Holistic Pet Food

Holistic pet foods are considered by many to be the healthiest pet foods available today. As the food your pet eats is a major determinant of his or her overall health, the concept of a pet food that nourishes the entire animal becomes not only understandable in light of this, but also extraordinarily important as a critical means of preventing disease.

These days, holistic claims in the pet food industry are becoming increasingly common. Unfortunately, many companies use low-quality—even allergenic—ingredients in the products that they claim are holistic. Many of these products use ingredients that are clearly unhealthy for your pet, including artificial additives, sugars, artificial colors and flavors, and other inferior ingredients, including so-called ‘meals’ or animal byproducts.

Although there are a few commercial options when it comes to holistic pet food products, the majority of these products contain inferior feed-grade ingredients.

Animals that are slaughtered and processed for feed-grade ingredients are treated no better than animals used for human consumption, which is to say that in most cases, these animals are raised in poor conditions (i.e., overcrowded pens and generally stressful circumstances). Animal-based products carrying the USDA seal come from animals raised in feedlots and killed in slaughterhouses that have been inspected, albeit not on a frequent enough basis. Here, it’s important to note that there are significant quality differences between feed-grade and human-grade produce, and such differences could determine whether some products actually stimulate allergic responses in sensitive pets.

Given that USDA certified organic ingredients are generally healthier than their conventional counterparts, the holistic claims of companies that don’t use organic ingredients in their products should be taken as dubious at best. Most conventional pet food ingredients contain toxic pesticide or herbicide residues, hormones, antibiotics, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Notably, a number of GMOs have been shown to be allergenic to humans and pets, including cats and dogs. Moreover, long-term feeding studies have demonstrated that GMOs can cause reproductive problems in animals.

High-temperature processes, such as cooking or baking, can seriously compromise the nutritional qualities of food. Therefore, any holistic claim attached to a pet food product that has undergone cooking or baking during its manufacture is questionable at best. Now, there are a few legitimately holistic pet foods made from exclusively human-grade ingredients that are not processed using high heat. Although, in many cases, these products contain the usual slurry of often low-quality premixed vitamins and minerals, at least they are more in keeping with a holistic approach. The companies that manufacture these foods generally offer grain-free options for both dogs and cats. And occasionally, such companies even use organic—or at least hormone- and antibiotic-free—ingredients. But, always keep in mind that, in the absence of USDA organic certification, any holistic claims may be hard to verify.

Pet foods that are truly holistic not only do no harm; they can actually support the body’s efforts to remain fully functional. In doing so, such foods support the animal’s overall wellbeing and happiness.

The best holistic commercial pet food choices are those products that contain USDA certified organic, human-grade ingredients and are not heat-treated, but rather fresh-frozen or gently dehydrated.

When it comes to the very best, truly holistic pet foods, among the most important first principles are: 1) avoidance of excessively refined grains and other potential allergens for dogs and cats; and 2) sufficient confidence in the inherent nutritional quality of ingredients to avoid—or at least keep to required minimum levels—any supplementation with isolated nutrients.