06/21/2025
PET FOOD COMPANIES: THIS IS HOW YOU BUILD TRUST ā¬ļø. If you manufacture pet food, you have an ethical responsibility to disclose a complete nutrient profile (yes, every amount of 27+ individual vitamins, minerals and fatty acids in the diet, as compared to the nutrient standard the food was formulated to) ļæ¼to every single one of your customers that are buying your food and feeding your products to their beloved pets.
Yet less than 10% of companies will provide this crucial information. š¤¬
Call or email your pet food company and ask for a complete nutritional analysis; most likely they will ļæ¼ask what two or three specific nutrients you want to know about (um⦠ALL OF THEM?!?!). They will refuse to provide all nutrient levels. Even worse, some raw food companies Iāve contacted have informed me they havenāt checked a complete nutritional profile of the food theyāre selling š³ (I do not recommend supporting brands who donāt know what nutrients could be missing from the diets they are selling you). ļæ¼The standard answer Iāve received from almost every pet food company (including all types of pet foodākibble, canned, freeze dried, raw, etc) is ļæ¼their nutrient profiles are āproprietaryā. What?! When did assuring minimum nutrient requirements become a secret?ļæ¼
As veterinarians, if you request nutrient profiles on prescription diets we get the same response: we cannot have access to the nutritional data sick patients are being fed because itās also āproprietaryāš¤Æ.
ļæ¼This is completely unacceptable, but guess what⦠companies get away with it because you, the consumers, donāt insist on nutritional transparency from the companies you are supporting.
Demand better and companies will do better.
I am so incredibly grateful that there are a handful of companies that are role modeling what needs to happen in the world of pet food: be proud of your nutritional profiles, and communicate with veterinarians! ļæ¼
Hereās an example of company that just sent an email stating theyāve added a new feature to their customer portal that allows vets to have direct access to dietary profiles, which can be uploaded into the veterinary patient files. Amazing!
To Mars, Purina, Science Diet, and all the other companies unwilling to disclose what levels of nutrients are in your foods⦠we the people, and vets trying to keep pets well or recover from illnesses, we all deserve better.
Please, call your company and share what they say here in the comments. We can start a knowledge network of brands doing it better. š»ā¬ļø