The Best Dog or Cat Food for Your Pet
Feeding a high quality dog or cat food will add years to
your pet’s life and reduce the chances of developing
many common health problems. This article will help you
identify and choose the best diet for your furry companion.
How do you know what dog/cat food is right? For many the
choice is a homemade diet. If you have the time and the
resources, I agree that this is the preferred way to go.
This is usually the best, and occasionally the only choice
for animals with multiple food allergies. The choice is
yours whether to go cooked or raw, with bones or without.
Basically, a homemade diet should consist of 40-60% meat
for dogs, 60%-90% for cats, 20-50% vegetables (dogs, or
10%-40% for cats), and the rest, optionally, grains. The
choice within each category is vast, and depends on your
budget, availability, and what the dog or cat prefers. Food
allergies often dictate what is used.
Each dog and cat is unique and what is best for one may not
work well for another. Feeding a variety of foods is the
best way to provide all or most of the nutrients that your
pet needs.
A good quality multi-vitamin and calcium supplements will
help make sure the diet is complete. It is difficult to
attain the right amount and balance of calcium to
phosphorus in a home made dog food, so be sure to include
some form of calcium supplement.
If you like the idea of homemade pet food, but lack the
time, there are pre-mixes available, or complete
ready-to-serve meals. Pre-mixes come freeze-dried,
dehydrated or frozen. Usually they are grain and vegetable
mixes, along with some supplements such as calcium, to
which you add the meat. You can also buy frozen or
freeze-dried meats, and add your own veggies and grains if
you wish.
Complete raw-foods diets are also sold as frozen, dry or
freeze-dried. Some areas may have local entrepreneurs who
make and sell these diets fresh. They may also custom make
meals to your pets specifications.
If you prefer to feed a commercial product, choose one of
the many premium dog foods now available. though the cost
may be higher than grocery store brands, what you save in
vet bills will more than make up for the difference.
Whether to feed canned or dry pet food will depend on you
and your dog or cat. Canned food is usually more expensive,
kibble is more convenient. Pets usually prefer canned foods
and some need the softer, wetter consistency. Canned pet
foods generally contain higher quality proteins than dry
pet food, and a higher percentage of protein and fat. The
higher moisture content of canned foods can be beneficial
to dogs and cats with kidney or urinary tract problems. Dry
pet foods contain more preservatives. Some people choose
to use both.
The most important criteria in choosing a pet food is the
list of ingredients. Whole meats are always better then
meat meals, and meat meals are preferable to by-products.
Single source meals, such as “beef meal” or
“chicken meal” are more wholesome than those
marked simple “meat” or “poultry” meals.
Single source meals contain the muscle meat from
that animal, along with accompanying tissues, such as
nerves, blood vessels and skin. Generic meals may contain
other organ tissues and fatty tissue. By-product meal is a
catch-all term for anything that doesn’t fit the
other meal definitions - avoid these at all costs!
Look for the meat source (or sources) to be listed first on
the label. If grains are included (which they always are in
kibbles), they should be whole grains, rather than
fractions, such as wheat bran, brewer’s rice, etc.
Watch out for multiple listings of grains, they may add up
to be more than the meat portion!
Avoid artificial flavors, colors and preservatives. Colors
are added for your benefit, not to appeal to dogs.
Artificial flavors are added to enhance palatability or
cover up off tastes of poorer quality ingredients. Premium
dog foods can be found in most natural or health food
stores and pet supply stores. If you are unable to find a
satisfactory dog food in stores near you, many of them can
be found on the internet.
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Elyse Grau is an herbalist and a long-time pet owner,
well-versed in pet nutrition and feeding. She is the author
of Pet Health Resource, your web guide to a healthy, happy
dog or cat. The website strives to answer your holistic pet
health questions through a large collection of articles.
http://www.pethealthresource.com
