Hi Jimmy, you’re exactly right, and it’s a reason we should be cautious and mindful with any pet food product. Most of my reviews analyse the ingredients to shed light on how much of each ingredient is used in the formula, and although this can never be exact will hopefully give a better understanding of where protein (or other constituents) is coming from.

When it comes to something like chicken feathers, these shouldn’t be part of an ingredient such as “Chicken”, or “Chicken By-Products”, but I’ve found often in the past traces of chicken feathers in numerous brands. Also, when it comes to an ingredient like “Chicken” (or any ingredient really), we really don’t know what parts of the chicken that is, and therefore whether it’s more flesh or bone content. For vegetables, such as potato, we also don’t know if it’s the whole potato, or just the skins.

Hi Erin, I buy “pet mince” from my local butcher which is really good value for money. About $5 for a decent sized bag. It depends on the butcher, but it’s usually all the offcuts and can vary day to day. I also buy meaty bones which are also something I consider a good part of the diet.

However I wouldn’t feed butcher pet mince as a whole diet as it won’t contain all required nutrients which you would get from a raw diet (meat/offal/bones), or a formulated pet food with all vitamins and minerals included.