Diets Available at Willow Treats

"Do you have (insert brand) food?" is one of the most common questions we receive. We know that your top priority is the health of your pet and there are SO MANY choices when it comes to pet food. Since we can't carry every diet available, we wanted to share with you how and why we selected these particular diets.  

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The World Small Animal Veterinary Association Global Nutrition Committee published guidelines to aid pet owners and veterinary teams with assessment of diets. We used this resource to help separate the facts about the diets from the moving founder stories and product marketing.

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The second component of our diet decision was to do everything possible to reduce the risk of heart disease driven by food. In the past decade there has ongoing concern about a severe heart disease called Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs (and at least a few cats). When this problem was first recognized, it was thought to be related to feeding grain free diets. Over time, the condition was also associated with diets that were made by smaller companies and those with unusual ingredients.

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The most recent research suggests that the problem may not have anything to do with grains or no grains. Instead, it seems to be linked to what we have put in the place of the grains. Many grain free diets contain a large amount of legumes including peas, lentils, chickpeas, and beans. Despite all the work that has been done, we still don't understand why some dogs develop heart disease on these foods and most others do not. Since we don't wish to gamble with your pet's heart health, we have selected diets that do not include legumes in the top 10 ingredients.