With so many types of pet products on the market, sometimes choosing a food for your dog or cat can feel as complicated as shopping for a gourmet meal at the supermarket without a list or recipe.
When trying to decide on the optimal food for your pet in a store crowded with options ranging from bargain to supposedly-holistic, these tips will help narrow down the options. As always, when in doubt, talk to LazyPaw Animal Hospitals or your local vet clinic for specific suggestions for Fido or Fluffy.
Avoid generic ingredients
Many foods list “animal fat” as an ingredient, but that’s a little too vague for our taste. I mean, road kill is an animal, so could that be in there too? Go with ingredients that make more sense and are a little more specific, such as “chicken fat” or “duck fat.”
Watch out for added salt and sweeteners.
Dogs, cats, and people all love sugars and salt. Some pet food brands like to make it look like your pet just loves the new kibble, when really they’re just gorging on the taste of fillers such as sugars and salt. These sneaky coatings mask the taste of lower quality grain fragments, cutting the cost of the feed as well as its quality. Keep an eye on the ingredients list for any added sweeteners or unnecessary salt.
Choose preservatives with care.
Preservatives have a rough reputation in the buzzword world, but they aren’t always bad. You may want to avoid certain preservatives such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), which are chemical compounds that keep fats from spoiling and preserve color, odor, and flavor. These additives sometimes extend the life of a bag up to two years, which is a little long for our taste. Though BHA and BHT have been approved by the FDA, some studies suggest certain people and animals may have difficulty metabolizing them. Natural preservatives such as Vitamins E and C are preservatives many are more comfortable with.
Do the “can I read this ingredient” test.
Would you rather eat a banana or tartrazine? Both are yellow, but only one is natural and easy to pronounce. While browsing foods, read every single ingredient listed on the bag. If you (or better yet, your third grader) can easily read and recognize the contents, chances are that the food is pretty good quality. If you get stuck on an inscrutable word by ingredient four, you’re likely not holding the world’s most natural product.