Nutrition is important to your pet’s health, which is why finding the right pet food is absolutely crucial to your four-legged family member’s overall quality of life. On this page, we will be taking a closer look at pet food and why finding the best is important.

What is the importance of good pet food?

Pets need a complete and balanced diet to maintain good health. Let us take a look at the nutrients they need in order to thrive.

 

Protein

This is one of the most important parts of your pet’s diet. Protein is the building blocks for life and comes available in different qualities. Since dogs are mostly carnivores, they require much higher levels of protein than humans do. Did you know that dogs can eat cat food, but cats can’t eat dog food? Cats are completely carnivorous and require even more protein than dogs.

 

Fats

Pet food contains healthy fats that form an essential part of your pet’s diet. Fats are high in energy and can be sourced from plant and animal products. Keep in mind that over-consumption of fats leads to health problems. This is why it is super important to ensure that your pet food doesn’t contain too many fats.

 

Minerals and Vitamins

Minerals are crucial for nerve conduction while protein, fats and carbs are necessary for energy. Your pet also needs vitamins to help their metabolisms process bio-chemicals.

 

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are part of your pet’s nutritional requirements, but sadly, they are often over consumed. Regular dry pet food contains somewhere between 30-70% carbs since they’re a cheaper form of nutrition. But if you give your pet too many carbohydrates, the surplus energy gets stored as fat, which is when obesity occurs.

 

The difference between pet food and table scraps

Human food cannot provide your pet with the nutrition he needs. They’re also much less likely to eat their pet food if they eat human food on a regular basis. Human food is one of the quickest routes to weight problems in pets and can lead to picky eating as well.

 

Most dry pet foods contain soy, corn or rice as a base ingredient. High00end pet foods contain a mixture of agricultural ingredients like poultry, meat, seafood, feed grain by-products and added vitamins and minerals. Some brands are more expensive than others, but your pet will eat less of the product, absorb more nutrients from it, and thus reduce the overall cost.

How to choose the best pet food

With more and more people understanding the importance of pet nutrition, the market for natural pet food is rapidly growing. Ten years ago, we didn’t have access to the high-quality pet foods that we see on the shelves today. Here’s a quick guide to choosing the best pet food:

 

Scan the list of ingredients

The first five to seven ingredients are the major ingredients in the food. These should be along the lines of meat, whole grains and vegetables to ensure your pet is getting the best nutrition possible. Don’t pick foods that contain by-products, unnamed meat meals or partial grains in the top ingredients. You don’t want to go for sub-standard sources of protein. “Meat meal” for example, may contain a range of animal parts (other than meat) from any source. Due to their questionable quality and safety, those ingredients are unfit for human consumption. As such, they’re unfit for your pet too.

 

Avoid harmful ingredients

Artificial preservatives can cause cancer in humans, and they can do that in your pet as well. These ingredients limit the growth of bacteria and inhibit the oxidation of food. Avoid pet food that contains BHA, VHT, ethoxyquin, sodium nitrite and nitrate. You also have to steer clear of artificial flavours like corn syrup, propylene, glycol, molasses and MSG. A lot of manufacturers use these ingredients to disguise inferior food quality.

 

Steer clear of fillers

Fillers are ingredients that are added to pet food to provide dietary fibre (also known as “bulk”). But they really have no particular nutritional value. Rice bran, corn bran, hulls and certain pulps are examples of fillers that should be avoided or at least not be present in the main ingredient list.

 

What are my options?

Here in South Africa, we have access to a wide variety of top-quality pet food brands. Some of the best pet food brands include:

• Acana
• Cesar
• Eukanuba
• Hills
• Iams
• Montego
• Royal Canin
• Vet’s Choice

 

 

If you need any help finding the best pet food for your four-legged family member, we’re always here and ready to help. Be sure to get in touch with our team today to find answers to all your pet nutrition questions!