Are Expensive Dog Foods Healthier Than Cheap Ones

Trina

Making sure your pet is well taken care of is one of your priorities. You want your dog to stay healthy and live as long as it is possible. When you look at websites like Pet Place, for example, then you must know that dog’s healthcare is a process. However, a massive part of taking care of your pet is proper feeding. You must have seen labels like “organic” or “natural” popping up in a lot of stores. You might think that buying more expensive dog food will provide your beloved pet with better nutrition, but is it true? Does price equal quality when it comes to dog food products? Let’s find out.

By-products vs. meals

Pet food allies are packed with different offers for your dog. It is hard to choose a brand or the right ingredients your dog should consume. What most people do when buying such products is that they look at the price, not because they are trying to save money, but because they want to make sure their pet is getting the best. The main ingredient in dog food is the meat of some kind. When it comes to meat products for dogs, you should know that there are two categories for them. They are:

• By-products are a type of dog food that includes clean parts of flesh that are edible to animals but don’t count as meat. These might be made of lungs, kidneys, brain, blood, liver, bone, and fat of different kinds of animals.
• Meals, on the other hand, like a chicken or a fish meal, are rendered. This means the producers take edible meat parts and then cook and dry them into powder.

There is nothing wrong with feeding your dog any product from the two categories mentioned above. When shopping for dog treats of food, you should look at the label rather than just the price. Sometimes, the best ingredients are on the inexpensive side.

The expensive vocabulary

When shopping for the best quality of dog food, it is highly necessary for you to know that marketers try really hard to make a simple dog product look expensive and sell it to you for a significant price. If you want to avoid wasting money, it is helpful to know the dog marketers’ vocabulary. The words used to advertise expensive dog food are usually meaningless, and most importantly, unregulated. Many of the words and phrases used to describe such products don’t even have official definitions. Take “human-grade” or “gluten-free” as an example, which, when it comes to dog food, are not defined terms. You can be paying for something that doesn’t mean anything. It’s like paying extra money for the extra ink on the label. “Natural” is another popular word that is not regulated. Most companies can put it on without any consequences, primarily because natural for humans and for dogs are two different things. Make sure to watch out for empty marketing words.

The environmental issue

These days, people are also a part of the movement to generate less waste as a society. The environment is precious, and if we want to save it, the time to act is now. Your dog can also contribute to producing less waste. Dog food hasn’t been considered a significant issue when it comes to saving the planet. However, if you think about it, a lot of dog food products come in a plastic bag. Fortunately, there are also alternatives for those pet owners who care about the environment. Turning meat industry leftovers into pet food is the definition of recycling, changing waste into usable material. If you buy by-products for your dog, then you are actually supporting the movement. Not to mention that by-products are usually on the cheaper side of the offering. It is a win-win purchase that will satisfy your furry friend as well as the planet.

Small producers or large dog food companies

Another fact that you should be aware of is that the size of the brand or company when it comes to dog food doesn’t matter that much. Pet food is only as nutritious as the ingredients inside it. Smaller, high-end companies are not much more transparent about their work ethic or supply chains than the giant corporations are. If you go for a cheaper, more well-known brand, you are equally likely to get a quality product then when you choose a small, indie brand. At the end of the day, the whole process of the dog food purchase comes down to the ingredients and whether your dog enjoys the product.

If you want to take good care of your pet, make sure to consider what is written on the label, and the impact on the environment a product has before you make a purchase. Price is not the quality factor here. Taking care of your dog is the most important thing, so you need to make sure that you have enough knowledge to make the right decision when in the middle of the pet food aisle. Find the best dog food out there.

 

 photo credit: by Chris F from Pexels

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