Natural dog food. The word “natural”, is it in the brand name or is it really natural ingredients. What is the story?
The first thing that caught my eye was “human grade” meats. I thought to myself. Wow. Thats great. But that is also the reason why it is put on the label ingredients. The companies know what us pet owners will look for. So me being me. I wanted to dig further. Think about it. The dog food is either edible and healthy or its not. I dont need to see “human grade”.
The problem is with labeling and what they can get away with and what buzz words or phrases they can think up of to distract from what really is. Why not just be honest on the label? All natural in general is a good thing. But it is not the end all be all for what is best for us or our pets. We need vitamins and supplements and what science’s advances are proving for us. So label the foods, “natural with vitamins” or “all natural ingredients with healthy supplements”. I would be more apt to believe that than some partyline phrase or saying.
As a rule of thumb. Be on the lookout for the following. When it comes to Natural or All Natural dog foods look for highly digestible ingredients such as, high protein meats, fruits and vegetables, Omega3 and 6. For the joints look for Glucosamine and Chondroitin. Taurine for health. Also there are other ingredients that promote brain functionality. That is at the owners discretion though.
The key thing is to be sure that there not any by-products of any sort. No meat or filler by products. No animal fat. Just think would you want to take on someone else’s fat. Uh, no. No corn, soy. No artificial preservatives. No sugar or dyes or any other filler or fluff by any other name.
