Deciphering the Label of Organic Dog Foods

Organic dog food is a great idea for pet owners whose companion canines may have allergies or specific nutritional requirements. When a dog owner sees the word organic, they usually conjure up images of sunny fields, mom and pop operations that lovingly make dog food and then hand bag the offerings, and overall fresh and clean ingredients and manufacturing facilities. Of course, in the wake of the recent pet food fiasco the aisles devoted to the display of organic dog foods seem to have tripled overnight while the non-organic choices are no longer as heavily marketed.

Yet do you truly understand what it means to have a dog food that is considered organic? Is that this which is called organic truly healthy pet food or could there be the proverbial fly in the ointment somewhere? As you might have guessed, reading food labels is complicated not only when going grocery shopping for yourself, but also when seeking to ferret out organic food for your canine companion. To make deciphering the label of organic dog foods just a bit simpler, here are the terms you want to look out for:

• You want to look for the label that proclaims all of the food to be 100% organic. This is the sign that every single ingredient is organic, and the plant where the food was manufactured also is considered to be organic in that there are no harmful additives that lace the chow, thus detracting from the organic benefit the food offers to your dog.
• If there is no 100% marker but the chow still proclaims to be organic, beware that there is about a five percent weasel margin. In other words, not all of the ingredients might be organic, and some could be downright questionable! Yet if 95% of the ingredients are organic, the chow can still call itself organic.
• Stay away from any chow that is labeled as having been made with organic ingredients. Governmental standards postulate that this kind of dog food must be made of at least 70% organic ingredients, but it gives a hefty 30% margin which allows for the use of manufacturing facilities that do not adhere to organic food standards. This very often indicates that the food was probably heated to within an inch of its nutrients’ lives and thus has lost a lot of the nutritional value that makes organic food such a good and healthy choice for your pet.

The latter dog chow option is more or less a waste of money and only the first will offer you the bona fide assurance that you are making the best food decision possible. Nonetheless, take a bag or can of the food you are considering for review to your veterinarian’s office and giver her or him a chance to advise you further on the ingredients and also the cooking method. Remember: just because it says organic on the label and your dog likes the chow does not mean that it is necessarily the most nutritionally sound choice for your particular dog!