Pet Food marketing can be very deceptive.   Here are some facts that can protect you:

¨ More is not better.   Certain nutrients are provided in excess of what is needed.   In the case of calcium and phosphorus, this can shorten the lifespan of your pet’s kidneys.  The diet below has an excess of calcium and phosphorus but you would not know it from the ingredient label.

¨ The Pet Food label may not reflect accurately what is the main part of the actual diet.  Be sure and read the “ingredient label”.  The ingredient label lists the ingredients in order of their proportion in the pet food.   In the example below,  one is lead to believe that the main food sources are “Lamb, Duck and Pasta”.   Reading the ingredient label,  the main protein source is actually chicken.   And there is actually more beef liver than duck.  Beef and chicken are not bad for your pet but deceptive marketing is.

¨ 100% complete does not mean 100% optimal.   Most diets meet the minimum requirements put out by the AAFCO.   Minimum does not mean ideal.

¨ Retail pet food suppliers may be tempted to recommend foods like Nutro that bring them the highest profit margin.   Premium foods like Hills Science Diet that do not bring in high profit margins for the retailer are consequently not pushed heavily by them.

Don’t be Fooled by Pet Food Marketing...

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