Selecting high quality commercial pet food

Photo by Pam Shultz

Were you laughing out loud at the article about safely home cooking for cats? Does it seem like ages since you have prepared a meal from scratch for yourself or your family? Commercial pet foods can be a convenient and safe alternative to home cooking. The key is selecting the high quality commercial food or foods that will help your loyal companions thrive.

Initially, choosing a kibbled or canned food may not seem like a time (or money) saver at all. Buying quality products takes some research. Plus, after looking into the matter, you are likely to pass by the choices available at your local grocery store. Artificial preservatives are not a part of most high quality foods. These factors may mean more trips to a specialty pet supply store.

The time, effort and expense that go into providing nutritious meals are an investment. The return may come in the form of lower veterinary bills, less chronic illness, or even less time spent cleaning the lawn or litter box. (If you are feeding nutrients the body can utilize, less is eliminated as waste.) You have heard this before on this page and you will hear it again: Feeding time is the opportunity we have every day to affect our pets’ overall health and wellbeing. Good nutrition is the foundation of good health. Domestic animals are completely dependent on us to do our homework and make informed decisions on their behalf.

Need help? The Whole Dog Journal has been reviewing pet foods since 1998. The publication has compiled lists of ‘approved’ wet and dry foods for dogs. They have done most of the leg work for you and also provide readers with the needed tools for being informed consumers. Their selection criteria clearly describe what they looking for in a top dog food and why.

Capitol area pet lovers who would like to find local stores that carry a good selection of high quality foods, ask your veterinarian for suggestions. To find a holistic veterinarian near you, use the AHVMA referral search.  Your local health food store proprietor may also be aware of the nearest merchant specializing in holistic pet supplies.

Regarding commercial dry food, here is a hard learned lesson from the vet clinic trenches: once you have selected a food, do not dump the bag into a big plastic container and throw away the packaging. Unfortunately, even after careful selection, we have learned from recent recalls, that disaster can strike. You will want to have the labels and pertinent product information on hand, just in case you or your pet’s health care provider need to refer to it.