Why Are We Feeding Our Pets?

This is rather a basic question, but how many of us have stopped to consider the real answer? Are we feeding our pets to meet their basic nutritional needs, our needs, their perceived needs, or some other perceived reason?
Because of all of the advertisements and marketing distractions and often misleading misinformation, we may have forgotten our original purpose of why we are feeding our pets. The specific purpose of any food should be to supply all of the known required nutrients at balanced and optimal levels for the life stage and life style of the pet, and in a form that is acceptable to the animal we are feeding.
One may say ‘Duh’? However, it is easy to confuse one’s purpose of selecting and providing a food based on what is in the market. All premium and super premium foods are palatable, nutritionally complete, and balanced to meet the needs of all healthy pets. The danger comes when we select a food based on perceived benefits, marketing hype, appealing packaging, uniqueness of ingredients, and anthropomorphism. We are all vulnerable to varying degrees of these sales techniques. Millions of dollars are spent every day by companies hoping to bring the various attributes and qualities of their product to our attention, real or perceived, in order to influence our decisions. These attributes may have nothing to do with the quality of the product or impact its efficacy, but it often influences our decision because of our interpretation of the information we receive. ...Read the full blog on Petfood-Connection.com.