You are what you eat – and that is true for pets, too! People are not the only creatures impacted by their diets. Your cat, dog, or other pet is equally at risk of drawbacks from poor food choices.
The worst foods for your pet are relatively easy to identify. They are the commonly used, inexpensive bags of dry kibbles, popular for their price and convenience.
These types of dog food often have subpar ingredients, such as corn syrup. This is an inexpensive type of sweetener that makes the food more palatable to your pet, but comes with a lot of health risks like weight gain, hyperactivity, behavior problems and diabetes. Corn itself is also used as cheap filler in these foods, and it can turn bad in the bag, poisoning the food and creating even bigger health problems.
Cheap foods are filled with by-products, which are essentially the leftover internal remains of an animal – It could be chicken, lamb, beef, fish, or anything. These by-products may include less than ideal tissues that are plagued with disease.
That does not sound very appetizing, right? No human would want to eat these kinds of things, so why make your dog or cat eat it?
On the other hand, the types of food you find at holistic pet food stores is ideal for your dog or cat. These types of foods are balanced, filled with high quality ingredients, and designed to promote and prolong health for your cat or dog. Look for ingredients like muscle meat, vegetables and fruit, a high moisture content, and minimal or no grains or starches, as your pet does not actually need these fillers for nutrition.
Whole food sources are ideal, and the ingredients should all be things you can pronounce, like chicken or beef. These foods from holistic pet food stores should not have any artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives.
Finding the best food for your pet will have a long term impact on his or her health. By choosing the best food, nutritionally and quality-wise, you will ensure that your pet is getting everything he or she needs to thrive, without worry about disease, rot, or other common kibble problems.
Make the right choice – visit holistic pet food stores for your cat or dog’s dietary needs, and know you are giving them the best.