The companion animal nutrition market is filled with marketing claims that often outpace the evidence, and evidence-based approaches to feeding dogs and cats can significantly improve welfare outcomes.
Companion animal nutrition welfare is complicated by a pet food market that prioritises marketing over evidence. Premium, natural, grain-free, and raw are marketing terms with limited or contested welfare benefit -- and some associated risks. Dilated cardiomyopathy associations with grain-free diets and bacterial contamination risks from raw feeding represent real welfare concerns arising from diet trends that outpaced the evidence. Welfare-positive nutrition is evidence-based, life-stage appropriate, and reviewed periodically against current veterinary nutrition guidelines. The most reliable welfare guidance comes from board-certified veterinary nutritionists and published nutritional research rather than pet food marketing or online community consensus.