Pets & Animals

(WCCO) From the looks of things, a dog's life is a good life. Between exercise, fresh air and playing with friends, they expend a lot of energy. So how does a pet owner fuel that passion?

Dr. Julie Churchill, a professor and Veterinarian at the University of Minnesota says, "There are over 5,000 different dog and cat food products on the market in this country alone. So it's a jungle out there."

The Pet Food Institute estimates that we spent more than $8 billion to feed our 67 million canine companions in 2007. That's a lot of mouths to feed.

The packaging to entice shoppers includes names like "prime slice," "wholesome beef" and "brown rice entree." Or familiar titles like Mighty Dog, Kibbles and Bits, and Puppy Chow, and who wouldn't want to live the Goodlife?

But what's the trick to choosing healthy and affordable food?

Julie Churchill teaches veterinary medicine at the University of Minnesota and specializes in pet health and nutrition. She brings Walter and Barbie to work every day.

Churchill says pick a quality food with your vet, see how the animal responds, then feed it the right amount.

"As a nutritionist, I'm concerned about 'Are we meeting their nutrient needs? Protein? Are they meeting their energy needs? Fat, vitamins, minerals, the big components," she said.

By law, all pet food must carry a nutritional statement. It's small and hard to find on the bag or can.

The American Association of Feed Control Officials, or AAFCO, awards two different standards. The first is a nutrient profile. That means some mathematical calculations have been made and the food was formulated to meet a standard.

Churchill says, "What it doesn't tell me is about quality of ingredients, meaning digestibility or bioavailability. Does it actually get into the animal, is it used, useful to the animal."

Churchill prefers the second method: a nutritional statement based on animal feeding trials. That means a group of dogs was fed this food over time and underwent exams and blood work to monitor the effect.

"To me that's a better, a little more rigorous test, it's a biologic test," she said.

But Churchill says no system is perfect. And keep in mind, words like premium, natural, or holistic don't have legal definitions.

Michelle and Enrique Palma think they have a better way. They recently opened Woody's Pet Food Deli, where pets can get whole foods too. And they literally mean whole foods.

"This is all-natural pheasant from Wisconsin, and also this is quail, we also have cornish hen and this is rabbit," Enrique said as he lifted the frozen birds from the kitchen freezer.

They grind up the entire animal, bones, organs and all.

Enrique said, "When the bones are ground its not going to harm them."

On the day WCCO-TV cameras visited, ground chicken was slow cooked. Then, the Palmas added supplements like a vitamin mix and even wild arctic salmon oil, which Enrique says is a good source of omega three fatty acids.

The Palma's say their real food exceeds the AAFCO standards and they claim it's the closest thing to a natural diet dogs would eat in the wild.

"If you take a look at the top 10 reasons why pet owners go to vets, it's because of food-related diseases, food-related problems," claimed Enrique.

Some of the Palma's foods start at $2.15 a pound. That's about 20 percent more than some premium brands, but there are certainly people willing to pay a little more for their best friends.

"We try to eat good food ourselves and try to buy organic and local food and we like to feed our dog well too. It saves us a lot of money, I think, on vet bills in the long run and keeps him healthy," said pet owner Ann Seltman.

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