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Pet Food Facts
Feeding a biologically appropriate diet to your pet will promote overall health. Benefits can include:
- Longevity
- Weight Management
- Healthy Skin & Coat
- Disease Prevention
- Proper Bone and Joint Development
Unfortunately, most brands found in grocery stores and big box stores are truly unfit for a healthy pet. Foods are filled with processed grain such as corn, wheat, soy, and glutens. While this might not sound so bad to you, consider that dogs and cats are carnivores and require meat in their diet.
What is a Carnivore? A carnivore, meaning ‘meat eater’ (Latin carne meaning ‘flesh’ and vorare meaning ‘to devour’), is an animal that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of vertebrate and/or invertebrate animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging. …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore
Read your pet food ingredient labels! This will give you a clear picture of what your pet is eating. The first FIVE ingredients are the most important and the first TEN ingredients will tell you everything you need to know. Ingredients are weighed prior to being cooked and the heaviest ingredients are listed first.
Good Ingredients include:
Chicken, Beef, Salmon, Herring, Duck, Turkey, or any other whole protein source
Chicken Meal, Beef Meal, Salmon Meal, Herring Meal, Duck Meal, Turkey Meal or other high quality meal source
Brown Rice, Barley, Oats, Oatmeal, Quinoa or other whole grain
Fruits, Vegetables, Vitamins and Supplements such as Glucosamine and Chondroitin
Bad Ingredients include:
Corn
Wheat
Soy
Gluten
Meat (unspecified)
By-products
By-product Meal
Animal Fat (unspecified)
Salt
Sugar
Artificial Colors and Flavors
*Corn, Wheat and Soy are common causes of pet allergies.
The first two to three ingredients in a pet food should be whole meats or high quality meat meals. Whole meat followed by a meat meal is the best situation. Since a whole fresh meat will lose most of its water weight after being cooked, a meat meal will ensure that a good portion of the final weight is derived from meat.
Why are corn and corn derivatives used in commercial foods? Corn and Corn Gluten Meal have high protein counts. Many commercial pet foods use corn products to bump up the protein count in pet food to inexpensively meet AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) Standards. As carnivores, dogs and cats do not require corn for protein but high quality MEAT!
So, what do all of these terms mean?
Click here for AAFCO definitions of pet food ingredients: http://www.braypets.com/FRR/aafcodef.htm
Interested in knowing how your pet’s food stacks up?
Visit www.dogfoodanalysis.com and find out!
Can you afford to feed your pet a healthy diet? Absolutely!
1. Since dogs and cats will absorb and digest so much more of a high quality food..less will be fed. For example, if you are feeding 4 cups of a commercial brand dog food a day you might only need to feed 2 3/4 of a high quality food.
2. Many holistic/all natural foods have a buy 12 bags and get a 13th bag free program.
3. Feeding a high quality food may result in less visits to your vet!!
You can do it! Canidae is a premium pet food and you can feed a 50lb dog for $.62 a day on Canidae ALS. Don’t you think your pet is worth it?
