Are Chicken By-Products Good or Bad for a Dog?

Chicken by-products can be confusing to the consumer, especially if there's uncertainty about origin, quality or nutrition. They may not be bad per se as part of a comprehensive diet, however modern processing, low standards and creating pet foods with by-products but no meat are additional factors to consider.

  1. Definition

    • Chicken by-products are parts of the chicken left over after processing the chicken for human consumption. While the meaty parts are taken to make cutlets, soups and any number of other chicken dishes, the inedible parts have no real marketability in the food supply. These parts may include heads, intestines, blood and organs, unless those organs will be used as giblets. Deemed unfit for human consumption, they are boiled down and rendered into pet foods.

    Quality

    • Even when chicken parts are determined unfit or unsafe for human consumption, they are allowed in the pet food industry, which is not held to the same standards as human food, and is under less scrutiny. There are several reasons a food may be deemed unfit for human use. Aside from palatability -- the "yuck factor" -- other issues such as mold, rot and products from the dreaded "4D" -- dead, dying, diseased or disabled animals -- can occur with chicken by-products.

    Nutrition

    • Aside from the potential "yuck factor" of chicken-by products, theoretically they could be nutritious. When analyzed, protein content of chicken and chicken by-products or by-product meal are often quite similar. However, in addition to the lower standards required for use of these products, cost also comes into play. Chicken by-products are used because they are less inexpensive than meat. Use of cheap products may signal use of lower-quality products in general, including the moldy, rotten or 4D ones.

    What About the Meat?

    • In the wild, a dog, wolf or coyote may indeed eat some of these by-products as he scarfs down his prey. However, as he does, he also eats the muscle meat, and therefore receives a wider range of nutrients. Using food that is made with by-products but devoid of meat compromises nutritional status by excluding this important staple in a dog's diet. Even if the by-products were from top quality, human-grade chicken, they still would be lacking the meat component.