Dog and Cat Food

Whole foods, canned or kibble. How do you properly feed your companion animal? Well, to start with you have to get educated. How do you properly care for your companion animal without knowing how to do it? Start with a highly recommended book from our "Books and Videos" section like Scared Poopless or Natural Dog Care. This will help give you a basic understanding and go a long way towards pointing you in the right direction.

Here, at The Pet Health and Nutrition Center we focus on whole foods. We carry only the very best diets Experts in holistic health such as holistic veterinarians and nutritionists recognize that the natural antioxidant compounds found in whole foods like carotenoids, phytochemicals and polyphenols as well as the cofactors, coenzymes, enzymes, micronutrients and trace minerals can not be duplicated by pet food formulators in a facility. Our recommendations in order of preference are:

#1 - raw foods
#2 - dehydrated raw food
#3 - a premium, meat based diet in a can or jar
#4 - a premium kibble diet that is low in grain and high in quality meat protein sources

Try not to be manipulated by fear mongering and outdated misconceptions propagated by the large pet food companies. Propaganda such as - "your animal must be fed a fortified, complete and balanced food at each meal". Because this generally means a processed kibble food loaded with synthetic vitamins. Another example of the intentionally misleading propaganda by these large companies is that crunchy kibble is required to maintain clean teeth. Quite the opposite is true in fact. The real cause of dental problems in certain mammals is grain based, starchy carbohydrates which stick to teeth becoming calcified and food for germs. Mmm, I wonder what is in those GRAIN based kibbles? This is especially true in mammals that evolved to eat meat, rather than plants, such as canines, felines and ferrets. These same animals on a natural diet have a much lower incidence of dental issues. Remember the one about never changing your animal's food or severe digestive upset will result? I wonder who that benefited? Not your companion that's for sure. And now we know it is best to rotate protein sources and foods for optimal health. In the end you will have to decide how to best feed your animal companion. But please, do not be mistaken, good nutrition has everything to do with vital health and disease prevention. And please realize the difference between thriving and surviving, there is a huge distinction. We can all do better, and we feel the answer is real, whole foods. We provide some top quality special diets made by dedicated and knowledgeable companies from around the country. Enjoy!

WHAT WE LOOK FOR:

• Foods that source ingredients from American, Canadian or New Zealand suppliers. Products made in China often have less oversite and lower manufacturing standards (remember the recall!?) and may often be contaminated with lead, other heavy metals or preservatives avoided in the U.S.. Even products made in the U.S., but with ingredients from China, are best avoided whenever possible. One good example is the fish oil included in many kibble recipes. Not only are the health benefits of the oil destroyed during heat processing and storage of the food, but the oil is frequently imported from China and often contains a preservative called ETHOXYQUIN, a potentially dangerous preservative pulled from most foods in the U.S.. You will not know about this either because what is not added by the manufacturer does not have to be included in the ingredients list. How is that for a shocker? We do our best to only provide the highest quality foods for the health and safety of your animals.
• We look for and prefer products made either entirely, or primarily, with vitamins from whole food sources. Whole food vitamins are much healthier and more bioavailable to your animal's body as opposed to synthetic vitamins. Raw diets, Champion Pet Foods (Orijen and Acana) and Nature's Logic excel in this area.
• Ethical companies that process in their own facility or at the very least purchase their own food ingredients and are very involved in the manufacturing of their products. This provides you with products that have much more supervision during manufacturing.
• Companies that use fresh regional ingredients and free range, humane meat sources.
• Products that do not contain chemical preservatives (Ethoxyquin, BHA and BHT) or artificial colors, preservatives or flavors.
• Products from companies respected within the industry due to a history of ethical and outstanding manufacturing practices.