Do Single Protein Diets for Pets Really Exist?

From Scott Freeman, founder and owner of Nature's Logic:
This is a true story. In talking with a dog food plant that makes kibble for private labels, a customer came to them with a formula, which included “dehydrated chicken”. When the pet food company was ready to begin production, they asked the customer to supply them with the dehydrated chicken since they did not have this ingredient. The customer told the dog food plant to just use chicken meal. The plant explained they could not do that because chicken meal cannot be called dehydrated chicken. The customer asked why they couldn’t; because this is the way he was going to differentiate his food from other foods.

It seems the customer was trying to be different without being different at all. Only on the false label would he have been different.

In the pet food industry we have all seen this battle to differentiate. Grain free diets come out using potato. Then another grain free diet comes out using tapioca, saying why tapioca is better than potato and yet another grain free diet is released using peas instead of potatoes, explaining why peas are better. Etc., etc., etc.

Now that the grain free buzz has saturated the market, single protein limited ingredient diets are starting to make their debut. Why? Well of course, to show that a brand is different and then create marketing around it to reel in customers.

So far, I have not seen a truly single source protein diet even though the bag says it is. For example, a single source protein diet I recently saw saying it only has fish in it, also contains hidden soy protein and hidden poultry protein. The soy protein is the protein used to make the chelated minerals: Iron Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Cobalt Proteinate, and Calcium Proteinate. Soy is the protein of choice used by manufacturers of these minerals. See product tag. 

This single protein diet I saw also had the ingredient “natural flavoring”. The reason this term is used, is to hide all the ingredients used to make this ingredient, which is soy protein and hydrolyzed poultry liver protein (MSG). See product tag.

Are there truly single protein diets out there? I don’t think so. There are many diets out there that have primary protein sources, but I don’t know of any truly single protein diets. But it is a good differentiation that can sway some customers to buy these products.

Nature’s Logic has never chosen to follow the grain free or the single protein trends, but we are different. Not different because we are trying to create a perceived differentiation that might be a little shady like the customer at the pet food plant trying to call chicken meal – dehydrated chicken. We are different on principal and performance. We are different because we use only high quality meats and proteins and all our kibble is made with Millet, a seed that is lower in natural sugars than other common starches found in pet food. We provide whole food diets that don’t need to be fortified by chemically synthesized vitamins and minerals. 

Because we are committed to these principles, when we found out that all manufacturers put synthetic Vitamin D in all processed cod liver oils, we stopped using it. Will the company making single protein diets stop using mineral proteinates when they realize they have soy in them? Will this company stop using the natural flavoring palatant that has hidden soy and MSG in it?

I once read “A difference, to be a difference, must make a difference.” I liked that, and I think that properly portrays Nature’s Logic. We love hearing from our customers every day about the difference Nature’s Logic has made for their pet. Just like the call from the customer yesterday about his dog with Cushings disease. He said the vets are scratching their heads because they have never seen this disease disappear in a dog and all signs go away. The customer called to find out if I thought it was the food. I had to admit that I don’t know, but it is possible.

We believe we will continue to see Nature’s Logic make a difference because it is truly different, not just because the label says so, but because it is founded on principle and performance.

A difference, to be a difference, must make a difference.