Pet food labels and terms can be a bit confusing so here is a list of commonly listed ingredients to help you determine which to choose for your dog.

Meat: Meat incorporates the flesh of cows, sheep, chicken and turkeys. This flesh can include parts such as the diaphragm, hearts, tongue, skeletal muscle, fat, nerves, blood vessels and sinew. Pet foods that list meat as the first ingredient are generally of a superior kind.

Meat-by-products: Meat-by-products are defined by the AAFCO as including blood, brain, spleen, liver, lungs, bone, intestines and stomach; they should not include the hooves, teeth or hair of the animal. When choosing a dog food, it is best to select a brand that lists meat as a primary ingredient rather than meat-by-products.

Poultry-by-products: Poultry-by-products are the heart, kidneys, intestines, stomach and lungs of poultry as well as the heads and feet. Poultry-by-products should not include feathers.

Fish Meal: Fish meal is defined by the AAFCO as being the flesh of fish that hasn’t decomposed and it may or may not contain fish oil.

Corn Gluten Meal: Corn gluten meal is derived from the manufacturing of corn syrup and starch. It is the by-product of the manufacturing process and doesn’t contain any germ, starch or bran. It is generally used as filler and provides “empty” calories, i.e. Void of any nutritional benefits.

Brewers Rice: Brewers rice is derived the fragments that result from the milling of rice. It is fragments of the kernels of rice which have been removed from larger kernels during processing.

BHA: or butylated hydroxyanisole, is a food preservative and antioxidant added to foods to preserve oils and fats.

Ethoxyquin: Ethoxyquin is an antioxidant usually added to animal feeds to prevent the loss of fat and vitamins A and E.

Tocopherols: Tocopherols are basically vitamin E compounds that are added to food to provide a source of vitamin E and they also function as a natural food preservative.

What is a mammal? Mammals are vertebrates – they are animals with backbones. All mammals have lungs and breathe in air and all of them are warm-blooded (they are able to maintain a constant body temperature regardless of the outside temperature.) Mammals and birds share a common characteristic – the possession of four-chambered hearts that circulate blood efficiently to all parts of the body. All mammals, except two types that lay eggs, give birth to living young and provide protection and care for them before and after birth. Mammals are the only animals that possess true hair and the capacity to produce milk. In fact, the word “mammal” comes from the Latin word “mamma” which means “breast”.

Mammals have other characteristics that are not so obvious. A mammal’s heart and lungs are separated from the stomach by a wall of muscle called the diaphragm. A mammal’s lower jaw has a single bone on each side. Mammals also have different types of teeth adapted to different uses. And most importantly, mammal brains are much more highly developed than the brains of any other animal.

In the struggle to survive, warm blood, improved methods of caring for young and superior intelligence have all given mammals great advantages through the ages. In fact, many scientists consider mammals as the dominant animals of the world.

Yet mammals did not start out immediately as mammals. Strange as it may seem, they rose from the reptile family. In the Mesozoic era, a branch of reptiles began to grow coats of hair instead of armor and slowly turned warm-blooded. Some of them began to keep eggs inside their bodies instead of laying eggs. The first mammals were probably very tiny and timid creatures, like today’s rats and mice. They were nocturnal and hid for protection during the day. When conditions of the Earth gradually changed, the dinosaurs could not adapt to this dramatic shift, so their numbers grew smaller and smaller. When they died out, the more adaptable mammals later arose in the Miocene epoch.

Between 3500 and 5000 species of mammals live in the world today and more varieties under them. Many of these animals can trace their lineage to their ancestors that adapted and survived through the Ice Age. Now, mammals have developed in a bewildering variety of sizes and shapes, classified by scientists according to body structure and relationships. In all, under the mammal kingdom, there are now 18 different groups or orders.