Why do Pet Planet Ambassadors spend much of their time discussing and educating customers on the benefits of premium pet food? Because what our pets eat, the quality of nutrients & proper supplementation are the foundations for their health and longevity.
Domesticated pets have acquired many problems such as allergies, skin conditions, behavioral issues and cancer, which can stem from poor nutrition. As our understanding of human nutrition, natural vs. chemical ingredients and foods that cause sensitive reactions has changed how we feed our families, our understanding of pet food requirements has changed how we feed our pets. When you begin to understand what goes in your pet’s food, it becomes easier to make healthy choices for them.
Knowing the Difference
While the ingredient label on grocery/discount pet foods may read similarly to a premium food, there are significant differences. Low quality meat not considered fit for human consumption and its by-products may be used. Restaurant grease and discarded fats from rendering plants are common. While some plant sourced carbohydrates are necessary in the diet, some ingredients such as corn husks, wheat mill run, rice by-products, and soy grits provide absolutely no nutritional value to our pets. Neither do fillers like peanut hulls, soybean meal, corn meal, grain sorghum and whole kernel corn.
Additionally, these foods are a concern not only for what they include on the label, but for what they omit. Did you know that pet food manufacturers only need to list the ingredients they add? If chemicals or disinfectants are added to ingredients at the slaughterhouse or rendering plant, they may not be listed.
What Does Premium Food Offer?
Premium pet food ingredients are human grade, fresh, and free of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, antibiotics and hormones. They are vitamin and mineral fortified at higher levels than grocery/utilitarian foods and have trace minerals that are more bio-available to your pet. Simply stated, the better the ingredients, the easier and more completely the food will be digested. Cheaper ingredients provide only marginal nourishment for our pets, and they must eat much more of that formula. Therefore, the cost of feeding a premium food is actually less than feeding a lower quality food!
Pet Planet also offers raw diets for pets. A raw diet consists of bones, ground meat, vegetables, fruit and other whole foods. The theory behind feeding raw food is that our pet’s ancestors thrived on a diet of raw meat and bones, whereas the cooking process in today’s dry kibble foods destroys many of the nutrients that they require. Since most pet Guardians who want the nutritional benefits of raw food don’t have the time to do adequate research on proportions, supplements and then develop their own recipes, “thaw and serve” products make it easy and convenient to feed pets naturally.
When it comes to pet food – there really is a difference and it IS important to the health of your pet!