Topper, treat, enhancement, supplement . . . These are all terms to describe food that is added to a complete and balanced meal. But is there a difference in these terms? The answer is yes.
Simply put:
Complete and balanced meals include all of your pet's daily required vitamins and minerals as determined by AAFCO, the organization that oversees the pet food industry.
A topper is a food you add to your pet's meals.
A treat is just that. It is something you give to your pet occasionally as a reward or affirmation.
Supplement is trickier. People use supplement interchangeably with topper or enhancement, another term for topper. A supplement, however, can also be the vitamins, minerals, or oils added to a pet's food to make it complete and balanced (think One-a-Day for humans).
So what is Paul's food exactly?
Unless we work with you and your veterinarian to customize a meal, our prepared foods are toppers/enhancements. So why would anyone want to use a topper or enhancement, then?
Many people do so to improve the taste or texture of a pet's food (think wet food added to dry). While we think that's a perfectly good use for an enhancement, we recommend real food for pets as a way to decrease dependence on processed food.
Is it safe to add a topper or enhancement to processed food?
The answer is yes . . . if you do so correctly. According to board-certified veterinary nutritionist, Dr. Donna Raditic, you can replace up to 25% of a healthy pet's daily caloric intake with real food such as ours, which has significant nutritional value of its own.
What if you want to eliminate all processed food from your pet's diet; can you do so safely?
Yes, but only if you add an appropriate daily vitamin/mineral supplement and certain oils (if necessary) to the real or homemade food.
