Why is there even a reason for us to have to read about how to choose the healthiest dog food?

Why is just grabbing whatever is on the shelf at my local grocers not good enough anymore. That’s what we’ve always done since pre packaged kibble was made available to us more than 50 years ago.

We’ve been told (and sometimes even admonished) by our veterinarians and the dog food companies that this is the best and only way to keep your pet healthy.

Well, unfortunately, we had a dog food contamination a few years ago that opened up our eyes. The dog foods that were recalled were filled with toxic melamine which killed many of our pets. Using tainted ingredients and not having a quality check program in place caused this massive recall.

There was so much outrage from animal lovers everywhere, that a lot of companies have changed to a better, more chemical free product. That is not to say that there is still many products that are undesirable, and even harmful.

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Unquestionably, USDA certified organic pet foods are healthier than pet foods made from conventionally produced ingredients. Unlike cheaper conventional pet foods, USDA certified organic pet foods contain no residues from pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, or chemicals accumulated during manufacturing that may include a number of the toxic chemicals that are associated with conventional pet food processing. Organic pet foods contain more nutrients–such as vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals–than non-organic pet food. This is especially important, considering the depletion of nutrients that comes with heavy processing and the consequent need to supplement pet foods with mostly synthetic, low-grade nutrients in order to provide some level of nutrition to dogs, cats, or other pets. So, USDA certified organic pet foods are a great way to provide your animal friend with safe, nutrient-rich food staples. But beware: currently in the USA, only organic certification is regulated by law and any claim of organic status other than that of ‘(USDA) certified organic’ is not substantiated by an unbiased third party.

Organic dog foods are great if done right. The best organic dog food is, of course, prepared fresh at home. However, this may be challenging, given the time constraints of the modern world. Although USDA certified organic dog foods are a great choice, there are big differences in quality among the many available choices. Most of these differences stem from the quality of the ingredients used. Although no low-grade ingredients, such as byproducts or other indefinable ingredients, can be included in USDA certified organic dog foods, a number of important nutritional distinctions arise from manufacturers’ choices of ingredients. Some of these distinctions are highlighted below.

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What do they mean by fillers?

Used in low quality, cheap commercial dog foods, fillers are basically put in the dog’s “food” to save the manufacturer money, not to increase nutritional values. Included are products that are not edible and difficult for our pets to digest such as: cereal byproducts, - cottonseed hulls, - crushed peanut shells, - straw, - corn and crushed corncobs, - weeds, and - feathers.

A cheap dog food filled with corn fillers, listed as corn, corn meal, and corn gluten meal should be avoided as this is used as substitute for higher quality animal protein sources.

Fillers that are used are not just tasteless, but actually can hurt your pet as they cause digestive problems and horrible allergies. They can cause digestive problems, allergies, and in immune deficient puppies or older pets can cause severe medical problems. .

What is a by-product?

Found in cheap dog food, meat by-products are euphemisms for parts of animals that wouldn’t be considered edible by any smart consumer. Meat by-products actually do not contain meat. By-products are part of the animals that are left over after the meat has been stripped away from the bone. This disgusting cheap dog food mishmosh would then include heads, feet, entrails, hoofs,lungs, spleens, kidneys, brains, stomachs (still with undigested food inside) bones, blood (some with hormones and medications included) intestines and loads of other carcass parts that are not fit for human consumption.

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Browse any grocery store or pet food store to buy Dog Food and you will agree that trying to decide on what is best for your dog is an exhausting task. Scanning the shelves of products available, you are bombarded by foods extolling different health benefits as well as a huge range of prices. The pet food industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and pet food manufacturers are eagerly marketing for every dollar. Not only are they marketing us to death, but also developing new products to put in front of us. Those products include “dry”, “canned”, “semi-moist” and health targeted products such as “senior”, “premium” and “gourmet.

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