Why Is Buying Pet Food So Hard?

[douglas9]

A new start-up is making vegan food for dogs and lab-grown mouse meat for cats. It wants to change the way all pets eat.

When my boyfriend and I got our first cat, Pete, a long-legged tuxedo, we fed him Friskies.

Depending on the type of person you are, you either breezed through that sentence finding nothing remarkable, or you immediately judged me for buying pet food—ahem, pet “food”— made of ground-up chicken bones, beef tallow, soybean hulls, and other delightful byproducts.

I know because we were, at the time, living in Berkeley, California. Pete came to us from a relative in Kentucky, and to ease the cross-country move we fed him the same Friskies he had been happily devouring. But we’re not monsters. And we had disposable income to lavish on our cat. So in California, we went shopping for new food at our local pet store, where the sales guy asked me about Pete’s previous diet and, after I answered, shot me the most withering look I received in my entire time in Berkeley.

If you can’t tell, pet food is a touchy subject for me. Pet food has become fraught. What was once a simple choice between wet and dry food now entails selecting from a dizzying array: corn-free, potato-free, rice-free, oat-free; organic, grass-fed, cage-free; frozen raw meat; alternative proteins like kangaroo and alligator; specific diets for purebreds from Maine coons to miniature schnauzers; and, of course, vegetarian and vegan formulations. If how we humans eat has taken on a moral dimension, so has how our pets eat.


https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/08/vegan-pet-food-wild-earth/566723/

[tblue37]

1. Dogs need a diet that includes meat protein, too. nt

[notdarkyet]

2. Since reading on du the other day about the dangers of grain free food, I immediately went out

And bought some new food. What to do...

[hlthe2b]

3. For all the science and research, there is an incredible amount that remains to be understood

about best nutrition for humans, much less, our pets. It is evolving. I think the best thing one can do is to buy a "decent" quality, though not necessarily the most expensive pet food, sign up on the FDA's website to gain notifications of recalls (consumers can, as well as veterinarians and other professionals), buy from a reputable company that takes recalls seriously, and to consult with your veterinarian as to whether there are any specific health needs that must be addressed by a special diet.

BTW, not having recent recalls doesn't necessarily mean a company is "better", though it could. Rapid response resulting in a recall after an issue arrives might likewise be important.

That said, many dogs and cats do fine on just about any decent quality pet food. We have bred in to many dogs and cats some issues to the contrary, however.

[Freddie]

4. Even Paul McCartney

And the late Linda, fervent vegetarians that they are/were, understood that they had to feed meat to their cats.

[braddy]

5. The cats haven't changed but business markets to the neurotic owners with more money than brains.

Look at how shampoo is marketed.

[AZ8theist]

6. and DO NOT buy pet treats sourced in China

Far too many pets have died eating the crap from China. They have no controls on the dangerous chemicals that go in their pet food and pet treats.

And like another poster said, check the recalls. Some pet food companies have excess number of recalls. I try to avoid those companies products.

[Duppers]

9. +100

[Runningdawg]

7. My previous cat

lived 21 healthy years on nothing but good old Purina cat chow and the occasional live snack. That's good enough for me. Our 3 year old eats the same.

[iscooterliberally]

8. I went through buying expensive foods for my dogs and cats.

I went to the pet stores and bought what I thought were the healthiest foods I could afford. Then my wife and I had to move and I lost my job. Our income went down the tubes so we bought what we could afford, which was a giant bag of Pedigree and Purina Naturals for the cats. The cats also got Friskies in the cans. I also liked the commercials that Pedigree had put out at the time regarding shelter dogs so that's another reason we went with them. We have too many rescued critters and have to buy our food in bulk, so that's what we do. We still have two very large dogs and six cats, plus another stray that lives outside on our carport. We also trap and feed any other strays that come our way. Our neighborhood was getting overrun by cats, but I think we got them all now and things are getting better. All of our animals are fairly healthy. We even had one cat that almost made it to her 23rd birthday. All she ever ate was Purina Naturals, Friskies canned food and Pedigree canned dog food too (the dogs eat cat food and the cats eat dog food too). They all like the food and are excited at feeding time and no one goes hungry. I get angry with people who don't feed their animals and let them starve. I get angry with people who abandon their animals and act irresponsibly. I won't stand in judgment of anyone who buys their pet's food at the grocery store. Besides all the high end pet stores around me carry Friskies as well as Royal Cannin and Blue Buffalo. If you're feeding your pet and you and your pet are both happy, good on you!

[Freddie]

11. The cat I had that lived longest

He made it to 18 - lived exclusively on 9 Lives cans. He would not touch dry food at all.
I’m pretty lazy about buying everything I possibly can during my weekly trip to Giant, including cat food. My boys are doing great on Purina Beyond Grain-Free for Indoor Cats dry and Fancy Feast cans.

[Major Nikon]

13. We owned two dogs that lived to 17 who were fed almost exclusively Dog Chow

One of them developed kidney problems so we switched her to low sodium dog food. I suppose it's possible the kidney problems were caused or exacerbated by lower quality food, but there's no way to know. At any rate she still lived to a ripe old age.

Dogs and cats are carnivores and as such require high quality protein that generally only comes from animal products. These days I feed my dogs high protein meal. It's more expensive, but they require a lot less of it so that greatly offsets the cost and that also means they are less likely to develop kidney problems. It also means less poop to clean up and it's easier to control their weight.

[JonLP24]

10. I use raw beef with some cat food flavored on it

Her coat is so shiny.

I'm a vegetarian myself while the cat eats raw meat.

[robbedvoter]

14. I gave up on dry food after it would go bad long before my little dog would eat it.

Then the same would happen to the canned soft food. Since, I boil my own chicken, bake my sweet potatoes. Keep the chicken in small plastic boxes in the refrigerator, along with the stock(jello) which I also add to her meals.