Pet Food is a very important part of our pet’s life. Many consumers are confused when choosing pet food with every company saying their food is superior, however no pet food is better then the ingredients it contains. When talking about pet food the ingredient list should be used to prove that it is in fact healthy. It is the nutrition that will help our pet’s grow, build a strong immune system and overall live long, healthy lives. When choosing a pet food a common practice is to look for meat as your first ingredient, which is important, but there is more to it. Canines and felines are classified as carnivorans; the dog is an opportunistic carnivore, while the cat is an obligate carnivore. The dogs digestive system is setup to process mostly a carnivorous diet, while the cat is exclusively meat. Many pet foods have a carbohydrate overload which could possibly lead to obesity and diabetes with our pets. Some pet foods can have meat as their first ingredient but than follow with many partial grains or by-products, in turn the protein is derived from those ingredients rather then human grade meat ingredients.

Our ideal pet food would be a high protein and low carbohydrate diet which leads to feeding less since it is so nutrient dense. This type of diet is based on the canine and feline being carnivores. A very good example of a diet like this is EVO (www.evopet.com), this pet food uses Human Grade ingredients. The dog food has a carbohydrate content of 12% or less and 42% protein level. The palatability of this diet is extremely high and it meats their carnivore requirements in both their dog and cat diets. EVO is an ideal diet, however we know that there is not one pet food works for every pet therefore we have a variety of healthy pet foods we can recommend to keep your pet healthy. We also carry raw pet food diets.

When looking for a nutritious diet, these are some important things to consider in choosing a healthy pet food:

1. Human Grade Ingredients
   Make sure the pet food you are feeding has a philosophy to use Human Grade ingredients. Do not accept anything less then these high quality ingredients. When cooking pet foods, find a company that cooks at lower temperatures, which is essential in keeping the nutrients in the pet food. For example, Innova not only cooks their pet food at lower temperatures, this brand also adds probiotics after being cooked as some will be lost during the cooking process.
2. More Meat
   EVO has no grains in their pet food, therefore a really low carbohydrate percentage (less than 12% in Dog Food and 7% in Cat Food). If you are not feeding a high protein, low carbohydrate diet like EVO then have meat as the first ingredient in a regular adult diet. Make sure after the meat ingredient it is not followed by a long list of carbohydrates or partial grains. The meat ingredient, along with the other ingredients, should also be human grade and not have the word by-product attached to it.
3. NO to Fillers and by-products
   Make sure the ingredients that make up your pet food are useful for the pet and are not just making it more profitable for the manufacture of the pet food. This useful ingredient definition list allows you to search for an ingredient and explains what that particular ingredient consists of.
4. Parent Company of your Pet Food
   This may seem odd but it is interesting to know who makes your pet food and what their intentions are as a business. We know who actually makes most pet foods; we are happy to assist you in identifying who actually produces a particular pet food. A pet food that goes beyond necessary safety control measures indicates they are willing to implement extra care in manufacturing to insure the quality of their product, and the health of your pet.
   
   Compare your pet food's philosophy to a company such as Natura Pet Products which have set extremely high standards for their pet food. You can see them here.