As devoted pet owners, ensuring the health and happiness of our furry companions is a top priority. While vet checkups and plenty of exercise are important, what your pet eats every day has one of the biggest influences on their nutrition and overall health. And with more choice than ever in premium, grain-free and organic pet food, the front of the bag doesn’t always tell you much.
Understanding pet food ingredients allows you to look beyond the marketing and read the ingredients list to see whether a product has the protein, fats, vitamins and minerals your dog or cat needs.
How ORIJEN and ACANA Treat Ingredients
At Nature’s Ki, we’re proud partners of ORIJEN and ACANA pet food brands. Both have won countless awards in the pet food industry for their commitment to quality. Here's why they're coming out on top:
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Fresh and raw animal ingredients
ORIJEN diets and ACANA recipes include fresh or raw meat, poultry and fish, as opposed to vague ‘animal protein’ in other pet foods. These ingredients support a wholeprey diet that is bursting with nutrients, flavour and protein.
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High animal protein
ORIJEN’s high-protein, lower-carbohydrate nutritional profile reflects the type of animal-rich diet dogs and cats are biologically adapted to eat. ACANA recipes also place quality animal ingredients at the centre of their formulations.
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Grain-free options
If you’re looking for grain-free pet food, ORIJEN and ACANA’s grain-free pet foods are made without wheat, rice, potato, tapioca or corn. Instead, recipes include plenty of fruits and vegetables alongside animal ingredients.
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WholePrey ingredients
ORIJEN diets include meat and organs in WholePrey ratios, providing nutrients from parts of the animal that would naturally form part of a carnivore’s diet.
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Clear ingredient lists
Both brands tell you exactly what is in the food, making it easier to understand where the nutrition is coming from and compare one product with another.
Explore the ORIJEN range and ACANA range to learn more about their approach to pet nutrition.
How to Check the Quality of Pet Food Ingredients
Not all pet food is created equal, and some may contain cheap fillers, mystery byproducts, and no fresh/whole ingredients at all, all of which offer little to no nutritional value.
You don’t need to be a pet nutritionist to get useful information from an ingredient panel. Start with these tips:
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Flip the bag. Marketing on the front can tell you what a food wants to emphasise; the back tells you what is actually in it.
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Look at the first ingredients. Ingredients are generally listed by weight, so the first few items give you a good indication of what makes up most of the food. Ideally, this should be clearly named animal ingredients such as chicken, turkey, lamb, fish or eggs.
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Watch for vague protein descriptions. Terms such as “animal digest” or unspecified meat ingredients tell you less about exactly what your pet is eating than clearly identified protein sources.
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Look at the carbohydrate content. Grain-free doesn’t automatically mean high quality, just as the word “premium” or “organic” on its own doesn’t tell the whole story. Check what has replaced the grains and how prominently carbohydrate ingredients feature in the overall recipe.
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Compare the ingredients with the price. If you’re paying for quality pet food, the ingredient list should reflect it. Compare similar products side by side and see where the animal ingredients appear, how specific the descriptions are and what makes up the first ten ingredients.
Choosing better pet food starts with knowing what you’re looking at. Knowing what to look for on the ingredient list makes it much easier to compare products and choose nutrition that suits your dog or cat.
Learn more about ORIJEN diets and ACANA recipes, or find your nearest stockist.
