susan, I’m glad you found this info helpful. I’ve resolved pancreatitis in two dogs and it’s so easy. It just involves removing the burden from the pancreas so it can correct itself. Both of these dogs were fasted for a couple days followed by home prepped food. One dog got meat and the other got plant foods, and both of them made a complete recovery. So it really doesn’t matter which direction you go in — lean meat or plants. Both allow the pancreas to rest from its previous workload, especially if it is preceded by a day or two of complete rest. I hope you will give RMF a try. It not only resolves pancreatitis, it aims to keep dogs out of the sick pet system completely. Here’s my article on pancreatitis if you’d like more info: https://rotationalmonofeeding.com/the-truth-about-pancreatitis-in-dogs/
IL NOSTRO VETERINARIO PROPRETARIO E GESTORE DI UNA CLINICA CON ADDETTI OLTRE A VACCINARE E A FARE CONTINUI RICHIAMI , NEI QUALI , UN RICHIAMO SU UNA CAGNOLINA DI 2 K.G. HA RISCHIATO DI MORIRE SE NON INTERVENIVANO CON UN ANTIDOTO, DOPO QUESTA PER FORTUNA VICISSITUDINE ANDATA A BUON FINE ,CI HA DIAGNOSTICATO CHE LA CAGNOLINA SOFFRIVA DI GASTRITE, ORA IL SUO MANDIARE E’ UN PRODOTTO ” GASTRO INTESTINALE”, DELLA ROYAL CHIEDO SE SIA CORRETTO CONTINUARE CON QUESTA ALIMENTAZIONE
DISTINTI SALUTI
Ermanno Ricci
Hello Ermanno,
Thank you for your question. Since this website is in English, I will provide a quick translation for your question first:
“OUR VETERINARIAN OWNER AND MANAGER OF A CLINIC WITH EMPLOYEES IN ADDITION TO VACCINATING AND MAKING CONTINUOUS BOOSTERS, IN WHICH, A RECALL ON A 2 KG DOG.
SHE RISKED OF DYING IF THEY DIDN’T INTERVENE WITH AN ANTIDOTE, AFTER THIS EVENT LUCKILY WERE SUCCESSFULLY, HE DIAGNOSED THAT THE DOG SUFFERED FROM GASTRITIS,
NOW HER EAT IS A “GASTRO INTESTINAL” PRODUCT FROM ROYAL I WONDER IF IT’S CORRECT CONTINUE WITH THIS FEEDBACK. BEST REGARDS”
No, it’s absolutely not the correct response to any physiological ailment, and in fact even a healthy dog will eventually be sickened by this product. But please
I urge you to not let me do your thinking for you on this. You can see for yourself what this product is composed of. Here’s the list of ingredients:
Chicken by-product meal, brown rice, corn, brewers rice, chicken fat, natural flavors, egg product, corn gluten meal,
dried plain beet pulp, fish oil, monocalcium phosphate, vegetable oil, potassium chloride, salt, psyllium seed husk …
That’s only a partial list because the remainder of ingredients are unrecognizable supplements and chemicals of various kinds. Please look that list over and ponder how
different it is from what dogs evolved eating, and still must eat to this day in order to thrive. I’ve already written and talked so much about these ingredients and their
harmfulness that I will not expound further here except to refer you also to a guaranteed analysis converter tool (link below) that will also show you the real proportion that is contributed by fat. Please plug the numbers of the guaranteed analysis into this converter and see for yourself. I did that, and it contains roughly twice as much fat as it does protein. In the wild model, the ratio is just the opposite. In other words, much more protein and much less fat. This product contains less than 40% fat which is fairly low compared to other products BUT the trick the processors use to get it so low is to throw in lots of useless highly processed carbohydrate matter that is waste from various human food industries. They use the same garbage high fat meat sources for this food that they use for their higher fat kibbles, but in this one there are more carbs added to displace the fat proportion so that it looks better on the analysis. (Link to converter tool: https://balance.it/convert)
Please trust your ability to provide a better food for your dog than this. You wouldn’t have to do much to improve but that’s really not what you want to do, you want to optimize your dog’s diet so you can get the absolutely longest and most enjoyable time with him. If there were any commercial foods that could accomplish this, I’d be feeding it and would have had no reason to develop my method of home feeding. None of the things you’ve heard about home feeding are true. I urge you to not only begin feeding your dog properly but also, if you must see vets, find one that does not push these ridiculously harmful products. If a vet will recommend this product, there’s literally no limit to the harm s/he can do to your animals given the opportunity.
Best of luck!
Nora