All pet food is divided into four categories: holistic, super-premium, premium, economy. The holistic treatment on this list is considered the best for your pet. It is as close as possible to the natural nutrition of animals, contains at least 50% meat, a balanced complex of vitamins and minerals, and additional nutritional supplements in the form of plants. Of course, holistic products contain absolutely no harmful substances, “empty” ingredients that are added simply to increase volume and not for usefulness.
It’s worth saying right away that expensive food does not mean good food, just as if it says “holistic”, this does not mean that you have to blindly believe. For example, GRANDORF. The food belongs to the holistic category, but we found information on the Internet that nothing is known about the manufacturers themselves, they don’t know about it in Europe, there are a lot of questions for distributors, and so on. Therefore, they did not add the brand to this rating, since there are many questions about the manufacturer and there is no confidence in the reliability of the composition.
Before buying food for an animal, you need to understand the market, analyze offers and composition, and select from your own experience. A dog can react poorly to even the highest quality product simply due to allergies and special digestion.
We have compiled the TOP 10 best holistic dog foods in 2019. The rating was compiled based on an analysis of the composition of the food, information about the manufacturer and reviews of how well the pets’ digestion and body responded to the product as a whole.
Acana
Made in Canada. The developers of Champion Petfoods, which produces the product of this brand, were guided primarily by the idea that the dog, as a predator, primarily eats raw meat. Therefore, in Akan products, special attention is paid to meat and protein content and it is processed using a special technology, steamed. Despite the high content of various meat and fish ingredients (about 60% of the products), the rest of the composition is very clearly balanced and acts as an excellent addition in the form of fiber, vitamins and minerals. As a useful additive in food, plants that are quite exotic for dog cuisine are used: nettle, peppermint, burdock, calendula and other medicinal plants that have a positive effect on the internal organs of dogs. The Acana food line is very diverse, it includes both universal food for different breeds and special food for adult small breeds of dogs - Adult Small Breed. Veterinarians and breeders all over the world give a very positive assessment of this brand.
What's happened
Holistic food is positioned as the best. Manufacturers teach customers that all products under this name are natural, made from environmentally friendly products, without pesticides, growth hormones and other chemicals. And the diet corresponds to the biological needs of predators.
In reality, the situation is different. The term “natural” only means that there are no artificial additives in the drying product. And the definition of naturalness includes both fresh meat and corn, the nutritional value and usefulness of which are radically different.
In addition, there is no clear concept of “holistic” in the feed industry. There are also no standards for the production of drying products in this category.
Taking advantage of this, some companies call holistic food any food with a high content of meat ingredients, turning a blind eye to the quality of the raw materials. Grain-free diets are sometimes classified as a category. But if 40% of rice or oats in the composition are replaced with the same volume of potatoes or peas, the drying still cannot be called organic and balanced.
So, the label “holistic” on a package does not mean that the diet is super healthy, made in environmentally friendly conditions, from fresh and natural products. So what is “holistic” food actually?
We include only food that best matches the diet of wolves and canines in the wild. This:
- 50-80% meat ingredients;
- lack of grain crops;
- flavors, artificial preservatives, dyes are excluded;
- almost 100% digestibility;
- energy value is about 450 kcal per 100 g.
And the most important criterion is the environmental friendliness of the raw materials. We cannot check how companies obtain animal and plant components. Therefore, we determine their naturalness by analyzing the composition and descriptions of production technology on official websites: priority goes to companies that indicate the exact percentage of all products and use fresh or raw ingredients.
