From: Laura R.

circa Wed, 07 Apr 2004 12:01:57 -0400, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav,
Joe Canuck ) said,

Assuming the ingredients listed actually are in decreasing proportional
order is a big mistake.

No, it isn't. It's the law. *DRY* weight isn't the law, but
proportional order *is*.

Laura, Joe is right and you are completely and utterly WRONG.

Let me quote directly from Small Animal Clinical Nutrition, Vol. IV........pg.
153:

"Pet Foods sold in the United States must list each ingredient of the food in
the ingredient statement. Ingredients are listed in descending order by their
predominance by weight according to the product's formula."

"The listof ingredients may be helpful, although it has some shortcomings that
limit its usefulness for evaluating pet foods. The nutritive value of
ingredients cannot be identified from the ingredient statement."

"Manufacturers can also misrepresent the ingredient content of pet foods. A
pet food that lists several different forms of the same ingredient (e.g., wheat
germ meal, wheat middlings, wheat bran, wheat flour) make wheat-based
ingredients appear to be a lower portion of the food than is the fact. Because
ingredients are listed in descending order by weight, this also allows dry
ingredients to appear lower on the list than ingredients that are naturally
high in moisture."

"This same principle is used in dry pet foods where "fresh" meats are
highlighted. The ingredient list may look like this for a lamb and rice dog
food that claims to provide "real lamb meat": lamb, brewers rice, ground yellow
corn, corn gluten meal, oat groats, poultry by-product meal, beef
tallow....Lamb appears first on the ingredient list because its moisture
content is higher than that of the other dry ingredients. The predominant
portion of the food contains a mixture of grains (rice, corn, oats) rather than
"real meat"."

I'll be waiting for you to admit your error.