Providing precisely balanced nutrition is an investment in your pet’s good health.

• The right level of nutrients promotes good health, which impacts your pet’s life expectancy and quality of life.
• Transitioning to the right food at each life stage (typically at ages 1, 5, and 7) helps meet the changes associated with aging. Precisely balanced nutrition through continuous research and innovation meets the specific needs of your pet. When you feed the right pet food for your pet’s life stage, you know you are providing the precise balance of nutrients essential to your pet’s health and vitality.

The truth about pet food ingredients:
MYTH: Corn is just a filler.
FACT: Corn is NOT a filler. It is a superb source of nutrients such as:

• Essential fatty acids – for healthy skin and coat
• Beta-carotene, Vitamin E, Lutein – nature’s antioxidants
• Highly digestible carbohydrates – for energy
• Quality proteins – for muscle and tissue growth

MYTH: Corn is poorly digested.
FACT: Cooked corn is highly digestible. The protein in corn is more digestible than that of rice, wheat, barley, or sorghum.

MYTH: Corn causes food allergies in pets.
FACT: Corn is a very rare allergen in dogs and unreported in cats. In fact, beef, dairy, wheat, lamb, chicken, chicken egg and soy together comprise 93% of the food allergies in dogs. Studies show that corn causes no more food allergies than any other grain.

By-Products as Ingredients

By-products are common ingredients in both human and pet foods. Vitamin E, gelatin, chicken stock, and beef bouillon are all by-products. Lamb meal is also a by-product, as it is a secondary product derived from lamb production for human use.

MYTH: Pet foods that contain ingredients listed as “by-products” are inferior.
FACT: Many by-products are excellent sources of nutrients for pets. With extremely rare exceptions, all pet foods contain by-products.

Common by-products in pet foods are:

• Animal fats – chicken fat is a by-product of chicken processing
• Animal proteins – lamb meal, fish meal, and salmon meal are all ground proteins
• Pork, chicken, and beef liver – internal organs of animals
• Beet pulp – dried residue from sugar beets
• Tomato pomace – comes from tomato skins, pulp, and seeds

By-product meals include highly nutritious organ meats, such as liver, kidney, and heart, highly palatable and beneficial to pets.

MYTH: “Meat-first” foods are better.
FACT: Healthy pets need nutrients and a complete balance of amino acids from both meat and non-meat sources. Meat is not the only source of protein available, either. Other ingredients, like corn, can provide it as well.

MYTH: Grain-free pet foods are better.
FACT: There is no nutritional foundation to support a grain-free diet, and foods that have grains are just as digestible as grain-free foods. The term “grain-free” is misleading, as all grain-free foods contain carbohydrates from other sources, such as the sweet potato, which has more carbohydrates than corn.

MYTH: More protein is better.
FACT: Animals cannot store protein. Excess protein forces the kidneys to work harder when they have to convert it into waste, which is excreted in urine.

MYTH: Dogs are carnivores and need mostly meat.
FACT: Dogs are omnivores and need a balanced diet of proteins, carbohydrates, and vitamins from a variety of sources including meats, vegetables, and grains. This aids in controlling excess nutrients that may be a risk for long-term health.