The Real Cost of Supermarket Food

The Benefits of Premium Pet Food

1. True value. Premium pet foods are highly digestible, and are often more nutrient dense, which means you may actually need to feed less. This is where 'cost per day' comes in.

2. Poop factor. Higher digestibility also means your pet is able to extract greater quantities of nutrients from the food, and less waste is expelled, which means fewer, smellier landmines in the backyard or litter tray!

3. Health targeted nutrition. Premium pet foods are usually tailored to suit your pet's lifestage, and size or age and can also address common health concerns like weight, urinary health and dental care.

4. Extra benefits. They often contain beneficial nutrients above and beyond the bare minimum e.g. omega fatty acids for skin and coat health, antioxidants for immune support and joint support nutrients for improved mobility.

5. Trustworthy. Many premium brands can back their product claims with scientific evidence to prove how they support your pet's health and well-being.

While the vast majority of foods on those supermarket shelves will be complete and balanced enough to keep your pet alive, premium pet foods can nourish them with added beneficial ingredients so that they thrive. Feeding your pet a premium quality diet is one thing that you can do every day to take care of your pet's health, the true value of which is difficult to quantify in monetary terms.

Recommended Premium Food Brands

What Does Complete and Balanced Actually Mean?

When buying a bag of dog or cat food that is going to make up the bulk of your pet's diet, how do you know that it will provide all the nutrition that your furry family member needs?

There are international guidelines set out for pet food manufacturers which detail minimum levels of nutrients for each lifestage. The most widely used guidelines are those set out by AAFCO (which stands for Association of American Feed Control Officials). It's important to note that these are guidelines only, and usually only detail 'minimum' requirements. If a food contains too much of a nutrient, it may still qualify as 'meeting standards', but may in fact provide your dog or cat with excessive levels of particular nutrients which can cause health problems and obesity over time.

Rather than simply meeting AAFCO requirements, many higher-end premium pet food brands conduct laboratory analyses and feeding studies to determine the optimum levels of nutrients in their food, as well as regular batch testing to ensure consistency. (So, it's not just the high quality food you pay a little more for - it's the extra attention to safety standards too!)

You can check whether your pet's food is considered complete and balanced, and how this was determined (ie. through a feeding trial or by meeting guidelines) by looking for an AAFCO statement on the product packaging. Although pet foods manufactured and sold outside of the United States are not required to provide an AAFCO statement, major manufacturers worldwide, including in Australia, use the AAFCO nutritional recommendations as part of their standards for nutritional adequacy and will often include a statement.

For more information read our veterinary written article Pet Food Ingredients: Just what's in your pet's food?.

Understanding Pet Food Labels

Many budget products are not specific when listing their ingredients, often including an "and/or" between meat proteins and cereals. If an ingredient is written as beef and/or poultry and/or lamb, this means the manufacturer can use any combination of those ingredients. This is a common loophole used by cheaper brands as it gives the manufacturer greater flexibility with the formula of the food. Depending on supply and demand costs, the formula can change per batch.

Sudden changes to your pet's diet can cause digestive upsets such as bloating, vomiting, diarrhoea, flatulence and constipation. Plus, if your pet has a sensitivity to one particular protein, there is the potential for a reaction if the recipe changes.

A good quality pet food generally places importance on specific ingredients. You won't see "and/or" written in the ingredients panel of a premium diet. Each meat or grain in the product will be named (for example 'chicken' instead of 'poultry' or 'meats'), meaning the formula of each batch will be consistent and unchanging.

For more information read our veterinary written article How To Read A Label.

Supermarket vs Premium Food

The tables below outline the differences between Supermarket and Premium Food. Information such as nutritional analysis, feeding trials, beneficial ingredients and 'cost per day' have all been included. You may be surprised at how affordable premium food can be and how much better it is for your pet!

Adult Dog Food

Adult Cat Food