It’s all about the meat

Gigantic assumption

Meat protein is more balanced nutritionally than vegetable protein, so a greater percentage would make sense. The increase followed the assumption that the nutrition of the food sourced in the wild is the best possible solution for your pet’s long-term life and health. This is a gigantic assumption. With more meat protein coming from treats, it assumed that the consumer can balance the nutrition provided in the complete and balanced food while providing multiple treats, chews and dental bones. This is another gigantic assumption. Nevertheless, the addition of meat has escalated into treats, chews and dental bones.

Impact on the overall nutritional regime

In previous articles in Pets International, we discussed the necessity for safer meat treats (2015) and the dilemma posed by excess calories from treats on obesity (2012). In this article, I want to focus on if too much meat is an issue without proper nutritional guidance in balancing the overall food. There is no doubt that dogs and cats like the taste of meat proteins. A meat based treat can be used as a positive reward in training. However, additional meat treats and chews are not ‘empty’ calories, but provide an impact upon the overall nutritional regime.

High level of water

Could too much meat protein be a bad thing or is it really providing access to what feral animals might get in the wild? To imply in marketing that ‘we start with real meat’, the addition of homogenized meats with a high level of water (65%+) is necessary. It is the water weight that drives the ingredient positioning (and not the meat protein) as meat water was in the original starting mix. The addition of homogenized meat into dry ingredients has certain processing limits due to the high water level (65%+) and the potential negative in excess mineral inclusion (calcium, phosphorus, sodium and magnesium). These wet sources of meat are also lower in protein and must be fortified with dry meat meals or vegetable proteins to meet market protein guarantee targets. As a point of reference, the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) states that 18% to 22.5% protein will meet the requirements of adult to growth of dogs. In cats, this requirement is from 26.0% to 30.0%. In dog foods, the typical range for most premium to holistic foods is from 21% to 35%. The National Research Council (NRC) states the protein requirements are lower than that of AAFCO.

One simple solution is not always possible

Should the majority of this protein come from meat and not from vegetable sources? The quick answer is that meat proteins are more desirable but a lot depends upon the other items offered as sources of nutrition. If we examine a medium sized dog that is eating 1,000 calories per day and eating within this protein percent range, they would be receiving approximately 285 grams of food per day with 60 to 100 grams of protein from meat and vegetable ingredients. Balancing multiple ingredients is complicated and very much dependent on what the sources of starch, fiber and protein are composed of. It is safe to say that one simple solution is not always possible.

Meat versus vegetables

As stated, meat proteins are more typically well-balanced than vegetable proteins. In fact, in nutritional evaluation of proteins (biological value, protein efficiency ratio, etc.), the standard of all proteins is egg protein. Theoretically, the best nutritional path is to have the majority of the protein from the meat, but it is often not the best path financially. Vegetable proteins are imbalanced or lacking in at least one essential amino acid necessary for good protein balance. Vegetable protein sources are useful to building the final product as the source of the meat may include excessive minerals making balance difficult. Some sources have excessive fat making processing more difficult. Stabilization of some meat sources make rancidity more profound. Nevertheless, meat protein is more desirable providing better protein quality. 

Nutritional regime

Could too much meat protein be a bad thing?  The answer would be no if balanced properly and the meat protein is of high quality. However, consumers are feeding more meat from dried meats, rawhide chews, meat chews and meat containing dental chews. These treats drive the total consumption of meat and vegetable protein up dramatically without regard to the overall nutritional regime. As an example, the aforementioned pet could eat the following each day:

one dried meat strip     (≈20 grams) provides 10+ grams of protein 

one dental chew bone  (≈40 grams) provides 20+ grams of protein

one rawhide chew        (≈100 grams) provides 70+ grams of protein

It would not be abnormal for a consumer to give one or more each of these per day providing 50% to 100% more protein each day. Obviously, this can lead to many longer-term health issues of kidney disease, obesity, etc. These can imbalance the daily nutrition leading to skin and coat issues, itching, etc.

General guidelines

The most obvious solution would be to give general guidelines to consumers of how to blend typical treats with the pet food to not feed excessive protein. This has not been provided to date by the industry, but simple guidelines can be provided on most websites to help consumers. Marketing messages have always focused on meat proteins almost from the beginning of commercial pet foods. This will likely not change, but balance can prevail to improve the health of pets while still providing good quality meat protein.