How Much Does the Protein Content of Kibble Matter?
A dog’s diet should optimally be about 50% or more protein – but it has to be protein, which is “bio-available,” meaning that the dog’s body can actually use and metabolize it as protein. So when a dry food quotes its protein content, keep in mind that creating a technically high protein content is what got us into the pet food recall mess in the first place – by adding melamine to a food it increases the amount of protein that can be measured. Clearly, using a component of plastics not only has no nutritional value but also killed and sickened many pets. So while it’s great that some dry foods have high protein content, the kibble should not be the main source of a dog’s protein intake. In order to be useful to the body, food needs to be in as natural a state as possible – and even the best kibble is a highly processed product.
