The Pet Industry’s Gruesome Secret

Gill and I have had dogs as part of our families throughout our entire lives and yet before starting Bounce and Bella neither of us had heard of this horrible ingredient.

We didn’t start off Bounce and Bella fully formed and knowing what was good and bad for our dogs. We’re constantly learning.

After having problems with grain myself I began to realise what our family dogs had gone through with their various digestion and skin problems.

But grain isn’t the only painful ingredient used to bulk out our dog’s treats cheaply.

The giant manufacturers aren’t just using cheap grains to help bulk out their treats for bigger profits, they are using derivatives.

What are Derivatives?

Derivatives are shown in the small print ingredients as animal/meat/plant/vegetable derivatives.

Derived from plants or animals, they are the parts that are left over from human food production – the final scrapings and hosings that cannot go into our foods.

So the giant food industries found another way to use them.

They’re scraped and hosed up and put into barrels. When the barrels are full they’re ready to go to the pet treat manufacturer to go into your dog’s treats.

The only place you’ll find them mentioned is in small print on the back of the packet under composition or ingredients.

It’s not possible to know what’s in them…

It’s not possible or profitable to work out exactly what’s in the barrels – it depends on what’s been slopped up over that series of days or weeks.

Which means any company that uses derivatives to make treats cannot tell you which plants or animals are in them – only that they’re from either plants or animals.

Derivatives are ALWAYS unknown plants and animals. 

You cannot know what you are feeding your dog and worse than that…

If you feed your dog a treat which contains derivatives – despite the packaging and listed ingredients remaining exactly the same – what you buy once is unlikely to contain the same ingredients the second time you buy it!

That’s why it’s worse than you think…

Imagine you have a dog that started scratching violently.

Perhaps they developed a sensitivity to pork and you’re lucky enough to have a vet that’s worked that out.

Shopping Trip #1

You buy some new chicken flavoured dog treats you’ve found at the supermarket.

They contain meat derivatives but that’s hidden away in the ingredients and of course you don’t notice – why would you?

This batch was made using derivatives that contain mostly chicken with some beef and lamb.

Your dog eats them and is fine.

Shopping Trip #2

You go back to the supermarket after a few weeks and buy some more.

This time the derivatives contain mostly beef with some chicken, lamb but this time with a little bit of pork too.

Your dog has a bit of an itching bout but you think it can’t be the treats you bought because last time your dog was fine.

You check the ingredients on the back of the packet to be sure.

The writing’s tiny, you get your phone out to magnify but there’s no mention of pork (it’s hidden under the catch-all term ‘meat derivatives’)

Shopping Trip #3

You go back to the supermarket after a few more weeks and buy what looks like the exact same packet of treats.

This time the derivatives contain mostly pork with some lamb, a bit of chicken and beef.

Your dog scratches violently and constantly.

It’s utterly heart-breaking.

And you have no idea why it’s happening.

You’ve been tricked into believing the treats are pork free and you hunt fruitlessly for weeks for the ‘real’ source of the problem.

How can you help?

Never buy treats that include derivatives.

No-one can have any idea what is in derivatives.

No-one.

The only way to check if a product contains derivatives is to read the small print on the back of the packet and find the ingredients or composition list.

There is an easier solution…

There is a better way. Buy your treats online from a company you trust that would never include derivatives in any of their products.

At Bounce and Bella none of our products will ever include derivatives.

We have a 50% off treats voucher for new buyers (or if you’ve never used the voucher before) all covered by our sniff and love guarantee.

You can find out more here… https://shop.bounceandbella.co.uk/pages/discounts