Pet Foods – Facts, Fads and Food Choices
Food – it’s essential to all of us, our furry friends included, but how do you make the best decision for a food for your pet or pets when faced with the huge number of choices, the seemingly endless recalls and all the marketing pitched your way.
What is most important for your pet in terms of health is the right balance of calories, protein, carbohydrates and fats. Your pet should be fed a food appropriate to their life stage with appropriate protein and calorie levels.
Budget is the first step. Each of us for a variety of reasons selects pet food on price and for every price point, there are many options. If searching, please consult your veterinarian for their recommendations of favored brands.
On every pet food label, there will be an AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials) statement that telling how the food was tested and the life stage or stages that the food is appropriate for. The best food testing is via controlled animal feeding tests, but this can be cost prohibitive. If the AAFCO statement says something along the lines of “formulated to meet the nutritional needs established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles,” then the food has undergone bench chemistry testing to show that it meets the standards set for particular ingredients and percentages of protein, fiber and fat.
Additionally, the AAFCO statement will say what life stage the food is appropriate for. Maintenance is for adult pets. All life stages means that the food must meet the nutritional requirements of the most demanding nutritional needs – lactation/pregnancy and growth. All life stage foods tend to be high in calories and pet will need to be fed less to avoid unwanted weight gain.
Food safety is a tangled subject all its own. While it may seem that pet foods are rampantly unsafe, really in many cases, it is a recall as a precaution from a manufacturer being proactive after a random test result of concern or from FDA random testing or reports of problems with a batch of food. The number of recalls seems increased because a number of brands are made by one manufacturer.
Food fads in pet food mirror those in the human marketplace. Grain-free foods are riding on the trend of gluten-free foods. Just as in people, there are a small number of animals who may have difficulty with the digestion of particular grains, but grains as a food ingredient are not necessarily bad as they have been processed to retain nutrients while allowing for easier digestion.
Good nutrition comes in many pet foods. A review of the label is going to be your best tool in selecting what is appropriate for your pet based on age, lifestyle and weight.