Nutrition
You Are What You Eat!

Nutrition plays an important role in keeping your pet healthy and extending its life.  How do you know what’s actually in those bags and cans of pet food?  Here’s a quick guide to what’s important when examining the label:   

AVOID BY-PRODUCTS:

Avoid foods that have “Poultry By-Product Meal” or “Meat and Bone Meal” listed as one of the first few ingredients.  Poultry By-Product Meal is composed of whatever parts of the chicken are left over after the meat for human consumption has been removed-in other words the heads, feet, guts and feathers.  Meat and Bone Meal comes from rendering plants and includes leftover material from slaughterhouses, kitchen grease from fast food restaurants, even animals killed on the road!  Try to choose a food that contains no by-products and instead has premium ingredients like chicken or chicken meal (which means whole chicken with the water and fat removed), lamb or lamb meal, beef or beef meal, etc.

LESS CORN=LESS STOOL VOLUME:

 Also avoid foods that have corn listed as one of the first ingredients.  Corn is a cheap protein source but it is very hard for dogs and cats to digest and utilize as a source of nutrition.  Quality ingredients like wheat and rice cost the manufacturer more, but are more easily digested and absorbed.  Your pet will need to eat a lot more of a corn-based food to obtain what it requires nutritionally than wheat or rice based food.  Thus, your pet will produce more stools on the cheaper corn based foods.  The more food utilized in your pet, the less you’ll be cleaning up in the litter box or backyard.

ETHOXYQUIN IS BAD:

Ethoxyquin is a preservative that causes some dogs to seizure.  It has been removed from most pet foods in the past few years, but you still may see it listed on a few labels.  Try to find a food preserved with natural vitamin E instead.

LINOLIEC ACID IS GOOD:

Linoleic acid is a fatty acid derived from sunflower oil that helps give your pet healthy skin and a shiny coat.  This means less itching and scratching and fewer hairballs.  Try to find a food with at least 3.5% linoleic acid, especially if your pet tends to have skin problems.