Do you know what’s in your pet food?  I’ve heard many people say their pets are their kids and they would do anything to keep them healthy and happy.  Let’s be honest though.  How healthy do you think your animal is if you are feeding them the equivalent of McDonald’s every day?  Now there are probably some of you who think you are feeding good quality food because it says “premium”, “natural” or “veterinarian recommended” but that isn’t always the case.  I’m going to give you a few tools to help you decide if you are feeding a good quality food to your little fur kid.

First off dogs and cats are carnivores.  They need meat.  Canine nutritional diets should ideally consume single source proteins as the majority with limited fruits and veggies (with the exception of grapes and raisins). Grain intake should be kept to a minimum. I personally believe that dogs and cats do better on a grain free diet but some animals do well with limited grains including brown rice, oatmeal, or cracked pearl barley. 

The first 5 ingredients in pre-cooked weight sequence on any pet food or treat label are what prominently make up that pet food product.  Quality pet food ingredient labels should read like a good stew with high-grade sources of protein as the first 2 to 3 ingredients.  I always like when I see fresh meat in the ingredient list and it should say whether it is chicken, beef, whitefish, etc.  Some foods may say it contains meat meal.  Those can be okay as long as it specifies the protein source – chicken meal, fish meal.  Beware of any of the following types of ‘meals’: meat meal, bone meal, by-product meal.  Anything with by-products listed isn’t a high quality food.  By-products are the left over parts of an animal that is deemed unfit for human consumption.  Did you know that chicken by-products can contain beaks, feet and even feathers?  My rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t eat it don’t feed it to your animal.

The second thing to look for is any sort of corn, wheat, or soy products in the food.  These are major sources of allergies in pets.  They are also a great indicator for low quality pet foods.  These ingredients are used as cheap fillers with empty calories and no real nutrition source.  They are also hard to ingest.  If you were to give a dog a bowl of steak or a bowl of corn which do you think he would go for?  My friend recently got a rescue dog.  She kept telling me that the dog, Karly, wouldn’t eat her food.  She said she would bark at it and run away.  It would take hours for her to really get hungry before she would break down and eat what was in her bowl.  I had to educate my friend on pet nutrition a bit and then I gave her a grain free fish based kibble to try.  She said Karly went crazy when she put it in her bowl!  I asked my friend to look at the ingredient list on the old food.  The second ingredient was corn!  No wonder Karly didn’t want to eat it.

A few other things to be on the lookout for is generic animal/poultry fat.  Fat should have a specific protein source.  In the past, manufacturers admitted to using rendered dog and cat in their food! This practice no long occurs, but using the term “animal fat” allows manufacturers to include lower priced ingredients, often to your pet’s detriment.  Also avoid artificial dyes and colors.  These are used to make the food more appealing to the owner and not the animal.  BHT, BHA, Ethoxyquin, and Propyl Gallate are preservatives to avoid.  These synthetic preservatives have been identified as potential cancer-causing agents.  Most high end foods will now use vitamin C and E to preserve their food.

Another thing I hear a lot from pet parents is that they need to keep an animal on the same type of food because they have a sensitive stomach.  I say that is a lot of bull.  Do you like eating the same thing for every meal day after day?  Rotational feeding will help your animal from developing food allergies.  It will also help strengthen their digestive tract so they don’t have those issues.  It’s best to start them off with rotational feeding when they are young but it can still be done with older dogs.  Slowly transitioning them between foods helps to strengthen their digestive tract without giving them what I like to call “mud butt”, i.e. diarrhea.   To transition to a different food mix 75% of the old food with 25% of the new food for a few days.  Then mix a 50-50% ratio for another couple of days and end with a 25-75% ratio for the last couple of days.  In a little over a week you can have your dog or cat on a different food with few complications.  Now not all dogs will need this.  My dog, Riley, can eat anything!  She’s got an iron stomach but I’ve switched her food up since she was little.  As long as it is a good quality food then I don’t necessarily care what flavor it is.  I think she enjoys it that way as well.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to pet nutrition.  There is so much out there.  My goal is for you to be armed with the basics.  I think pet nutrition is common sense.  Use your common sense to determine what is the best choice for your dog or cat.  One of my favorite companies in Nashville is Riley Roo Pet Delivery Service.  They know about nutrition and other pet “problems”.  They carry good quality foods, toys, treats, and supplements and deliver them right to your doorstep.  (Great for those of us who are busy and don’t always have time to make it to the store!)  They also have a lot of knowledge when it comes to different pet issuenbs.  You can always email them at info@myrileyroo.com if you have a specific question or check them out at www.myrileyroo.com and because you read this blog Pawsitive Steps clients get $5 off their order with coupon code “Pawsitive”.

Things to Avoid

1. 1.     Generic terms such as poultry or fish
2. 2.     By-products
3. 3.     Corn, soy, and wheat
4. 4.     Animal/Poutry Fat
5. 5.     Rice Gluten (Glue)
6. 6.     Brewers Rice (the sweepings of the floor of the mills)
7. 7.     BHT, BHA, Ethoxyquin, Propyl Gallate (preservatives)
8. 8.     Artificial Colors (Dye #s) & Flavors

Author: Brianna Swanberg