Saturday, October 15, 2011

How to choose the best pet food

Nutrition is one of the most important aspects of maintaining good health, for us or our pets. It is something that we do every single day that can affect the health of our pets for life. We can either feed the wrong things and make them sick, or feed the right foods and have them with healthy teeth, coats, intestinal health, and weight. The only question is: What do you look for in a good food and once you do find it, how do you really know for sure that it's a good food?

The world of pet nutrition can sometimes seem so unnavigable and confusing that there's not even a starting point in site. TV is telling you one thing, your vet is telling you another, the pet magazine even says something else! Every food claims to be better than the next: healthier, more natural, better quality, better tasting, etc. etc. etc.

So, how do you figure this thing out? Where do you go for solid information? Google? TV commercials? Your neighbor? The kid working at the pet food store?

I recently asked my Facebook friends why they chose the pet food that they did. Some of these responses are below:


"It is advertised to be good for them, but I really don't know that it is."


"I read the ingredients to make sure it has good stuff, and she loves the good stuff. She's worth the price!"


"Appealing flavor (to the dog), solid nutritional value and good bowel health - or is that good nutritional value and solid bowel health :-)"


"i listen 2 my vet :)"  [I love those comments, by the way!]


In the next few posts, I will address marketing strategies, different types of ingredients, information provided (or not) on pet food labels, and how to choose a food with solid nutritional value.

Hopefully, you can gain a clearer understanding of how to confidently choose a quality food for your pet and not feel so lost in the hype of good marketing.




Sarasota Animal Hospital