As veterinarians, we firmly believe that your pet's good health starts from the inside out, in the form of a healthy diet. There are a multitude of pet foods on the market, both good and bad. When we set out to create formulas of our own, we wanted to take pet nutrition a step further. We formulated our own line of healthy dog and cat foods, so that you could have a superior yet affordable choice as compared to grocery store and other premium brand foods.

As veterinarians, we're always looking for ways to provide pet owners the tools they need to help their pets live long, happy, and healthy lives. While optimal nutrition was our number one goal in formulating our pet foods, we also kept in mind your pet's number one desire - irresistible flavor. We knew we were going to have to develop a food that tasted good because we believe that good nutrition alone will not inspire a pet to eat.

To ensure that our foods met the quality standards you've come to expect from products carrying the Drs. Foster & Smith name, our veterinarians were intimately involved at every step in the production process - from formula development through production to quality control. We'd like to take you through the steps of our development of these foods, so you can better understand our commitment to your pet's health and nutrition.

Research & Development
The research and planning for Drs. Foster & Smith foods started long before the first bag was produced. Dr. Foster and Dr. Smith personally analyzed available pet food formulas, talked with breeders, trainers, and pet owners, and consulted with leading nutritionists in order to develop formulas that met their high standards.

After careful consideration, testing, and analysis, the doctors approved final formulas for each pet life stage. Each of these formulas meet, and for some nutrients exceed, AAFCO standards. Each formula blends delectable ingredients that also happen to deliver excellent nutrition.

Real chicken, lamb, ocean whitefish, trout, and other fish are the primary sources of protein in our formulas, to provide essential amino acids to promote healthy tissues. Whole grains like brown rice and barley provide rich, natural sources of essential vitamins and carbohydrates to help maintain an active, healthy life. Fresh, whole fruits and vegetables, full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant nutrients, promote a strong immune system and healthy cell growth. And natural Omega 3- & 6- fatty acids from sources like fish oil and flaxseed help keep skin healthy and promote a soft, lustrous coat.

Our nutrition-packed pet foods offer your pet many health-supporting benefits - excellent overall body condition, healthy skin, a soft and glossy coat, strong muscles, a healthy immune system, and energy for a high activity level - qualities that may be hard to find in bargain foods. You'll find our formulas are much more nutrient-dense than most other foods, allowing you to feed less while offering your pet exceptional nutrition that is highly digestible. This means less waste and better value.

Production of Our Food
We were intimately involved in the selection of a production facility for our foods, as well, to ensure the facility could consistently produce our quality product to our strict standards. They didn't balk when we insisted our foods be processed in smaller production runs more frequently to ensure they arrive to you with maximum freshness, flavor, and nutrition.

We reviewed every step in the production process to ensure that our ingredients were processed in a way that would ensure maximum nutritional potency. At times, some of our suppliers seemed a little surprised at our level of involvement, but we wanted to ensure that even the smallest steps and the smallest decisions had our stamp of approval. We also set very high quality control measures to ensure every batch consistently met our expectations. No long-term warehouse storage, which causes food to lose nutritional value.

Compare Ours to Others
Compare our Adult Dry Chicken and Brown Rice dog formula to some of the "better" foods commonly purchased by pet owners. Our formulas have no meat by-product meal or poultry by-product meal. Hill's Science Adult Chicken & Rice and Eukanuba Medium Breed Adult both use chicken by-product meal. Looking for added skin-benefiting Omega-3 fatty acids? Our foods contain marine fish oils, rich in EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). Plus, we have included direct-fed microbials (probiotics) for support of digestion and have not added any artificial preservatives, colors or flavors.

The Future
As the pet food industry continues to advance its research on pet food nutrition, and as those findings bring about the introduction of healthier pet foods, we will continue to incorporate all relevant innovations in our healthy pet foods. With Drs. Foster and Smith foods, you'll get an excellent food today and can count on us leading the way in the future.