Quality Dogs and Their Choices
A lot of companies would like you to believe that their dog foods are the “healthiest” and the “purest” and one of the ways they go about doing this is by including a variety of different kinds of vitamins and minerals in the food. One of the newest additions to this list of “healthy” ingredients is “wonder food” minerals and vitamins. You might be wondering if all these new things are actually healthy for your dog.
Wellness dry dog food is not one of the newer products. It is one of the oldest brands out there. This company makes some of the most well known premium dry dog foods on the market.
So it’s no surprise that their wellness dry dog food has been labeled as “organic”natural”. Now, before I get any further into this, let me first start off by saying that the fact that a manufacturer may say that their product is natural doesn’t necessarily mean that it is.
The USDA only approves the use of the term “natural” if it is incorporated into the ingredient list, like this ingredient list for Wellness dry dog food. If a manufacturer is going to add the word “natural” to an ingredient list, they have to list it. The only exception to this rule is if the ingredient in question comes from a plant or is used as a dye.
The fact that the word “natural” is allowed in this list is not just concerning for dog owners. It can be somewhat confusing to pet owners trying to choose a brand of dog food, since “natural” may just mean something different than what most people are thinking.
What does the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) have to say about wellness dry dog food? As a matter of fact, there are no stipulations regarding the term “natural”. What it means is that a company can put the word natural in their ingredients list, but not necessarily in their label.
The problem with that is that there are quite a few ingredients that should be avoided in natural dry dog food. Most of them are things that are unhealthy for dogs, like artificial preservatives and colors. Most veterinarians consider these items as unsafe for use by animals, even if they are natural.
By law, any product that is labeled as “natural” must include one of the following ingredients: fruit, vegetable, rice, peas, corn, wheat, barley, algae, potatoes, brown rice, barley, vegetables, and vitamins. Some manufacturers may include “vitamin K” on their labels, but the only thing that the term “vitamin K” means is that it’s fat-free. A dog that eats it won’t gain any weight.
Holistic dry dog food is another term that isn’t really defined. The meaning of the term “holistic” changes depending on the person speaking. The FDA does not require that a product be “holistic” to be approved for sale, but they do require that the product contains no artificial coloring, synthetic flavors, or flavoring and that there are no artificial ingredients.
Many people, including veterinarians, are questioning whether holistic dog food actually qualifies as “natural”. The term “natural” is generally defined as “substantially free of synthetic chemical additives”, which the majority of processed dog foods do not meet. So it seems like “holistic” has more of a definition that what we’re used to when thinking about what natural is.
Holistic dog food is also sold as “organic”natural”. According to the American Dietetic Association, organic food may contain ingredients that may not be available at the local grocery store. It’s important to ask where the “organic” label is coming from and to find out if the product meets the standards set forth by the USDA.
For the most part, wellness dry dog food seems to be a good fit. It’s organic, natural, safe, and affordable. It contains no artificial ingredients, and it contains a variety of great nutrients that help your dog maintain its best possible health.
