Providing Tender Loving Care for Pets of All Shapes and Sizes Since 1987

Choosing A Pet Food – What You Need To Know
By Dr. Rebecca Coleman, All Pets Veterinary Hospital
from Stillwater Living Magazine, June 2007

The recent pet food recalls have been frightening, and the consequences suffered by many dogs and cats as a result of toxic contaminants has been tragic. These circumstances have left many in a quandary as to what pet food to give their pets. Of course, home prepared food as opposed to processed food is always the best way to feed both ourselves and our pets, but many do not have the time or inclination to do the research needed to prepare nutritionally balanced, made-from-scratch meals for our animal companions.

So, how should one choose a pet food? Unfortunately, what is true is that words such as premium, super-premium, natural or veterinarian's choice are simply advertising labels that do not actually mean anything. There are no official requirements that a manufacturer has to meet in order to call its food premium. Furthermore, just looking at the chemical analysis can be very misleading as has been demonstrated by this recent food recall. The toxic ingredient in the recalled foods turns out to have been added on purpose in order to boost the protein percentage of the chemical analysis. One can get much more information by reading the ingredient list of the pet food rather than the chemical analysis. But, it is important to know what to look for.

The hallmarks of a high quality pet food include:

• Whole food ingredients are more desirable than food "fragments." For example chicken and wheat are okay, but chicken-by-products, poultry meal, or wheat gluten are not.
• Superior sources of protein. This means whole, fresh meats or single source meat meal like chicken meal or lamb meal, not generic poultry meal or meat meal.
• Look for a whole-meat source as one of the first two ingredients. Better yet would be two meat sources among the top three ingredients.
• Whole, unprocessed grains, vegetables and other foods. A previously unprocessed food has the best chance of surviving the food-making process with its nutrients intact. No artificial preservatives like BHA, BHT or ethoxyquin.
• No artificial colors.
• No sugars or sweeteners like corn syrup, sucros or ammoniated glycyrrhizin (added as flavor enhancers).
• No propylene glycol (added to keep food moist).
• High quality foods should contain a minimum of food fragments. These are low-cost by-products of food manufacturing, such as brewers rice or wheat bran.

Of course, pet foods that meet these selection criteria do tend to be more expensive than many grocery store brands. Truly, you get what you pay for and you cannot expect top-quality ingredients in a product that retails for pennies a pound.