For many, a pet is a furry member of the family. One important aspect of pet care is the food you feed them. It’s essential to serve high-quality, minimally-processed products. However, with so many brands on the market, it’s hard to know which ones are quality or just pretty packaging. Veterinarians recommend taking the following steps to make the best choice. 

How to Pick High-Quality Pet Food

1. Read Your Labels

Often, many big-label pet food brands have an amalgamation of mystery ingredients. Think about these three things when you look on the back of a package: If you don’t know what it is, if you can’t pronounce it, and if you wouldn’t eat it, you shouldn’t give it to your pet. If you can’t decide between two different brands, it’s usually better to go with the one with the shorter ingredient list.

2. Don’t Fall for Fads 

There are a variety of fad diets in the pet food world right now, from exotic meat to vegan and boutique foods. However, these foods are often either not approved by the Food and Drug Administration or there has just not been enough testing performed to really verify their quality. With fad pet food, there is also a risk of diet-associated dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) a sudden onset condition that can lead to congestive heart failure. For the best pet care, it’s best to ask your veterinarian for a recommendation unique to your pet’s individual needs.

3. Listen to Your Pet

You may think you’ve picked out the perfect food for your pet, but if your furry friend doesn’t like it, it may not be the best choice. Your pet may sniff at it and walk away. If this happens, ask your veterinarian if they have samples of different, high-quality food to try. However, watch out for these warning signs: If your pet did like the food, but then suddenly seems like they don’t, it could be a sign of a medical condition. If they do the same thing with wet food, it’s possible it went bad.

Give your furry friends the best pet care with help from Baraboo Valley Veterinary Clinic in Sauk County, WI. For the past 22 years, their compassionate and professional veterinarians have been providing animals with comprehensive pet health exams, vaccines, dental care, and more. Their team goes above and beyond to make sure pets and owners are comfortable. Read more about their available services online ;or, call (608) 355-2882 to schedule a pet care appointment.