Ingredient database › Animal By-Products
Is Animal By-Products good or bad in dog food?
Animal By-Products is a protein source and rates as Watch in our analysis.
Watch Bottom line: Animal By-Products is controversial — not toxic, but it adds little and is best avoided, especially near the top of the list.
Vague, unnamed parts.
This is a controversial ingredient. It isn't necessarily harmful, but many dog owners prefer to avoid it, especially when it appears among the first few ingredients.
Better alternatives in this category:
Built on AAFCO & FDA pet-food criteria · Last updated June 2026 · How we rate
What is Animal By-Products?
Animal By-Products is a protein source used in dog food. On a label it may also appear as: animal by-products, by-products, by products.
What to look for on the label
Ingredients are listed by weight, so the ones near the top make up most of the recipe. Animal By-Products is best seen low on the list — or not at all. The fastest way to judge a whole product is to paste its full ingredient list into our free dog food checker, which grades it A–F and flags every ingredient like this one.
How Animal By-Products affects the WoofScore
Our grade rewards named whole proteins, vegetables, fruit and beneficial supplements, and penalises vague by-products, cheap fillers, artificial colours and controversial preservatives. Animal By-Products contributes as a watch-tier item; read the full scoring methodology to see exactly how the grade is calculated.