We have had a lot of stories concerning the labeling of milk and meat that may be made out of things not dairy nor grown in a lab. I am sure there will be many more of those stories in the future.

But we are not the only creatures this issue affects. More pet owners are becoming concerned about the ingredients in their pets’ food, especially dog food. The current dog food controversy is grain-free, which may or may not be linked to taurine deficiency in dogs. Taurine deficiency can lead to heart disease.

The information on taurine, heart disease and grain-free diets is extremely complicated and has people on both sides up in arms.

There have also been several reports in the last year about pentobarbital showing up in pet food. This is a drug used to euthanize animals, including dogs and cats from animal shelters. The drug could be coming from euthanized farm animals, but certainly there are some concerns over euthanized dogs finding their way into dog food. No matter where it comes from, no one wants their pet to be ingesting pentobarbital.

If you have never read the list of ingredients on your pet food bag, be prepared for many words you may not know or understand in the context of the label. There are websites trying to help people sort through all of the information.

The National Bison Assoc. (NBA) just came out with a list of dog foods it says contain North American bison, versus foods that contain imported water buffalo. Water buffalo and bison can both be labeled as simply “buffalo” on a dog food bag. There is nothing illegal about this labeling under current guidelines.

So the NBA has decided to take matters into its own hands and has listed seven dog foods it says contain actual North American bison and two that say “buffalo” but contain water buffalo. Whether a dog is eating North American bison or water buffalo may not be a huge concern to some owners; however, this is just one example of transparency issues in ingredient lists.

One of the dog foods the NBA says contains water buffalo shows a photo of wolves stalking what certainly appears to be a North American bison. It is the “high prairie” formula – again, suggesting there is bison in the bag. Buffalo is listed as the first ingredient, but it is water buffalo. Roasted American bison is the ninth ingredient and makes up about 3 percent of the food in the bag.

“Several pet food brands have worked with ranchers in recent years to develop products containing authentic North American bison,” said Dave Carter, executive director of the NBA. “Many of those products list the ingredient as either bison or buffalo.

“Unfortunately, other brands are deceiving their customers by simply labeling their products as ‘buffalo’ when in fact they are using water buffalo, not North American bison. We want to help consumers make an informed choice.”

You can find the list of dog foods containing American bison at www.bisoncentral.com

Another interesting example of how a word used as an ingredient in a pet product that may not be exactly what you thought it was is “pizzle.” There is a line of popular dog chews that list the ingredient as “bull pizzle.” Pizzle is an Old English word for “penis.”

The makers of bully sticks were worried consumers would not buy a product listed as “bull penis,” so they lobbied for the word “pizzle” to be used instead. The manufacturers are probably right, as many of my clients are indeed horrified once they discover what they are really feeding their dog.

Ever wonder who decides exactly what can go into a bag of dog food and how those ingredients are defined? That would be the Assoc. of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). This is a voluntary membership organization.

“First – and let us say this most emphatically – AAFCO does not regulate or inspect anything. We cannot; we are not a government agency. We are a group whose members are government agencies representing the 50 states, Canada and the federal government (Food and Drug Administration, Center of Veterinary Medicine, or FDA-CVM),” is how the AAFCO website starts its introduction.

With all of these government agencies, it is no wonder it goes on to explain: “Our process of defining a new ingredient takes at least two years from start to finish.”

I am lucky in that one of my good friends is on an AAFCO board that oversees pet food. I tend to be better informed than lots of other people, although there are still times when I have no idea what is really going on with pet food.

The bottom line is this: Look into the ingredients on that pet food bag and look up the definitions of things like “meal” and “byproducts.” Research where the ingredients in that bag come from – a bag might say “made in America,” but that does not mean all of the ingredients in the bag were sourced in America.

The AAFCO website has a lot of great information and is a good place to start for anyone wanting to become more proactive in understanding pet food. Go to www.aafco.org