How To Choose a Healthy Pet Food

Keep reading to get to the good part written by an experienced vet who knows what she is talking about. Some of this is my normal babbling explaining things in my goofy way.... Sorry, I can't help myself.

As some of you know I keep reptiles. I understand reptiles. Most of the food is fairly straight forward and we only have a few kinds to choose from. When it comes to cat and dog foods, I tend to be at a loss. I don't know what I should get for my two cats. The variety is boggling to the mind and the bright colorful packages are distracting.

 

 

Previously I worked for a pet store with a big variety of dog and cat foods. At that time I did not have any animals except for a few dwarf puffer fish, love birds, and geckos. I worked on the other side of the store from the pet food and spent most of my days scooping reptile and small animal poop. I sometimes would help people with dog and cat food but that was mostly carting it out to their car for them. I learned that some foods were much better than others and that even the really expensive ones were not necessarily the best. Other than that I would send people with questions over to the dog breeders we had working in the store because they knew what was what and I just knew which ones had big price tags and pretty labels. Moral of this... when you are asking the nice person at the pet store what kinds of food they suggest be sure to also ask them if they actually know anything about what they are talking about. *snort*

Our cats, Gibbs and Nyx are typical pet shelter house cats and we adore them. We would love to spoil them with top quality boutique pet foods but most of the time we can't afford it. Knowing that its best to keep cats and dogs on one type of food as the base diet and offer a little variety here and there for treats, I had a hard time picking a food that was good for them.

 

Nyx a.k.a. Budda-belly (self explanatory)

 Gibbs a.k.a Skunkbutt-kun (don't ask)

The shelter was feeding them whatever kitten food was donated to them. At the time (almost 5 years ago now) that was a basic kitten chow. The adoption clerk told us that was a decent food and to keep them on it for a few weeks while they settled into their new home. We did so. At the pet store we sold mostly boutique type food and I remembered how people would talk bad about the 'grocery store' foods. So I wondered if we should switch. The vet we took our kitties to told us to get Purina One Kitten and then switch over to adult in a year.  She also told us to grind up some L-lysine vits and sprinkle it over their food because they each came to us with kitty herpes. Nyx gets runny eyes and Gibbs sneezes a lot. Apperently the L-lysine helps with this but I suggest you ask your vet about it if you have kitties with the same issues.We did what the vet told us to do. 

Recently we switched to Purina One Beyond for our kitties. I can't give any reports on it yet but the switch over has gone smoothy. I've added a few pictures of that bag into this post.

 

I have a good friend who is a retired small animal and exotic vet. She was kind enough to write the below up for me to post in case any of you wonder the same things I did. Thank you Jodi for doing this!!! Jodi also believes in the importance of natural and organic life when possible so I was thrilled when she offer to write a few posts for That Green Witch. Again, thank you! 

Now onto the interesting part...

How To Choose a Healthy Pet Food

Jodi Kettering, DVM

March 2014

The pet food industry is currently a $19.85 billion business. Cat and dog foods account for over 90 percent of the U.S pet food market. Some estimates put the U.S. pet food production at $26.6 billion by 2015. And the overwhelming majority of pet foods are produced by only 5 big corporations: Mars Inc, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, and Del Monte. It is important to know that, since big corporations are more concerned with the bottom line, which is usually profits. And shareholder dividends can come at the cost of high quality ingredients in your pet’s food.

It should be no surprise to find that 9 out of 10 pet owners consider their cat or dog to be a part of the family. Half of pet owners allow their pet to sleep in the bed with them. A third will buy holiday gifts for their pet. With pets being such a central part of our lives, why would we choose to feed them a substandard commercial diet?

It becomes clear as to why we must pay attention to pet food ingredient labels. A basic knowledge of what to look for and what to avoid will help you choose the right pet food for your dog or cat. It isn’t difficult or a time consuming process. Please keep in mind, not every food is right for every pet. Your pet’s age, breed, potential underlying disease, and even gender may influence the type of food you will choose. Protein, fat, and carbohydrate percentages are also important factors to consider when choosing a quality pet food. I will cover these points in a future installment.

My first recommendation is to bring your reading glasses to the store. Pet food labels are notorious for being in small print! Once you’ve got your “eyes” on, forgo spending time on how fancy or colorful the packing looks. While the outside of the pet food bag may have pictures of fresh meats, fresh veggies and whole grains floating about, the inside product may contain ingredients that are far, far from that.

On to the ingredients list. There are 5 simple things to remember and look for when evaluating a pet food ingredients list.

1. Animal protein should be number one on the list. It should also be a “named” animal protein source. Avoid meat by-products or poultry by-products. With by-products, there is no way to know if these items were kept fresh, chilled, and properly stored, or if they were swept off of the processing floor and stored unrefrigerated for hours, or even days.
2. A named animal protein is one that is specific, such as chicken, beef, lamb, etc. Something labeled as just “meat” is an example of a low-quality, questionable-origin food stuff. A named animal protein meal is also fine (example: chicken meal is good, while a “meat” meal is unacceptable).
3. If a named whole meat is first on the ingredient list, it should be supported by a named meat meal as the second or third item on the list. Fresh meat is very heavy (with water), and as such cannot contain enough protein to be used as the sole animal protein. A good animal protein meal will add the necessary protein.
4. Whole vegetables, fruits, and grains are good. These fresh foods contain beneficial nutrients. That says it all. There should be no added sweeteners or colors
5. An expiration date should be at least 6 months away. 10 or 11 months is good. It means the food was made more recently. Natural preservatives, such as tocopherols (forms of vitamin E), vitamin C, and rosemary extract, can be used. Pet foods that have a 2 or 3 year expiration date usually contain synthetic preservatives (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin).

Dr. Kettering has over 25 years experience in the veterinary profession. She is a retired small animal/exotics veterinarian in Bend, Oregon.