Comparing Pet Foods Part 1

Ask any supplier of quality pet food and each will reply that they have the best, most highly beneficial pet food on the market. I have to believe that each manufacturer has some claim to benefits that prove beneficial over other competitor’s diets. Most quality products contain ingredients that are from animals, not plants, because the animal sources are species appropriate for carnivorous pets. So, if you try to make a comparison of the broad category of all pet foods, you are comparing raw meat based diets to dry, grain based, heat processed pet food.

To be fair, let me try to give a pro and con analogy for each category to determine the main advantages or disadvantages of each type.

Dry, grain based, heat processed pet food- (Kibble)

Pros of kibble diets:

• It’s convenient!  This is the number one advantage over other products because it allows you to self-feed your dog and not worry about spoilage.
• Less expensive- Compared to a high quality raw meat diet it should be less expensive to feed, especially for large breed dogs.
• Long shelf life with easy storage
• “Adequate” nutrition- even though it is plant based food.
• Available as a grain -free source in certain brands

Cons of kibble diets:

• Perceived as a “safer” diet choice- but actually has safety problems with Salmonella contamination along with added problems from aflatoxins, pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, fat sprays, and added chemicals, that may contain more harmful toxins than meat based proteins.
• Aflatoxins are present in corn- based ingredients. They are naturally occurring mycotoxins that grow on certain corn crops, and are especially toxic when grown in drought conditions. They are highly carcinogenic and they poison the liver and are known to promote tumors. There is a shift of concern to the dangers of mycotoxins, rather than worrying about bacteria spoilage in animal proteins.
• Most inexpensive grain based dry diets are made from vegetable cereals, corn, wheat fillers and rice bran. A diet containing these ingredients will create the most damage to health.
• Preservatives are a major concern for dry kibble diets. If you think it is safe to feed a dry diet from a bag that may be used for months without spoiling, you are opening the door for future vet visits.
• A collection of potential poisons that exist in every bag of kibble. These come from all the additives and foreign elements that are present in the ingredients. A continuous ingestion of the poisonous nature of these ingredients will lead to health problems 5 to 6 years down the road, no matter what the manufacturer may promise.

Stay tuned for next week’s article on the pros and cons to raw meat diets for pets.