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Healthy
Nutrition For Your Pet
"Premium"
"All-Natural"
"Gourmet"
"Raw"
What
does it all mean?
How can
you be sure you're providing healthy nutrition for your pets? It's
a daunting task these days to sort out the nutritional facts from
marketing hype when it comes to the pet food industry.
The rules governing the use of such terms as "Premium or
Natural" on pet food labels are pretty much left to the
interpretation of the pet food manufacturers.
Are there ANY healthy nutritional pet food
choices on store shelves,
or must you prepare your own homemade pet foods to be safe???
As
a pet mom I've been in the cross-hairs of this dilemma many times. After all, the
rules change almost as fast as the latest "new and improved pet food"
comes on the market.
Truth
is, the integrity of the information on pet food labels varies and is
sometimes determined by the integrity of the maker/manufacturer.
Yes,
there are basic rules and guidelines for manufacturers in order to
produce commercial pet food, but
there are also many ways around these rules by clever labeling
practices.
It's really
difficult if not impossible to
determine the quality of the food by what's written on the label.
The
pet food industry is not subject to the same standards that human food
is, so buyer beware.
And where
does that leave us? Hopefully
willing to do our homework and determine to make the best pet food
choices we can
based on the information we do have available to us.
But the
good news is there really is
enough information available out there for you to make a good choice
for your pets and provide them with the nutrition they need
using
manufactured
foods or
home-cooked!
But how do you
begin to sort it all out?
During the years I spent as a professional pet-sitter, one of the
questions I could count on being asked was, "what's the best dog or cat
food?"
As mentioned in one of my favorite books
by Lowell Ackerman, D.V.M. (Canine Nutrition),
is that consumers must be aware that...
There is NO
"one size fits all" pet food!
And
there is no single diet that's adequate for every stage of an animal's
life. Your pet's nutritional needs are as individual as yours. And your
pet's metabolism is as individual to him as yours is to you.
Take
the time to research your pet's particular breed.
Do you know the breed of your pet? Each
breed has different nutritional requirements depending on many things,
like size, energy level, working dog or couch potato, genetic
predisposition to disease or conditions, just to name a few.
 What
your pet eats will most certainly play a major role in shaping his
health and well being.
Even if you have adopted a shelter animal and
have no idea about his genetics, you can still make some time to
understand the basics of healthy nutrition for canine or feline.
I
am not a veterinary professional or an animal nutrition expert, and I'm
not going to try to be one
here. But I can tell you from experience that good information is out
there and you have a responsibility to your pets to be aware of what
his or her nutritional
needs are.
My
goal here is to get you thinking about the importance of
making good decisions about your pet's healthy nutrition based on the
right criteria. The beginning of a well-rounded, holistic approach to your pet's diet.
There are many great books written by animal
nutritionists and entire websites dedicated to healthy nutrition for
pets. It's
not difficult to sort out the genuine from the junk if you
understand a bit about animal nutrition.
All that's left for you to do is take a little time to educate
yourself. How
can you begin to know if our pets are getting adequate healthy
nutrition
if you don't know what their bodies require?
Next Page...Providing
the Best Pet Food
Check back
with us for future information on healthy nutrition for pets related to:
- Stages of your pet's life and how his
nutritional needs change
- How nutrition plays a part in inherited genetic
disorders
- Canine and Feline nutritional differences
- Homemade pet food diets
- Best choices for treats
- Supplementation
- The
difference a manufacturer can make!
- Pet Food choices and reader reviews
Back from Healthy Nutrition
to Pet Care Unleashed
Home
Read Disclaimer
Resources:
- Canine
Nutrition; What Every Owner, Breeder, and Trainer Should Know
by Lowell Ackerman, D.V.M
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