A couple of months ago, Wisconsin Pet Care wrote a blog series about the importance of quality dog and cat food.  We stressed how imperative it is to carefully read the ingredients and determine whether your pet’s food contains meats and vegetables or grains and chemicals.  The choice is clear: chicken will always beat Red Dye #5.  However, we are not the only animal-loving organization who seeks better food choices for our favorite furry friends.  The growing concern over what the big box manufacturers are putting into Fido’s kibble, combined with the public scrutiny over their ingredient lists, has caused some of them to step up their game.  As consumers become more knowledgeable and aware, the better these companies will have to be…at marketing.

Marketing efforts can make or break a brand.  The best marketers can take a horrible product and make it a best-selling product.  In some cases, they can make it a “trusted” or “household” brand.  Take the cat food brand, Fancy Feast (Purina).  Here’s an example of amazing marketing efforts, with an absolute mess of a product.  With “entrees” such as “Turkey Florentine with Garden Greens in a Delicate Sauce” and “White Meat Chicken and Cheddar Cheese Soufflé with Garden Greens”, how could this food not be the best meal your cat has ever had?  They sound delicious…for humans.  Their new line of “Delights with Cheddar” canned cat food is just ridiculous.  Cheese is one of the hardest things for a cat to digest.  Studies show that while kittens are able to tolerate small amounts of dairy (their mother’s milk), adult cats do not have the digestive system to handle milk or cheese.  Still, cheddar cheese is right there in the ingredient line-up. Does anyone over at Purina have any sort of knowledge of pet nutrition?  The only way this line will “delight” your kitty is if she really loves an upset stomach and bouts of diarrhea (try using those side effects in your ad campaigns!).

This past week, I compared a well-known company’s 1-pound bag of cat kibble ($2.89) to that of a new product in my grocery store called, Fresh Is Best.  This food-as close to the raw carnivore diet as one can get is substantially superior and something that I have fed my animals. It is outstanding and WPC highly recommends as close to a prey diet as possible. Another alternative, a raw dehydrated blend by The Honest Kitchen is a wonderful choice. If you are seeking samples, I am happy to give them to you. We also recommend Prcise-made by a family owned business with amazing results.

So, without getting an advanced degree in pet nutrition, how in the world are you supposed to find a nutritionally balanced food for your pet if you can’t trust that pet food manufacturers out there?  Here are Wisconsin Pet Care’s Rules of Engagement for the Battle Against Bad Pet Food Manufacturers:

*Ask for food recommendations from a trusted veterinarian, pet care provider or pet professional. Stores in the Milwaukee area-The Natural Pet in Bayview and Bark and Scratch Outpost in Milwaukee are EXPERTS IN THEIR FIELD.

*If the food in question sounds like something you’d prepare for your human family members, it is most likely not something you want your pet family members to consume.  Pet foods shouldn’t sound appealing to you, but rather what would appeal to the carnal needs of your pet.  Meat.  Vegetables.  Perhaps, some supplements.  Remember: they eat for fuel, not sport.

*Be a savvy shopper.  Don’t be afraid to try new products even if they are unfamiliar to you.  Do your research, read the labels and let your pet give it a try.  Maybe there is no fancy packaging, or coupons in the Sunday paper, but the ingredients could be exactly what your pet needs for optimal health.

*If your pet doesn’t enjoy a particular “healthy” brand, don’t give in to the broad appeal of nutritionally deficient food.  Sure, we’d all like to eat pizza every meal of the day, but we would not live very long or feel too well.  There are many better-for-your-pet brands out there, and at least one of them will be a success!

*”Holistic”, “Organic”, “Healthy”, and “Natural”: These are all marketing “buzzwords” that have recently infiltrated the market as humans have become more interested in the quality of their own food.  Just because the ingredients are labeled as better-for-your-pet, does not mean that they are.  For example, if a product has “organic” by-products, it just means that you are feeding your dog or cat organic scraps of nutritionally deficient food.  You know that “real” food is better for your pet than buzzwords.

*Challenge the manufacturers.  You are going to be feeding your pet their food, and the least they can do is provide you with a copy of their clinical feeding trials.  Will they let you speak directly to their on-staff nutritionist?  If the manufacturer cannot provide you with the nutrition information you request, if they do not have a pet nutritionist endorsing their product, or if they have no control in the overall quality of their product, it may be time to find a new food.