There are a lot of changes happening in the pet food market.
Large companies that have been adamant about the dangers of raw foods are now making food that looks like raw, and many are showing up in grocery store fridges and freezers. Most are improvements over hyper processed kibble, they are less processed and are hydrated, which is better. But they are still processed, and most contain the same ingredients that are used to make kibble. Feed grade ingredients (not acceptable for human consumption) and grains, plant protein products or high carb vegetables.
Yes, these foods are better than most dry foods — they are a step up — but most are not cheap nor are they even close to raw food nutritionally. Conveniently found at the grocery store, and refrigerated so there is no defrosting, many people will find them easier than raw. But they are at a premium price, in many cases more expensive than a clean, balanced raw diet.
Other companies attempt to mislead clients that kibble is “as good as” raw by using advertisements that show beautiful bowls full of fresh meats, insinuating that this is what their food is made of, but then have the small print disclaimer reads: “Ingredients depicted in fresh form before processing. Proportions and quantities not representative of contents of one package or one serving. Cuts may vary.” At first glance, the bowl looks awesome, staged better than most fast food commercials make their burgers look. But once you read the fine print, you realize it’s just a picture. It’s not the actual food, and if you read the ingredient panel on that bag, you will notice a lot of ingredients missing from the picture, and some ingredients pictured are so far down the list they probably would not have been able to be seen in the picture were the proportions correct.
I applaud food companies for working to make the pet food industry better, making better products than they did years or decades ago. All out pets are better for it. But do they have to misrepresent the products this outrageously?
On the other hand, there are more and more entries from the other end of the spectrum. Raw companies are making raw more convenient, through shelf stable products using dehydration and freeze drying. The latest technological breakthrough is a method called “quick drying”. The process was created for the cannabis industry as a way to dehydrate buds to make them stable for storage, without damaging their medicinal qualities. This process lets them remove the moisture from a raw food while maintaining over 95 per cent of the nutritional value, and it uses far less energy than dehydration or freeze drying. A truly “green” process.
Most pets are still fed basic dog or cat food from giant corporations, made with feed grade ingredients, bought at big box stores, and for many, that’s fine and fits their budget. After all, it’s just a pet. But many pet parents have found that paying more attention to nutrition can not just allow our pets to live longer, healthier, happier lives, but many experience reduced overall costs associated with being healthy. A win/win really.
