Wolf Food in a Bag Developed by Real Wolf Experts

Captive wolves, like most pet dogs, can live on a wide variety of foods, as they naturally do in the wild.

Yesterday I posted the ingredients of a common wolf chow used made by Zupreem.

Today, it's their competitor's product, Mazuri Exotic Canine Diet. It's a kibbled food described as:

• Tested in red, Mexican and gray wolves.
• Formulated for the exotic canine.
• Complete nutrition - No supplementation required.
• High protein and high energy - Promotes good body condition and a shiny, healthy coat.
• Nutrient dense - Promotes low stool volume and firm stools.

So what's in it?

Poultry by-product meal, ground corn, corn gluten meal, ground brown rice, porcine animal fat preserved with BHA, porcine meat and bone meal, dried beet pulp, poultry fat preserved with BHA, ground soybean hulls, linseed meal, brewers dried yeast, natural poultry flavor, spray dried animal blood cells, dried egg product, salt, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, taurine, choline chloride, preserved with mixed tocopherols (form of vitamin E), cholecalciferol (form of vitamin D3), biotin, dl-methionine, rosemary extract, vitamin A acetate, dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate (form of vitamin E), citric acid, ferrous sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K), inositol, zinc oxide, calcium pantothenate, folic acid, thiamine mononitrate, calcium iodate, dicalcium phosphate, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, manganous oxide, vitamin B12 supplement, copper sulfate, cobalt carbonate, sodium selenite.

The actual breakdown of fats, proteins and fiber:

Crude protein not less than - 29 percent
Crude fat not less than - 18%
Crude fiber not more than - 4%
Moisture not more than - 12%
Ash not more than 9%
Sodium not more than - 0.75%

As with most commercial dog food, this is fine stuff developed for a very discerning and science-soaked market, and is much better than what a wolf could expect to eat in the wild.

For one thing, this food is free of round worms and tape worms, is available every day with little chance of injury, and contains the calcium (bones), fats, and proteins that build strong wolf bodies and give wolf energy. It is also loaded with vitamins.

Poultry by-product meal and meat and bone meal are exactly what a wolf would hope to eat in the wild, minus the disease, the round worms, and the putrification that tends to come with diseased and sick animals culled from a wild herd.

As AAFCO, the Association of Animal Feed Control Operators, notes:

Meat Meal is the rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. It shall not contain extraneous materials not provided for by this definition. …. {the definition goes on to include the required mineral specifications and required nutrient guarantees}….. "If the product bears a name descriptive of its kind, composition or origin it must correspond thereto.” The rendering process is designed to destroy disease-causing bacteria, leaving an ingredient high in protein that while unappetizing to people appeals to the carnivore's palate. Unlike "meat" and "meat by-products," this ingredient may be from mammals other than cattle, pigs, sheep or goats without further description. However, a manufacturer may designate a species if appropriate (such as "beef meal" if only from cattle).

Meat and Bone Meal is the rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. It shall not contain extraneous materials not provided for by this definition. …. {the definition goes on to include the required mineral specifications and required nutrient guarantees}….. If the product bears a name descriptive of its kind, composition or origin it must correspond thereto.” Similar to "meat meal," but can include added bone in addition to what is normally found in whole carcasses.

Animal By-Product Meal is the rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of any added hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. It shall not contain extraneous materials not provided for by this definition. This ingredient definition is intended to cover those individual rendered animal tissues that cannot meet the criteria as set forth elsewhere in this section. This ingredient is not intended to be used to label a mixture of animal tissue products. May consist of whole carcasses, but often includes by-products in excess of what would normally be found in "meat meal" and "meat and bone meal."

“Poultry By-Product Meal consists of the ground, rendered clean parts of the carcasses of slaughtered poultry such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.….{the definition goes on to include the required mineral specifications and required nutrient guarantees}….. "If the product bears a name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.”

Mazuri makes very specific zoo foods. For example, the National Zoo here in Washington D.C. feeds its Maned Wolves Mazuri Maned Wolf Diet.

The Grey Wolves and the Maned Wolves at the National Zoo appear, on personal inspection, to be in very fine shape; kibble has not harmed them a bit. 

And who helped develop this diet for Mazuri?  Purina and the Endangered Wolf Center, founded by none other than Marlin Perkins.