Choosing Quality Kibble
October 20, 2010 by Paris Permenter and John Bigley
Filed under Health, Tips
Last week, canine nutritional expert Tracie Hotchner discussed the importance of questioning kibble authorities when it comes to selecting your dog’s diet. This week, Tracie discusses another important question: what quality kibble are you buying?
Despite recent articles in the mainstream press claiming that all pet foods are basically equal, it’s very important to choose a premium brand whose only business is pet food and their entire reputation depends on getting the best possible ingredients and earning your respect and business. By choosing those pet foods which do the right thing – those that use premium ingredients and steer clear of all the nasty stuff – you are sending a message to all those using the cheapest debris left over from human food production. The larger the multi-national company is that makes your dog food, the less their reputation and business model depends entirely on the pet food and profit becomes the motivator. When you choose a smaller specialty company you are demonstrating your support for the cost and effort involved in using better ingredients in their food.
A good example of how your decisions as a consumer can affect the whole marketplace, For example, where our babies and young children are concerned a really important sea change in commercial baby food when mothers realized that most jarred baby food contained sugar and salt, teaching their infant’s palate to reach out for unhealthy ingredients. When parents began to choose Earth’s Best and other healthy baby foods in a jar, it sent a strong message to Gerber’s and the other big name brands: mothers were now reading labels and shunning food that had artificial flavors, colors and dubious ingredients. And what happened? By choosing the salt-and-sugar free baby foods it caused a shift in the industry and before long all the brands had removed artificial colors and flavors as well as salt and sugar from their formulas. Let’s use our power as consumers to affect similar improvements in the pet food.
This Canine Nutrition Tip is from Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible and award-winning host of Dog Talk® on NPR station WLIU. Canine Nutrition Tips are sponsored by Proportions, the whole food custom nutrition program for your dog. Visit www.Proportions.com to get a custom 2-meal trial for your dog, or to learn more about canine nutrition from the full Canine Nutrition University classes written by Tracie.
Author photo courtesy www.traciehotchner.com; photo © Ling Li
About Paris Permenter and John Bigley
DogTipper publishers Paris Permenter and John Bigley are a husband-wife team of full-time writers. The couple has authored over two dozen books and 2,500+ magazine articles.
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