{"id":8855,"date":"2020-03-31T10:00:06","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T15:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/?p=8855"},"modified":"2024-03-06T07:27:14","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T13:27:14","slug":"what-is-yucca-schidigera-and-why-is-it-in-my-pet-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/blog\/nutrition\/ingredients\/what-is-yucca-schidigera-and-why-is-it-in-my-pet-food\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Yucca Schidigera and Why\u2019s It in My Pet\u2019s Food?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the ingredients list is one of the first things you read when choosing a pet food, you\u2019re not alone. A majority of surveyed pet owners<\/a> \u2014 57 percent \u2014 said \u201cback label\u201d information (e.g., ingredients, nutrition facts) is \u201cvery\u201d or \u201cextremely\u201d important to them when buying pet food.<\/p>\n

As you\u2019ve scrutinized a pet food\u2019s ingredients, have you ever wondered about the unfamiliar, weird- and chemical-sounding names? If so, you\u2019re not alone with those questions, either. That\u2019s why we\u2019ll be sharing information about some of the ingredients we use in various Diamond dog and cat food formulas.<\/p>\n

First up is one of the stranger-looking (and -sounding) ingredients: Yucca schidigera<\/em> extract.<\/p>\n

What is it?<\/h3>\n

Yucca schidigera<\/em>, which goes by the common names Mojave yucca and \u201cSpanish dagger,\u201d is an evergreen shrub or small tree found in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts of southeastern California, southern Nevada and western Arizona, as well as Baja California and Sonora, Mexico. The plant was used in Native American traditional medicine to treat a variety of health issues, including arthritis.<\/p>\n

Today, the trunks of Y. schidigera<\/em> trees are ground and processed into powder and extract forms for use in many products, including dog and cat foods. Yucca schidigera<\/em> has GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status, so these products are considered safe to eat.<\/p>\n

Why add yucca schidigera to pet food?<\/h3>\n

Yucca schidigera<\/em>\u00a0extract is added to some dog and cat foods to enhance flavor and works without affecting the nutrient content, digestibility or stool consistency. It is also used in poultry, livestock, rat, mouse, hamster, gerbil and hedgehog food for stool odor control.<\/p>\n

While adding\u00a0Y. schidigera<\/em>\u00a0to pet foods may be relatively new, the plant has been used in livestock and poultry diets for decades.<\/p>\n

And now you know!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RELATED POST: Stinky Dog Gas: Dietary Issue or Sign of a Problem?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the ingredients list is one of the first things you read when choosing a pet food, you\u2019re not alone. A majority of surveyed pet owners \u2014 57 percent \u2014 said \u201cback label\u201d information (e.g., ingredients, nutrition facts) is \u201cvery\u201d or \u201cextremely\u201d important to them when buying pet food. As you\u2019ve scrutinized a pet food\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"What\u2019s Yucca Schidigera and Why Is It in My Pet\u2019s Food?","_seopress_titles_desc":"If you read your pet's food label, you may be curious about why Yucca schidigera is one of the ingredients. Learn more about the benefits of this desert plant!","_seopress_robots_index":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[233,27],"tags":[73,374,12,134,74,373,54,76,372],"class_list":["post-8855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ingredients","category-nutrition","tag-cat-food","tag-cat-food-ingredients","tag-cats","tag-diamond-pet-foods","tag-dog-food","tag-dog-food-ingredients","tag-dogs","tag-pet-food","tag-yucca-schidigera"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}