Doggy Dao & Cat's Meow

09/04/2026

Heads up❗️ We're CLOSED on Monday, September 7th in observance of Labor Day. We will re-Open on Tuesday at 11 am. Enjoy the long weekend‼️ P.S. Think Fall 🍁🍂

08/31/2026

SEPTEMBER ASTRO SAVINGS‼️ So many ways to save during September. Stay tuned for additional deals at the end of the month for Neighborhood Pet Store Day❗️ Thank you to everyone who supports this local business. We appreciate you.🙏

08/28/2026

NEW PRODUCT ALERT‼️🎉

08/28/2026

Great info from our friends at The Adored Beast Apothecary.

08/25/2026

While supplies last! ALL Carna4 dog food is 25% off. We will continue to special order for our customers who request it, but we are no longer stocking it.

06/26/2026

06/22/2026

Excellent graphic! What's in your bowl? 🤔

🐾 Animal By-Products: Bad Ingredient or Bad Reputation?

The term "animal by-product" may be one of the most misunderstood phrases in pet nutrition.

Many pet parents see "animal by-products" on a kibble or canned food label and immediately assume it means low-quality waste. But the truth is more nuanced.

What exactly is an animal by-product❓️

In simple terms, a by-product is any edible animal tissue that is not skeletal muscle meat.

That means many foods commonly used in fresh feeding are technically by-products, including:

✔ Heart
✔ Gizzard
✔ Liver
✔ Kidney
✔ Spleen
✔ Green tripe
✔ Trachea

In fact, these tissues are often among the most nutrient-dense foods we can offer our dogs.

So then, why does the term raise concerns when it appears on a pet food label❓️

The difference lies in specificity.

When formulating fresh food diets, we intentionally select individual organs and tissues for their unique nutritional contributions. We know exactly what we are feeding and why we are feeding it.

For example:

▪️ Liver provides vitamin A, copper, and B vitamins.
▪️ Gizzards contribute protein and connective tissue nutrients.
▪️ Hearts supply taurine, CoQ10, and highly bioavailable minerals.
▪️ Trachea provides natural collagen and cartilage compounds.

Each ingredient serves a purpose.

By contrast, when a label simply states "animal by-products" or "poultry by-products," the ingredient may contain a varying mixture of tissues. While these ingredients can certainly provide valuable nutrition, the consumer has less transparency regarding exactly which tissues are included and in what proportions.

Another important distinction is protein quality.

Skeletal muscle meat generally provides a highly digestible, complete amino acid profile that serves as the foundation of a dog's diet.

Many organ tissues and connective tissues contribute valuable nutrients, but they are not always equivalent replacements for muscle meat on a pound-for-pound basis. This is why balanced fresh food diets use organs and other by-products strategically rather than as the primary protein source.

📌
Not all by-products are created equal.

A hand-selected mixture of heart, liver, kidney, and gizzard added to a balanced fresh food diet is very different from seeing a generic by-product ingredient on a label.

The term itself does not determine quality.

The questions that matter are:

🔍 What tissues are included?
🔍 How were they sourced?
🔍 How were they processed?
🔍 What nutritional purpose do they serve?

As always, context matters more than marketing.

— The Holistic Canine 🐾 theholisticcanine.us

📖 Fresh-Food Feeding Explained — the science your vet may not have been taught:
👉 theholisticcanine.us/ebook/

06/21/2026

Not my own words, but they resonated deeply with me. Happy Father's Day to all the 2-legged and 4-legged dads! And Happy Summer Solstice!🌞

06/19/2026

We will be CLOSED for summer vacation from Saturday, July 4th through Wednesday, July 8th. Doggy Dao & Cat's Meow will re-open on Thursday, July 9th at 12 pm. Please make arrangements for all special orders to be picked up before the 4th. 🇺🇸🎆

06/10/2026

Love, Your dog 🩷