Crude Ash In Dog Food: What Is It and Is It Safe?
First of all, don’t worry - it's not “ash” as in the burned wood you'd find after having a fire. Instead, it refers to the mineral content in the food. The reason it's called crude ash is because it’s what would be left over if you were to take your dog food and incinerate it, leaving only the inorganic minerals behind.
It’s perfectly safe because it’s simply the minerals that make up a balanced diet which allows our dogs to grow and remain healthy. Crude ash is simply a measurement of all of these materials in the food.
What Is Crude Ash In Dog Food?
When a bag of dog food is burned to a crisp, we are able to work out the energy density, or Kcal (calories), the food offers. After this has all burned away, we’re left with inorganic minerals which are then measured and can be recorded on the label of the food.
Protein, fats, or carbohydrates would all be incinerated, leaving minerals like calcium, potassium, iron, and magnesium behind.
On your dog food’s packaging, you’ll be able to see this clearly - most will list these components as crude ash, crude protein, crude fats and oils, crude fibre, and moisture. All of these are measured in the burning process.
Is Crude Ash Bad For Dogs?
Now that we understand what crude ash is, it's clear that it’s not inherently bad for dogs. It is simply the minerals they need to be active, grow, and remain healthy. It also helps support strong bones and teeth.
Too much crude ash, however, can cause issues in our dogs’ gastrointestinal tract, as well as inhibit the intake of other minerals if there are too many of a certain one. It is, therefore, better to give your dog fresh food that has a low ash content.
The issue here is that UK law does not require companies to show which minerals make up the crude ash in dog food - the ingredients list only has to state how much crude ash there is in total.
So How Much Crude Ash Should Be In Dog Food?
The type of meat will affect the amount of crude ash your dog’s food contains, with chicken and fish naturally having lower ash content, while red meat naturally has higher quantities. Generally, the lower the ash content, the better the meat, because it means the meat itself is of better quality, with fewer filler ingredients having been used.
Typically, wet dog food has a lower ash content, around 1-2 per cent, when compared to the 5-8 per cent found in dry dog food.
Although there is nothing inherently wrong with crude ash in dog food, you should keep a lookout for any food saying it makes up more than 8 per cent of the total ingredients. This usually demonstrates that the meat is of lower quality and so filler, such as bone, has been added in order to bulk it up a bit. This usually isn’t bad for your dog to eat, but it does mean they’re consuming empty calories instead of valuable nutrients.
Crude Ash In Our Fresh Dog Food - Pets Love Fresh Make Up
As with any dog food, crude ash is found in Pets Love Fresh food. But since our product is completely fresh, the content is much lower than other alternatives. This is because we use human-grade animal meat of the highest quality.
- Our Simply Beef recipe contains only 1.6 percent crude ash.
- Our Simply Pork recipe contains only 2.4 percent crude ash.
- Our Simply Chicken recipe contains only 2.1 percent crude ash.
As you can see, Pets Love Fresh cares about what goes into our four-legged friends' diets, using only the best ingredients, with very little filler. Try our taster pack today and switch your dog over to a high quality, low crude ash content, fresh alternative.
