Why is holistic dog food better?
Organic, Holistic, Natural pet food What does it really mean?Posted at 09:06h in Cats, Dogs by Dr. Deb Are you really buying what you think?Share Natural: There is no government issued definition for Natural on food products. The FDA claims: Organic: Foods must contain at least 95% (by weight) organic ingredients to have the USDA Organic seal. To qualify as organic, an ingredient must be raised is strict accordance with the USDA regulations in order to foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering may not be used. ( http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/nop ). That is certainly a very worthy cause that should be supported as much as possible in the name of preserving our biosphere and planetary quality of life. .Holistic: The term Holistic has no legal definition as a nutritional quality. The term holistic means in consideration of the whole The HOPE of dog foods labeled as holistic is that they would be made of natural ingredients of human-grade quality without byproducts or fillers, made without chemicals or sewage sludge fertilizers and be easily digested. for maximal nutrtional uptake with every ingredient complimenting all others to provide a nutritional balance for the whole body. However, since any food or product can be labeled Holistic., buyer beware. Read your ingredient list. There may be fillers; there may be chemical additives; there may be ingredients that pets dont synthesize into useful nutrients (flax seed)! Dont forget the calorie count an oft forgot nutritional consideration (a lot of diets are very high in calorie, contributing to obesity in our pets). Who is creating the diet you are interested in? Are animal nutritionists involved? While we all agree that Natural is better than processed and organic is better for our biome and bodies than artificially produced, does it mean that the food so labeled is actually nutritionally balanced for your pet? Maybe not. If you like the idea of Natural or Organic and you can afford it, by all means, try it! Read the ingredients list! Dont get sucked into TV advertising! (If a company has a lot of money for advertising, they might not be putting it into careful manufacture of the food or research into improving (or into cleaning their manufacturig plants so as to avoid food contamination?) If your pet has problems on that formula, as with any diet, its OK to give up that ideal in exchange for improving your pets over-all health. As with any diet formulation, no one diet is perfect for every pet. Ask your vet for suggestions. Here is an interesting article from the American Animal Hospital Association:Read Here Tags:Hoilstic pet food, Natural pet food, Organic pet food, pet food, pet nutrition |