But when it comes to premade raw dog food few claim to meet aafco standards for complete and balanced if you re worried about feeding an unbalanced diet that might stop you from switching your dog to raw food.
Aafco approved raw cat food.
Animal feeding tests using aafco procedures substantiate this product provides complete and balanced nutrition for all life stages of dogs and cats this means the company chose to conduct feeding trials on their food.
This seems like a silly question but let s look a little closer.
Finally most cat lovers today feel that the healthiest diets for cats are those that come close to imitating a cat s natural diet.
The first of the two procedures requires that the food be tested in aafco s laboratory to ensure that it meets the minimum required levels of protein fat vitamins and minerals.
Complete meaning that it contains all the necessary nutrients for a dog or cat and balanced.
Aafco cat food nutrient profiles as the terms are applied in aafco model pet food regulations referring to nutritional adequacy.
If your pet s food does not meet aafco nutrient profiles ask the manufacturer why.
In many cases.
Because there are no regulations specific to food grade ingredients or whole food nutrition for cats and dogs undoubtedly some of these pet foods could be lacking in some nutrients needed by our pets.
Most dogs thrive and are much healthier on raw diets and fresh whole foods.
Presently only eight dogs are required to be in.
Phytates in kibble bind with zinc making zinc unavailable to the dog.
Under these model regulations dog and cat foods substantiated for nutritional adequacy by reference to the aafco dog and cat food nutrient profiles for a designated life stage s must be formulated to contain at least the minimum concentrations of nutrients.
So do aafco standards apply to raw or to any pet food for that matter.
When you look at a bag of industrial pet food food aafco confirms that it will be 100 complete and balanced according to them if it meets their standards.
If you are in doubt about aafco s guidelines for cat food you can check these tables tables 4 7 and 8 for cats and kittens.
The second requires at least one product from the family of foods offered to be tested for at least six.
You probably don t want to catch mice for your cat though some people do or buy frozen mice but cat food that is less.
But the guaranteed analysis on a pet food label expresses nutrient levels on an.
Most veterinarians also have complete trust.
Aafco has methods in place for determining if cat food is approved for consumption based upon its standards.
Vets completely trust aafco.
A major function of feed regulations is to safeguard the health of man and animals.
While aafco doesn t help consumers directly aafco has clearly stated in its philosophy regarding feed regulations in the official publication that the most important aspect of feed regulation is to provide protection for the consumer as well as the regulated industry.
The key for pet food consumers to know the difference is to talk with the manufacturer.
If raw foods are required to meet the same standards as kibble aafco standards may actually cause raw food manufacturers to do more harm than good.
Currently aafco s requirement for zinc for example is based on the low bioavailability of zinc in kibble.
