Canned Dog Food

I've always wondered how wet dog food gets made – but it took a long time to find out. It seems like it's more difficult for a journalist to get into a pet food cannery than into a factory that builds spy planes. So when Whole Dog Journal is asked to take a tour of a dog food manufacturing plant we jump at the opportunity. This article details how canned dog food is made at one plant. From the initial ingredient preparations, to the canning and cooking process and the QC and testing procedures along the way, this article captures it all. Included in this web-only feature are detailed photos taken by Whole Dog Journal during the plant tour. Be sure to click on each image to enlarge it.

Wet dog food is much more natural" for dogs to eat than dry kibble. Its moisture content is closer to that of meats

Whole Dog Journal readers have learned how to identify the best commercial foods when they shop for their dogs. But whether you feed dry kibble or canned food, even the best commercial diets can be improved with the addition of appropriate fresh foods. Keep the following things in mind when adding fresh foods to your dog's diet.

We like canned food for dogs. It's more expensive than dry, but good varieties of canned dog food are arguably healthier than comparable dry dog foods, due to the higher inclusion of animal proteins and the higher moisture levels. Both of these things are closer to the dog's evolutionary diet than dry diets that contain a lot of grain. Some dog owners stopped buying wet dog food following the spring 2007 pet food recalls of foods that contained melamine and/or cyanuric acid. Given the fear and lack of information in the early days of the recall, this made sense. Now, however, we know more about the factors that led to the recalls, and we feel more certain than ever that wet pet foods offer health benefits to many dogs - and that our recommendations for choosing wet dog foods can help owners identify the safest, healthiest products available.

How should you choose a canned food for your dog? To start, by looking past its advertising in dog magazines or its front label. We suggest you focus on its ingredient panel, its guaranteed analysis (GA), and finally, on its performance in feeding trials with your dog.

The making of laws and sausage, goes the old saying, is better unseen. Apparently, the pet food industry feels the same way about “wet” food for dogs and cats. We haven’t yet managed to get into a cannery to see how the product is made (but we’re not giving up!). There are a few reasons for this. The first has to do with the fact that there are very few wet food canneries in the U.S., relative to facilities that manufacture dry food. (As a matter of fact, the entire canning industry – of pet food and human food – has seen enormous consolidation in the last decade.

and

Can you tell the difference between a top-quality, healthy canned food, and one that can’t contribute much to your dog’s vitality or well-being? We teach you how, and offer buying suggestions.

and accordingly

or fish broth is used in place of water.

• We looked for the use of whole grains and vegetables

and disabled." It includes meat that was too high in hormones

these days?) and they can't share the information with you for fear that the knowledge will spread and this will result in some sort of advantage by their competitors.

The truth is