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buying guide


PetFoodDirect.com's free shipping department offers free delivery on all-natural frozen dog and cat foods (cooked or raw varieties) by Butch, Bravo, Country Pet, Nature's Logic, Nature's Variety and Primal.



buying guide: pet food

Have you ever read the ingredients list on your dog or cat's food? The vast majority of foods sold at your local supermarket (and even your local pet superstore) contain meat by-products, cheap, low-nutrition fillers (such as corn, corn gluten meal and brewer's rice), beef tallow (a low quality fat) and/or artificial colors, preservatives, additives and flavors.

Pricier brands, such as Iams, Science Diet, Eukanuba or Purina One, may seem like a better option, but these products contain many of the same ingredients. Purina One contains meat by-products, whole grain corn, corn gluten meal and beef tallow. Iams contains brewers rice, corn meal, and chicken by-product meal. Eukanuba's products contain chicken by-product meal, brewers rice and corn meal. Science Diet uses chicken by-product meal & corn meal.

So what's a better alternative? There are dozens of cat and dog food brands now on the market that contain all-natural, ultra-premium ingredients with no cheap fillers, meat by-products or artificial additives. The downside is that many of them tend to be quite pricey. There are a few options, however, that won't cost you an arm and a leg. All-natural premium brands such as Chicken Soup, Natural Balance, Verus, Canidae (or Felidae for cats), Healthwise and Showbound Naturals are some of the more notable bargains. In fact, these brands are usually priced about the same as Iams or Eukanuba. Newman's Own, Karma and Organix are high-quality organic options. These foods can be purchased online at: PetFoodDirect.com , Nationalpetpharmacy.com
and Only Natural Pet.


For Dogs

When shopping for a dog food, be sure to read the ingredients list, and look for the following:

A Good Meat Look for foods that list "good" meats including chicken, turkey, duck, chicken liver and salmon. Meat meals are also good: chicken meal, lamb meal, beef meal. Avoid foods that list by-products, such as chicken by-product meal, poultry by-product meal or digest of chicken by-products.

A Good Grain Better foods often use barley, oats, or brown rice as their main carbohydrate. Soybean, wheat and corn (including whole grain corn, corn meal, corn gluten meal, etc) can be more difficult to digest or allergy-causing. Also avoid brewer's rice -- this is rice that has been stripped of its nutrient-rich bran layers.

A Good Fat Better foods use "poultry fat" or "chicken fat" instead of generic "animal fat" or "beef tallow" (a low quality fat).

No Additives or Sweeteners Avoid foods that contain sweeteners and artifical preservatives & coloring (these include sugar, corn syrup, cane molasses, sorbitol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin, Ethylenediamine, Sodium Metabisulphite)

Avoid Grocery Store Brands The majority of dog foods found at your local grocery store and pet superstore (Purina, Alpo, Eukanuba, Nutro, Iams, etc.) contain meat by-products, corn meal, and/or artifical preservatives, artificial colors and/or sweeteners.

Read the First Five Ingredients Dog foods are required to list their ingredients in descending order by weight. The first five ingredients should give you a general idea of the quality of the food. Avoid foods that list corn as the first ingredient. Corn is difficult for dogs to digest and is generally not considered to be a good nutritional source. Beware - sometimes, companies will split up their corn ingredients into several variants so that none will appear too high in the ingredients list.

DRY FOOD:
Example #1 (Recommended) Natural Balance Ultra Premium
First Five Ingredients: Chicken, brown rice, lamb meal, oatmeal, barley

Example #2 (Not Recommended) Purina Beneful
First Five Ingredients: Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E).

CANNED FOOD:
Example #1 (Recommended) Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul Adult
First Five Ingredients: Chicken, turkey, chicken broth, duck, salmon

Example #2 (Not Recommended) Alpo Prime Cuts in Gravy
First Five Ingredients: Water sufficient for processing, beef, chicken, meat by-products, poultry by-products


For Cats

A canned food diet is healthier than a dry food diet. Dry foods are lacking in necessary moisture and are high in unwanted carbs (like corn and wheat ingredients). A cat's natural, "in the wild" diet consists of 45% protein, 45% fat and 5% carbs. Many dry cat foods contain as much as 45% carbs. Much of the same advice regarding dog foods applies to cats as well. A good general rule of thumb is to read the first five ingredients on the cat food label and ask yourself, would I want to eat this myself? Here's an example:

DRY FOOD:
Example #1 (Recommended) Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul (Adult Formula)
First Five Ingredients: Chicken, salmon, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols)

Example #2 (Not Recommended) Purina Cat Chow
First Five Ingredients: Poultry by-product meal, ground yellow corn, wheat flour, corn gluten meal, soybean meal

CANNED FOOD:
Example #1 (Recommended) Merrick ("California Roll" flavor)
First Five Ingredients: Salmon, tuna, chicken broth, crab, brown rice

Example #2 (Not Recommended) Fancy Feast (Elegant Medleys White Meat Chicken and Whipped Egg Souffle)
First Five Ingredients: Poultry Broth, chicken, liver, wheat gluten, meat by-products