Healthy, All Natural Pet Food
Our pets are our family and we should make sure to treat them that way. Pet food can often be an afterthought, but it shouldn’t be for the sake of our pets health. By feeding our loving pets all natural pet food, we can keep them healthy for years to come ( just like my cat Rivers below 
)
Deceiving Marketing
The biggest problem in the pet food industry is that there is little to no standards in the quality of the food. Often times, pet food manufacturers market their product as contain top quality ingredients, especially when it comes to meat. Have you taken the time to actually read the label of any of the popular brands of pet food? Let’s take a look at two very different brands of pet food to see what the difference is.
Popular Pet Food Brand
Healthy Pet Food
It’s pretty clear from the labels which is better. I have seen many commercials for the first brand of pet food and look at what’s the first ingredient, ground yellow corn. Do you think that are pets needs corn as the first ingredient in their food? There are also tons of artificial flavorings and colorings that our pets just don’t need. If you take a look at the second one, you can see all natural meats for the first 5 ingredients and quality carbohydrates and fruits and vegetables there on after. The above labels are from dry cat food, but you will find similar results with can foods. The only difference you will find is low quality meats in place of high quality ones in better brands.
Why the low quality?
The main reason that many popular brands of pet food use such low quality meats and carbohydrates is the cost. Many of these companies make us feel that their food is the top quality so that they can sell more of their food. They don’t care about the health of our pets. These brands of food may be much cheaper than some top quality foods, but it shows in the ingredient list. Just think of it in terms of a human diet. It’s like the comparison between fast food and natural foods. Fast foods fill their foods with tons of fat and low quality ingredients just to keep the cost down with little concern for our health. It frustrates me that these pet food companies make such outrageous claims about their products when they are further from the truth.
What they need
Cats and dogs may be domesticated, but still require a similar diet to their wild ancestors. Have you ever seen a lion or dingo in the wild eating corn off the cob or large amounts of rice and wheat? Our pets have similar protein requirements that wild cats and dogs have. If you look at the protein levels in low quality foods, they will be far lower than our pets actually need. They also try to substitute non-meat ingredients that contain low quality proteins to keep their costs down. This same requirement is also necessary in other small animals like ferrets.
Pet Food Diets
There are several different types of pet foods that can comprise our pets diets.
Dry Food
Dry pet food or kibble is the most popular variety and is sold by so many different brands. Dry food in general should not completely comprise our pets diets since it difficult to contain the high levels of protein our pets need. When choosing to buy dry food, make sure to thoroughly inspect the labels and follow the top 5 rule. If the first few ingredients do not contain any meat or contain low quality ingredients, you will want to avoid that product. Just as with our food, if the ingredient sounds artificial or unhealthy, then it probably isn’t good for our pets. Some key ingredient names to avoid include:
- Meat-by-product: Leftover meat parts like intestines, liver and others.
- Ground Corn: Our pets don’t need corn.
- Wheat gluten: The main reason for the big pet food recall 2 years ago.
- Brewer’s Rice: Low quality rice with little nutrition.
For a great definition list of all pet food ingredients, check out all natural pet food Natura’s Ingredient Search.
There are many brands of dog and cat food that contain high levels of quality ingredients including:
- Natura Pet Food including EVO, Innova, California Natural and others.
- Wellness
- Eagle Pack
- Orijens
Canned Food
Canned foods contain much high levels of protein than dry foods simply because they are moist. The same rules apply for canned food as with dry food. Look for high quality proteins and try to avoid canned foods with “gravy”.
Raw Food Diet
Many people have switched from using dry and canned foods to a raw food diet. These diets mimic what our pets would eat if they were wild. Some ingredients include raw meat, uncooked bones, vegetables and fruits. Raw food diets can be bought either frozen or freeze-dried by a variety of companies. Vets don’t often recommend these types of diets because they may not contain all the nutrition that our pets needs, especially vitamins and minerals. A way to try this diet is to mix it with a dry/canned food diet to mix up your pet’s diet.
There are many companies that now sell raw food diets throughout the country and online that include:
- Nature’s Variety
- Northwest Naturals
- BRAVO!
Make Your Own Food
Any popular diet that many people take is to make their own pet food. This can be the most cost-effective way to feed our pets as well as knowing exactly what our pets are eating. Check out this great article on Bargaineering about pros and cons of making your own pet food.
Save Money?
Spending more money on food does not seem like the way to save money, but it can save you money in the long term. Think about the high cost of veterinarian bills as you pets get older. The healthier and more natural the food you feed you pets, the better chance your veterinarian bills will be lower over the life of your pet. Whether the savings is actually more than the money you are spending on your pet is hard to determine. I say that if our pets live longer and are healthier over their lifetime, giving them quality food should not be a question.
Guidance
In general, just make sure to do research on any brand of pet food you buy. At minimum, check the ingredient list of any food before you buy. Dog Food Analysis has some great reviews of many brands of dog food and categorizes them based on their quality of ingredients.
Please share any brands of pet food or diets that you feel are all natural and healthy for you pets.
Comments
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June 26th, 2009
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People should definitely be checking ingredients on pet food as we do with human food. Animals are like family after all, right? If everyone could smell what a dog/cat food factory smells like, they would never feed their animals fancy feast, pedigree or Iams again. It smells rotten and our pets deserve better
This Healthy Pet Food is made under APHIS Certification – NOT AAFCO- Stricter Standards
I was so outraged at the pet food recalls, and so scared about my cats’ health, that I searched until I found a great pet food that has never been recalled- and recently I became a Field Representative for the distributor of the food- HealthyPetNet. Their Life’s Abundance pet food does NOT have any corn, wheat, soy, gluten, chemical preservatives, hormones, by-products, sugars, animal digest or beef fats. It’s manufactured in the USA by Trilogy Intl. whose facilities are USDA certified by APHIS (Animal Plant Health Inspection Service). APHIS certification allows the sale of a finished product to the International market, including the European market, which has extremely high standards on ingredient sources- and these standards are more strict than AAFCO’s standards, the pet food certification agency that is used in the USA. Under AAFCO definitions, there can be a limited amount of by-products in pet food, and the manufacturer is not required to list them on the ingredients label. Life’s Abundance pet foods are made from organic, cage-free chickens and other human-grade quality ingredients, and include essential fatty acids and 5 types of probiotics. The easy-to-digest, high-quality protein is suitable for all ages & breeds.
http://www.BestPetHealthFood.com
I feed my dogs eagle pack which is on your list. I can’t afford the next step above that with 2 furbabies but I hate that corn is the Lamb>brown rice>corn. i wish corn was further down the list. but they love it, are super healthy and strong. I cringe when i see people buy pet food at the grocery, like Ol Roy. thanks for the great post!
It makes me mad as well to see people buying pretty much any of the food at grocery stores. Most of the pet foods at grocery stores are the same brands that contain ingredients like the first label I show in my article.
We should, of course, concern with our pets’ food. Our pets are parts of the environment. If our pets are healthy, our environment is also good for our living. Therefore, we have to avoid our pets from any kind of disease because our health can be influenced by the disease from our pets.
I used to use this stuff called Blue which was all natural food for pets and I was really happy with it. It just cost so much I could barely afford to keep buying it all the time.
We have done to our pets what we have done to ourselves. We make eating easier instead of giving our bodies or our pets the proper nutrition to live happy but most importantly happy lives. Be cautious though and do some research before you make your pet’s food. Make sure you put the proper nutrition with natural products for your pet.
You shouldn’t forget to look for coupons when buying natural pet food either. Even brands like Wellness don’t have to cost full price.
http://efreebieclub.com/dog-food-coupons-an-easy-way-to-save-money/
My daughter bought a puppy last year and it has had problems with its eyes swelling up and getting very red. She recently switched to an all natural dog food and her dog’s eyes look considerably better.
I’m guessing that the puppy had an allergy to corn, wheat or soy in the previous dog food, and switching to the healthier food relieved the eye condition.