Choosing the best pet food for your pet can be challenging when so many options are available.
Your dog’s health and well-being are affected by the food you feed them, both short- and long-term. The truth is that not all pet food is created equal.
Our ‘Best’ Dog Food Picks
It depends on what you value the most. Some pet parents love Australian food, while others prefer grain-free foods or natural raw ingredients. We’ve compiled four categories to make it easier for you: High Meat Content, Tailored & Scientific, â€Natural Ingredients†and â€Australian Madeâ€.
Animal Protein Content
It’s not an absolute rule, but generally speaking, pet food with a higher animal protein content (rather than cheaper plant-based proteins) is deemed more digestible and has better overall quality for our furry companions.
What is the best way to tell if the meat content of your pet’s food is high? All ingredients must be listed in the order they are weighed on labels in the pet food industry. The first ingredients on the label are the ones that make up most of the recipe.
Is meat important for dogs?
It is a question that is often debated, but it’s unclear whether dogs are omnivores or carnivores. Many people often consider dogs carnivores because of their wild wolf-like ancestors.
Modern dogs are omnivores. The 15 thousand years of living with humans have resulted in a highly adaptable canine metabolism and the evolution of three new genes related to starch and glucose digestibility. Domestic even dogs produce carbohydrate-digesting enzymes in their digestive tract, which other carnivores, such as cats, do not.
Plant-based ingredients can be essential to your dog’s food because they provide fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
While dogs can digest plant-based protein and grains, their best diet contains a lot of meat and animal proteins.
When looking at the ingredients of a food, it is best to choose foods with meat or animal protein as the first ingredient if they are not the first few.
If two of the three first ingredients are whole meat sources, then the food is a winner. Some cheap brands of pet food tend to “split” their carbohydrate components to make it seem as if they are a smaller amount. This can be done by listing “wheat” as a second item and then “wheat bran” lower on the list. It is easier to avoid having ‘wheat,’ the first ingredient on the list, and instead make another component more prominent, like meat.
Quality assurance, testing, and balance of nutrients
“Nutrients” are different from ‘ingredients. A nutrient can be a measurable element, such as “protein” or vitamin C. Each ingredient contains each nutrient in different amounts. You can think of nutrients as the “building blocks” of ingredients. Nutrients are carbohydrates, protein, fats, minerals, vitamins, fiber, water, and minerals.
Why is it important to know this? It’s not enough to have an assortment of ingredients that sound good if they lack the necessary nutrients.
Pet food manufacturers must follow international guidelines detailing the minimum nutritional requirements for each stage of life. AAFCO’s (Association of American Feed Control Officials) guidelines are the most commonly used. It’s important to remember that these guidelines are only guidelines and usually only outline minimum requirements. Dog food may contain too much of one nutrient. However, the food may still be considered to meet standards even though it includes too much.
Consistent Recipes
Avoid artificial colors, preservatives, or flavors.
It’s the same for our pets. Some additives, while harmless at first glance, can have adverse effects in the long run. Artificial additives are no longer necessary, as many natural alternatives exist.
Some pet foods are still colored artificially. This is not necessary. Your dog will not care what color their food is. Artificial colors are added only to satisfy pet owners.
Some pet food manufacturers add sweeteners like corn syrup, ammoniated glycyrrhizin, or sucrose to increase caloric content or improve the taste. (Because even cardboard tastes better when you cover it with syrup!). This can cause weight gain and nutritional imbalances.
An excellent way to determine if a pet’s food is high-quality is to check whether the recipe is specific and consistent or “open” and susceptible to change from batch to batch.
What’s an “open” recipe? To cut costs, cheaper pet food brands source ingredients according to the availability of those ingredients at that time. There may be more human-chain chicken carcasses this month. It’s poultry! Pork byproducts will be the focus next month, as a lot of pork is produced.
High-quality pet food, however, always sticks to the same recipe and uses the same amount of each ingredient. It is essential to have a recipe that is honest and contains no surprises. This is especially true for dogs who suffer from food allergies.
Examples of vague words often found in ingredient lists are meat ‘cereals’ and ‘cereals byproducts.’ Other examples include vegetables,’ ‘and/or,’ and various other termIf if you see these words on an ingredient, you can be sure that t, the recipe is unclear and could change from batch to batch.
Comparatively, the ingredients of a high-quality pet food will usually name the specific grain, meat, or vegetable. You’ll see words such as ‘lamb,’ ‘barley,’ or sweet potato,’ rather than referring to a meat,’ ‘cereal,’ or a vegetable.
What does meat mean?
People cringe when they hear meat because they think it resembles a byproduct. The word “meal” is nothing to be ashamed of – it simply means ‘dehydrated beef’ and implies that meat protein can come from any part of an animal. However, remember that a meat’ meal is more specific, and a ‘chicken’ meal is different from a ‘poultry’ meal.