Why we use supplements in our dog food

When you look at the ingredient list for any reputable dog food, you’re going to find at least a few unpronounceable, weird-sounding things. Calcium pantothenate doesn’t sound like a healthy ingredient, right? (It’s Vitamin B5.) How about ferrous fumarate? (Iron.) And as you might guess, copper gluconate is a form of copper that your dog’s body can absorb. But why are they in dog food? Why can’t companies just include enough vitamins and minerals from natural sources?

The answer is surprisingly simple. There is a group called AAFCO (the Association of American Food Control Officials) which sets the dietary standards used by the USDA and all 50 state food control organizations. AAFCO sets out guidelines for various nutrients your dog needs each day to promote overall health and growth as well as healthy coat and nails. And the truth is that your dog just can’t eat enough foods each day that contain the nutrients AAFCO knows they need.  For example, while iron occurs naturally in many foods, almost none have enough to ensure your dog’s health.

Human foods are like this, too. We can’t possibly eat enough foods that contain all of the iron, copper, calcium, Vitamin B5 and other critical nutrients we need. That’s why we take vitamins – to provide a concentrated, healthy, easily-absorbed source for the nutrients we can’t get enough of naturally in our food.

Bubba’s Bowl foods contain enriched nutrients that amount to a daily multivitamin for your pup. Whenever possible, we use nutrients from natural sources (example: calcium carbonate, made from refined limestone). If the nutrient doesn’t exist in nature on its own, we source a healthy, safe alternative (like choline L-bitartrate, made from eggs and meat combined with tartaric acid).

If you’d like to learn more about the nutrients we use here at Bubba’s Bowl, click here for our nutrient explainer. It includes information on each nutrient, why it’s in there, where it comes from and whether it occurs in nature.