A trip down your pet food aisle nowadays will boggle the mind with all the current wonderful claims created by manufacturers because of their particular products. But what's the truth behind all of this marvelous hype? You could be very surprised...let's take a look.1. Niche claims. Today, assuming you have an inside cat, a canine athlete, a Persian, a Bloodhound, a Yorkie, or a pet with a tender tummy or itchy feet, you will discover a food "designed" simply for your pet's personal needs. Niche marketing is here in a big way in your pet food industry. People prefer to feel special, and something with specific appeal will sell better than a general product like "puppy food." However the reality is that there are only two nutritional standards against which all pet foods are measured (adult and growth/gestation/lactation)-everything else is marketing. Your best bet is really a food made with top quality ingredients that satisfies "All Life Stages."2. "Natural" or "Organic" claims. check here of "natural" adopted by AAFCO is very broad, and permits artificially processed ingredients that most of us would consider very unnatural indeed. The term "organic," however, has a very strict legal definition that the USDA has ruled pertains to pet food. However, some companies are adept at evading the intent of the rules. For instance, the name of the company or product could be intentionally misleading. For check here , some companies use terms like "Nature" or "Natural" in the brand, whether their products fit this is of natural.3. Ingredient quality claims. Lots of pet foods claim they contain "human grade" ingredients. It is a completely meaningless term-which is the reason why your pet food companies escape with using it. The same pertains to "USDA inspected" or similar phrases. The implication is that the food is made using ingredients that are passed by the USDA for human consumption, but there are lots of ways around this. For example, a facility might be USDA-inspected during the day, but the pet food is made at night after the inspector goes home. The use of such terms ought to be seen as a "Hype Alert."4. "Meat may be the first ingredient" claim. A declare that a named meat (chicken, lamb, etc.) may be the #1 ingredient is generally seen for dry food. Ingredients are listed on the label by weight, and raw chicken weighs a whole lot, since contains a lot of water. If you look further down the list, you're likely to see ingredients such as for example chicken or poultry by-product meal, meat-and-bone meal, corn gluten meal, soybean meal, or other dry protein. Meals have had the fat and water removed, and basically contain a dry, lightweight, high-protein powder. It generally does not take much raw chicken to weigh more than a great big pile of the powder. Not just that, but the "chicken" found in dry food is actually a slurry around 90% water; so in reality the food is founded on the protein meal, with very little "chicken" found.This has turn into a very popular marketing gimmick, even in premium and "health food" type brands. Since everybody is currently deploying it, any meaning it may once have had is indeed watered-down that you may just as well ignore it.5. Special ingredient claims. Most of the high-end pet foods today rely on the marketing appeal of people-food ingredients such as for example fruits, herbs, vegetables, and a variety of supplements such as for example glucosamine or probiotics. However, the amounts of these items actually within the meals are small and not therapeutic. Fruits and vegetables are usually scraps and rejects from processors of human foods-certainly not the whole, fresh ingredients they need one to picture. Such ingredients don't give a significant health benefit and so are just a marketing gimmick.It's a jungle on the market...Pet food advertising is becoming extremely sophisticated over the last few years. It's important to know very well what is hype and what is real, so that you can make informed decisions about what to feed your pets.Dr. Jean Hofve is a retired holistic veterinarian with a particular interest in nutrition and behavior. Her informational website, http://www.littlebigcat.com, features an extensive free article library on feline health and pet nutrition, as well as a free e-newsletter. Dr. Hofve founded Spirit Essences Holistic Remedies for Animals (http://www.spiritessence.com) in 1995; also it remains the only line of flower essence formulas designed by a veterinarian. She is a certified Medicine Woman within the Nemenhah Native American Traditional Organization who uses holistic remedies as part of body-mind-spiritual healing.