Natural pet food brands were once the preserve of small, New Age businesses from the Pacific Northwest and California catering to an eco-conscious niche market. But now that environmentalism has gone from the fringes to the mainstream of society, many of the established pet food brands have launched natural products. Three of the market leaders are Diamond Naturals from Diamond Pet Foods, Pro Plan Selects from Purina and Naturally Wild from Eukanuba. All these natural pet food brands are made from human grade meat and contain no corn or animal by-products. We will now look at each of these natural pet food brands, which should be available from all good pet stores, in turn.
Diamond Naturals
Diamond Pet Foods, founded in Missouri in 1970, is a company built on the philosophy of providing high quality nutrition for pets at an affordable price. Its Diamond Naturals pet food brand is a logical extension of this outlook. All Diamond pet foods undergo 151 different tests (141 ingredient tests and 10 final quality checks) before they are shipped to stores. Diamond Naturals are available for both dogs and cats, and there are special formulas for senior dogs (aged 8 and over), puppies and kittens, weight loss, working dogs and pregnant or nursing animals. Both dry and canned foods are available.
Purina Pro Plan Selects
Pro Plan, launched in 1987, was the first super premium range of pet foods from the Purina Company, now owned by Nestle. Pro Plan Selects are the company’s natural pet food brand, made from real meat and barley or rice. Antioxidants are provided via ingredients such as blueberry pomace (pulp) and sweet potatoes. Formulas for adult dogs and cats are available in a wide variety of flavors, though options for puppies, kittens and senior dogs are more limited. The latter only have one variety at present, turkey and barley, though they are presumably considered too old and set in their ways to care.
Eukanuba Naturally Wild
Unlike the other two natural pet food brands featured in this article, Eukanuba Naturally Wild Formulas are only available for dogs, as one might expect from the sponsor of the American Kennel Club’s annual tournament (though they do make other kinds of cat food). The concept behind them is to replicate as closely as possible the diet that your dog would eat in the wild. They are available in three varieties, venison & potato, turkey & multigrain and salmon & rice. All of these use animals that are hunted by wild dogs and wolves as their main ingredient, and add vitamin E and omega 3 fatty acids as well as other nutritional supplements to promote a healthy and long life. Eukanuba give no indication of whether they are planning to release any Naturally Wild formulas based on the animals that cats hunt in the wild, though rat or lizard flavored formulas may be a tough sell!