What is in your pets food is important — but have you ever thought about HOW those ingredients are gathered? Thanks to DOGS Cookbook for sponsoring this post.

Dig in — it’s organic!

It took me awhile, but I eventually discovered what was upsetting the gut of my rescue pup, AJ. As I have mentioned here before at 5 Minutes for Mom, from the advice of a neighbour and the input from our vet, I discovered that my dog’s skin issues and loose stool issues were coming from an intolerance to his food.

Once I put him on premium, grain-free dog food, his problems resolved. (Interestingly, if I even feed him treats that have grains or other difficult to digest ingredients, he will develop rashes and loose stools.)

So, at my house, we are camp “grain free” when it comes to dog food. We LOVE Petcurean — and AJ has told us he is a die hard fan of all of the flavours that he has tried so far

While the ingredients in our pets’ food are essential for the optimal health of our pets, it is also important to consider HOW those ingredients are sourced…

Now, I understand if you are thinking, “Hold up, now I need to feed my PETS organic food?!?” I agree, organic food is expensive and buying organic for our own food is hard enough.

But, the great thing about more and more of us consumers opting for organic options is that means more and more businesses and farms are striving for healthy, sustainable organic practices. And the more popular it becomes, the more options we have.

It is a holistic thing — it isn’t just about the food we put in our mouths. Buying organic is about how we look after the earth that provides for all of us and how we help preserve and protect it for our children and their children.

Do I shop exclusively organic? No. But I do my best to purchase organic as often as possible and I try to pay attention to where and how ingredients are sourced.

When a company is working hard to ensure they are producing their products with ethical and sustainable practices that makes me a loyal customer — and that is one of the reasons I LOVE Petcurean and their new line GATHER.

ABOUT GATHER:

With the knowledge that consumers are increasingly demanding sustainability, transparency and organic ingredients in their pet food, and scrutinizing more than ever for quality and safety, Petcurean created GATHER. GATHER is a new category of pet food crafted from certified, organic, non-GMO and sustainably produced ingredients. The recipes are perfectly blended and balanced to provide dogs and cats with premium quality, natural nutrition and are free from rendered ingredients.

GATHER comes in three varieties for adult dogs:

CERTIFICATIONS:

Pet food certifications are used in the food industry to provide information to consumers about the way in which a food is produced. Certifications are developed by governments or independent organizations which establish the certification’s ‘standards’. These are the documents that describe the criteria a food producer must meet in order to become certified. To become certified, food producers must undergo a highly detailed audit by an accredited company that determines whether the certification standard is being met. The certification cannot be used by the food producer until the auditor determines that all of the relevant criteria on the standard are fulfilled. To maintain certification, most certification bodies require an annual re-certification audit.

GATHER™ dog and cat recipes have received three different food certifications to provide transparency about the ingredients that have been carefully selected for these diets: Organic, Vegan, Marine Stewardship Council. Find out more here.

CERTIFICATIONS:

Pet food certifications are used in the food industry to provide information to consumers about the way in which a food is produced. Certifications are developed by governments or independent organizations which establish the certification’s ‘standards’. These are the documents that describe the criteria a food producer must meet in order to become certified. To become certified, food producers must undergo a highly detailed audit by an accredited company that determines whether the certification standard is being met. The certification cannot be used by the food producer until the auditor determines that all of the relevant criteria on the standard are fulfilled. To maintain certification, most certification bodies require an annual re-certification audit.

GATHER™ dog and cat recipes have received three different food certifications to provide transparency about the ingredients that have been carefully selected for these diets: Organic, Vegan, Marine Stewardship Council. Find out more here.