How to Choose Better Quality Pet Food: A Complete Guide
Pet food is an absolute minefield. And yet of course it’s one of the most important decisions you can make, on what to feed your furry friends. You have umpteen brands all competing yet giving different advice: whole grains or no grains, meat or substitutes, cooked or raw. Even some vets give biased advice, due to profits.
It’s important to switch over very gradually, as sensitive tummies could be harmed if you did this too quickly, especially for older pets or those with medical issues. In some cases, it may be best to just ‘leave them on what they are on’, if they are happy and well.
This is a site for vegan humans, and we’re not vets. So speak to your vet, about the best food available.
Most experts say that you should look for the ‘named protein’ first, rather than cheap grains or additives. Ingredients are always listed by weight, so a good quality pet food usually will have this as the main ingredient.
Poor quality brands will list things like ‘meat and animal derivatives’, ‘poultry by-products’ or ‘meat meal’. Which means they are just buying anything, not meat from a specific animal they know where it’s from.
Many cheap brands use fillers like carbs to bulk out weight, and give less nutrition. This can lead to weight gain, poor digestion and lethargy (and often ‘huge amounts of poo in the park’, as it’s not being absorbed by the body’.
Quality pet foods that use carbs go for things like sweet potato, brown rice, oats and peas (no corn, wheat gluten or soy).
For tinned foods, store half-opened ones in covered bowls, not in tins (to avoid food poisoning). Before recycling, rinse then then remove lids (pop ring-pulls over holes). Then step on the can to ‘pinch’ inner rims together before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.
General safety tips for feeding pets
- Use ceramic (hard to knock over) or stainless steel bowls (wash/rinse daily). Rather than raised-bowls (which can increase risk of bloat in big-chested, old and overweight dogs), encourage slow eating. Don’t let dogs run (ot take for walks) for at least one hour after eating (or after car travel).
- Cooked bones can choke, but not all dogs are safe with raw bones either. Ask your vet about the best types of bones for your dog. Avoid raw eggs and fish (salmon contains a deadly parasite).
- Always supervise eating, place bones in fridge after 15 minutes, and discard after a couple of days. Also be aware that dogs can get territorial around other dogs, when given bones.
Foods to keep away from pets include:
- Cooked bones (can choke)
- Chocolate (including white chocolate) & Caffeine
- Raw Eggs & Fish (salmon has a fatal parasite)
- Alliums (garlic, onion, shallots, leeks, chives)
- All Citrus Fruits & Dried Fruits
- Mushrooms & Avocado
- Fruit Pips & Seeds (contain natural cyanide)
- Faux Meats (inc. jackfruit)
- Raw Bread Dough (expands in the stomach)
- Corn-on-the-Cob (choking hazard)
- Spices (esp. nutmeg & mace)
- Most Nuts (esp. macadamia) & Seeds
- Xylitol (a sweetener, if used)
Dogs often like to play with and eat seaweed at the beach, but it can expand in the stomach as it dries, so keep them away. Read more on keeping dogs safe at the seaside.
If you grow your own food, create a pet-friendly garden (toxic plants and other hazards to avoid). Also avoid facing indoor foliage to face gardens, to help prevent stop bird strike).
Are lab-grown meats the answer?
Many believe that lab-grown meats are the answer to provide quality pet food for animals that ‘need meat’, but without slaughter and disease. It’s cheap and hygienic to produce, and ideal to provide ‘real meat’ for animals that thrive on it (like cats, who are obligate carnivores).
And if you run a sanctuary for lions rescued from zoos, they are not going to be happy (or healthy) if you feed them tofu burgers!
- Meatly has produced the first ‘chicken’ for the commercial pet food industry, by taking cells from a chicken egg, and growing it in a lab to save 50 billion real chickens slaughtered each year, for the meat industry.
- BioCraft is doing the same, a company founded by a biochemist who studied at Stanford University. It has created ‘meat’ from growing animal-cells, to grow cruelty-free ‘chicken, rabbit and mouse meat!’
A fab fun book on dog safety
For Dog’s Sake is a fab little book of life-saving tips for dogs on toxic foods and plants to avoid, lots of advice and an illustrated first aid section.
Sadly the book is out-of-print in the UK, but you can buy used copies online. Or order direct from Amy at her USA site (due to expensive shipping, she includes a lovely free gift with each order).
Also read our posts for happy healthy rabbits and guinea pigs!
Don’t cook near domestic birds
Most non-stick pans are made with PFOA (a chemical that ends up in our oceans). You can buy non-toxic alternatives, but even if companies say the opposite, all cooking fumes are dangerous around birds.
Most caged birds are likely happier in outdoor aviaries anyway, where they can at least fly and enjoy the company of other birds.
