With so many varieties of dog and cat food out there, deciding which one to feed your pet is not an easy task. But choosing a pet food made with quality ingredients is the best way to ensure that your pet lives a long and healthy life. While quality pet foods generally cost more than commercial brands, the savings in your vet bills will most likely offset the additional costs.
The problem with commercial brands of pet food is that they’re usually made by large food corporations that are more concerned with making money than about the well-being of your pet. These corporations have animal byproducts and low quality grains left over from the production of food for humans, and instead of using quality ingredients in their pet food they just use these leftovers which are unfit for human consumption.
The best thing you can do when choosing a pet food is to avoid food that contains animal byproducts. Often times these byproducts come from “4-D” meat sources, or animals that are dead, dying, diseased, and disabled. Furthermore, the types of animals from which byproducts are taken are often not even identified on pet food packaging, which means the byproducts could come from any animals, even dogs and cats!
It is also a good idea to avoid pet foods that include grains such as corn and wheat among their primary ingredients. Grains, especially corn, can be difficult for many animals to digest, which means that your pet is absorbing fewer of the nutrients in the food. Also worth noting is the fact that some pets are allergic to certain types of grains, and that many pet food recalls are due to fungus that can grow on corn and wheat. Avoiding grains is especially important when it comes to cat food, because cats rely on the fat and protein that’s found in meat for energy, so a diet high in grains can lead to health problems.
Other ingredients to stay away from are preservatives like ethoxyquin, BHA, and BHT. There is evidence that these preservatives increase the risk of cancer and other diseases in your pets, and although there’s some debate as to how great the risk really is, the safest thing you can do is avoid preservatives as much as possible.
So what type of food should you feed your pet? Unfortunately there’s no easy answer, but one thing you can do is buy holistic pet food. Technically there are no rules or regulations regarding the use of the term ‘holistic’, but these types of food tend to include higher quality natural ingredients, which are easily digestible and meant to promote the overall well-being of your pet.
Logan has recently started on Honest Kitchen, which is dehydrated raw food. Not only does raw food preserve the nutrients that are naturally present in its ingredients, but it has also been shown to lead to a shinier coat, cleaner teeth, and overall better health. There’s some debate as to whether raw food is really better than a high quality dry food, but that’s a topic for a separate post. Dehydrated food is good because dehydration is a way to preserve food naturally without using any chemicals.
Logan’s food consists of a combination of Honest Kitchen, high quality dry food, and vegetables. Logan also takes vitamins in with his food, including vitamin C, which contributes to immune function and collagen building, omega 3, which prevents dry skin and excessive shedding, and glucosamine, which promotes bone health.
Buying commercial pet food may save you money, but switching to a higher quality food may save your pet’s life. Just remember to do your research before making the switch, so that your pet stays healthy for year to come.
