Best Commercial Pet Food Choices

Dr. Casey is an integrative veterinarian who uses food and nutritional therapy as medicine

for her patients. Her beautiful Springer Spaniel, Carly, had allergic skin disease, chronic ear infections, arthritis and was overweight. Carly’s condition progressed to the point of being unbearable by 8 years of age. Desperate, she changed Carly’s food to a balanced homemade cooked diet and added some supplements and homeopathic remedies. She lost weight which helped her arthritis and the fresh food was much less inflammatory than the kibble diet she had been eating for years. Carly’s ears cleared up and she never needed antibiotics for skin infections again. Her transformation happened in just under 30 days. Dr. Casey would have been thrilled with 50% improvement, but this was a miracle. She knew she had continue this approach with her patients.

This guide is provided to help you and your canine/feline best friend live a healthy life filled with outrageous joy!

We don’t need perfection; our goal is to do the best we can.

Even folks who prepare homemade dog food, whether cooked or raw, need commercially

prepared choices when traveling or when they just run out and need an emergency supply of something.

Raw food is not the right fit for every dog, homemade diets don't work for all dogs and all families.

If I had 4 large breed dogs, I couldn't feed homemade food. That's ok. We want to make the healthiest choices that work for our animal companions and their guardians.

Things To Know About Dogs When Choosing What To Feed:

• Dogs are carnivore/scavengers.
• Dogs are physiologically designed to eat a high meat diet.
• It’s challenging to figure out how much meat is in some diets; labels can be misleading.
• We want the fat content to be roughly 50% less or more than the protein. For example,
• If the food is 39% protein, then the fat content should be 20% or less.
• Legumes are factored in the protein content of kibble dog food, but peas, beans and lentils
• are not natural food sources for dogs and don’t replace meat protein.
• Plant material can be anywhere from 15%-50% of a dogs diet; it depends on the dog.
• Organic is ideal, but not always possible or affordable. We do the best we can.

If your dog has a specific health challenge, check with your veterinarian or schedule a consult

with me and we’ll coordinate a plan together.

Each pet is an individual; nothing is perfect for every dog. Find what works best for your dog.

Tips For Transitioning To A New Diet:

1. Diet changes should be made over 7-10 days to minimize the potential for digestive upset.
2. If your dog has adverse signs like gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, mucus or blood in the stool, itching, chewing on the feet, etc., the food is not the right food for your dog.
3. Kibble should be stored at room temperature in tightly sealed containers for no more than 1 month. We want to prevent mold and rancid fat formation.
4. Never feed anything with raisins, grapes, xylitol, onions, macadamia nuts, chocolate or cooked bones.
5. Variety is desirable to avoid development of food sensitivities. Changing the protein source periodically and offering whole food treats like veggies, berries and lean meats keeps life interesting and nutritious.

Fresh Whole Foods Cooked:

1. Nom Nom Now- Dog and Cat formulas

2. Pet Plate

3. The Farmer’s Dog

4. My Perfect Pet

These options are most cost effective for small- medium dogs.

Folks with large dogs often learn to prepare their own food.

Frozen Raw Foods:

1. Small Batch Pet Food
2. Darwin’s Pet Food- dog and cat food
3. Answers Pet Food
4. Stella And Chewy-dog and cat food
5. Northwest Naturals chubs
6. Suzy’s Doggie Delights- available in Phoenix, AZ freshrawdogfood.com

7. Red Angel Raw- Phoenix Metro, AZ (bulk ordering monthly with designated Sat. pickup)

Freeze Dried Raw Foods:

1. Small Batch
2. Open Farm Pet Food
3. Stella and Chewy-dogs and cats
4. Northwest Naturals
5. Grandma Lucy

Canned Foods:

1. Ziwi Peak

3. Castor and Pollux Organic canned food

4. Stella and Chewy’s Stews

5. And I And Love And You canned food- dogs and cats

Dry Kibble:

1. Castor and Pollux- Organic and Pristine
2. Stella and Chewy Raw Coated or Raw Blend Kibble
3. Instinct by Nature’s Variety Raw Coated Kibble

This list is not all inclusive. There are other quality, acceptable formulations; I’m just not

as familiar with them.