The Pet Food Hierarchy

• Posted on 31 December 2012
• By Dr. Jill Tack
• Posted in best diet for cats, best diet for dogs, best pet food, canned, dehydrated, freeze dried, grain-free, healthiest diet, home cooked, pet food hierarchy, raw, regular pet food, worst diet, worst pet food
• 0

With so many pet food options on the market today from canned to raw and even homemade, it can be difficult to decipher which is actually the best for your pet. To make your choice a little easier, we’ve come up with a pet food hierarchy that ranks all of the different options from best to worst. Check it out below:

With so many pet food options on the market today from canned to raw and even homemade, it can be difficult to decipher which is actually the best for your pet. To make your choice a little easier, we’ve come up with a pet food hierarchy that ranks all of the different options from best to worst. Check it out below:

1. Raw: The best type of food for your pet? Raw. A raw diet provides your pet with essential nutrients alongside easily digestible vitamins, minerals and live enzymes without any artificial vitamins, minerals or coloring that are added to some commercially made foods. With a raw diet, your pet will suffer less from food allergies and will see improved digestion among many other benefits.
2. Freeze Dried/Dehydrated: If you can’t feed raw, then freeze dried and dehydrated pet foods should be your next choice. Freeze dried foods are easy to feed while maintaining the natural nutritional properties of the raw food as well as its natural color, flavor and aroma.
3. Home cooked (with a vitamin/mineral pack): Next on the hierarchy is home cooked pet food with added vitamins and minerals. Ensuring your pets’ improved health while home cooking food can be tricky. Be sure that your pet is getting in all of their nutrients so be sure to supplement with a vitamin and mineral pack.
4. Canned: There are good canned dog foods and then there are the bad ones. If you’re going canned, look for the high quality foods that have the highest possible inclusion of top-quality animal proteins and a whole, named source of meat as the first ingredient (meaning the product contains more of that ingredient by weight than anything else).
5. Grain-Free: At the very least, your pet should be eating a grain free diet. Cats and dogs are carnivores by nature. Unlike humans, carbs are not a source of energy for pets, so grain-free foods are a must. That being said, know that all grain-free foods are not created equal. Be sure to check the label for any suspicious additives.
6. Regular: With their artificial vitamins and minerals, GMO’s and who knows what, run-of-the-mill commercially produced pet foods should be your last resort. But, considering the increase in recalls of these foods and their often questionable ingredients, we just don’t trust these foods.

Where does your pet’s diet fall in our hierarchy?