Meat vs Meal

Here are some basics:

Meat: Fresh meat, fish and poultry are the skeletal muscle tissue that is removed from bone.
Meal: Rendered protein meals like chicken meal, fish meal, Venison meal, goat meal, etc. are made from the what is left from processing the animals for human consumption for example, a chicken carcass. It contains skeletal muscle tissue, bone, cartilage and collagen. It is then cooked or rendered to make a concentrated powdered protein.

What does this mean nutritionally for my dog or cat?

Both fresh and frozen meat and rendered protein meals are both good sources of protein for your dog or cat but offer different nutrition.

Protein meals do offer more concentrated sources of protein but should be used sparingly because of their content of bone. The bone in these protein meals contain major minerals like calcium and phosphorus. When a pet food contains too much protein meal the level of minerals like calcium and phosphorus can become too high. This can lead UTI (urinary tract infections) and issues with bone growth in large breed dogs.

Fresh meat, fish and poultry are not as concentrated as protein meals but they also do not have the bone, collagen or cartilage. This means that your dog or cat will not get the excess ash(minerals), calcium or phosphorus they would get from protein meals. Fresh meat, fish and poultry is not cooked and processed during rendering before it is added to your pet’s food. The double cooking and the amount of bone and connective tissue in dried protein meals make them less bioavailable and lower in available amino acids.

In summary this is why Lotus uses much more fresh meat in our oven-baked foods compared to most extruded pet foods. For example, our grain-free turkey and our grain free fish use 40% fresh fish and turkey and no turkey or fish meals.

Here are the health benefits with more fresh meat and less protein meals:

Can help prevent joint health issues like hip dysplasia in large breed dogs
Can help prevent UTI’s in both dogs and cats
Provides more bioavailable amino acids for your dog and or cat
Something for pet parents to look out for on labels of dog and cat food:
High protein extruded foods that are high in ash, calcium and phosphorus.