At Freshpet, we make food closer to its natural state because it’s easily digestible, more nutritious, and simply more delicious. This is one of the reasons our natural dog food and cat food have always been a little bit different. A second reason is that each of our recipes is WSAVA-approved.
What Does WSAVA-Approved Natural Dog and Cat Food Mean?
The WSAVA is a global community of more than 200,000 veterinarians from 113 member associations, working to advance the health and welfare of companion animals throughout the world. This group creates global guidelines for companion animal veterinarians that set the standard of care for a wide variety of areas, such as welfare, vaccinations, dental, and nutrition.
The WSAVA Global Nutrition Council has eight recommendations that should be followed when choosing a food for your pet:
- The producer employs a qualified nutritionist with a PhD in animal nutrition.
- The food is formulated to AAFCO recommendations.
- The producer has undertaken AAFCO feeding trials.
- The food is produced in the USA.
- The producer has strict quality controls in place.
- All recipes are complete and balanced to your pet’s life stage.
- The producer makes nutrient analysis available for recipes on their website.
- Extensive product research was undertaken.
What Does Freshpet Do To Ensure Their Natural Dog and Cat Food are WSAVA-Approved?
At Freshpet, we keep these guidelines at the heart of our operations. In addition to our Freshpet technical staff consisting of veterinarians, food scientists, microbiologists, biologists, and nutritionists, we have a Nutritional Council in place. This council of nutritionist veterinary consultants guide, supervise and validate our research collaborations and work to continuously evaluate and improve our ingredients, processes, and natural pet food products.
To help us achieve our goal in providing a high-quality product for our pets, we hold an exceptionally high standard for the ingredients that go into our recipes. A team comprised of Research & Development, Quality Assurance, and Procurement examines and approves every supplier within Freshpet. Each ingredient is scrutinized for organoleptic properties, proximate analysis, vitamin and mineral profiles, and microbiological safety. We also look for consistent ingredient traceability and sustainability.
AAt the Freshpet Kitchens in Bethlehem, PA, where most of our recipes are produced, we operate under a hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) plan. In addition, we’ve established food safety and food quality standards that have been both verified and validated.
Each recipe that we offer is formulated to comply with the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutritional guidelines. We regularly analyze each recipe to ensure that the nutrient values meet these guidelines, making recipe adjustments as necessary. That’s also why our puppy food is the best puppy food for your growing dog, too. In the spirit of full transparency, both veterinarians and pet owners can access complete nutrient profiles for each of our recipes.
Where Can I Get More Information?
To learn more about our healthy dog food and other recipes, and what we’re doing to continue to be WSAVA-compliant, you can see our full WSAVA guideline evaluation on our Freshpet Vet website.
If you have any further vet-related questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Freshpet Vet Team. They can be reached by email, phone, or via the Contact Us form at the bottom of this page.
