Feeding a raw food diet can have serious health benefits for pets. High in protein and fat, low in carbohydrates and high in moisture, a raw diet is built for carnivorous pets like dogs and cats. Not only is the nutrient balance ideal, the way the nutrients are incorporated ensures optimal benefit. When nutrients are consumed as part of a whole food, in their natural state – the food matrix – they are more bioavailable and have greater impact on the body. In a raw diet, the food matrix is unaltered by heat or other processing, which ensures pets are able to get what they need from their food and are not exposed to any harmful chemicals that may be generated by refining or cooking processes.
When it comes to choosing a raw diet to feed, it is important to know about the manufacturer – their processes, their formulas and their values. Every manufacturer has a unique way of doing things; depending on what your values are as a consumer, you will align with manufacturers differently.
Here we are highlighting a company with one of the most unique processes in the industry.
K9 Choice Foods Premium Raw Pet Food is a family company in Alberta, Canada. The most interesting thing about this company is that they raise many of the livestock that are used in their recipes. This offers a high degree of control over the quality of their products. Not only that, it provides them with control over how the animals are raised; which is free range without the use of hormones or steroids. In addition to this, the age at which animals are processed, specifically cattle, can be controlled. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has much stricter regulations in place for facilities processing cattle of 30 months of age or older. Typically, cattle that are processed for the human food chain are less than 2 years old. The folks at K9 Choice just feel like this isn’t a long enough life to give the animals that give our pets sustenance, so they are allowed to graze and roam for much longer. What this means for consumers is that their processing facility goes through a more rigorous inspection process even than many of the facilities that supply beef to the human food industry.
Every part of the animal is available for the pet food recipes, even the most prime cuts of meat. In addition, the meat is not aged, and therefore retains all the moisture that is so important for hydration. The time from pasture to package is less than 24 hours – it does not get any fresher than that. Fresh, high quality protein is the foundation of a premium raw diet. This foundation is built upon with fresh produce to create balanced recipes.
From the company:
A Raw Dog food company built uniquely by design and philosophy.
Almost 20 years ago the idea of K9 Choice was born. Designed unlike any other we are the only raw dog food company that raises, processes and packages as many of our own naturally raised proteins as possible. We have shaped everything we do around the simple premise that we can and should feed our beloved pets the very best, real, and truly natural whole foods possible. When we started we made small, hand-crafted batches of a few hundred pounds maybe a few times a month, 20 years later we use the same small-batch, handcrafted, minimally processed techniques…..only we now make several batches an hour!
Pasture to Package isn’t just our tag line, it’s the philosophy we live every day.
K9 Choice Foods is now available at Global Pet Foods stores nationwide! Call your local store to inquire.
