Within the UK an increasingly level of attention is been given by the manufacturers to the quality of pet feeds, in particular for dogs and cats. Pet owners now realise the potential health benefits of feeding their animals to the highest standards.

With the pet obesity rate reaching record levels, pet health and pet hygiene proved to be one of the biggest concerns of pet owners in 2006. This has resulted in a raft of new health focused multi-functional foods aimed at improving pet health, with product launches aimed at boosting pet paws, claws, eyes, coats, skin, teeth and even brain power. Key terms included omega 3 and 6, macro-nutrient profile, wheat and gluten-free and hypoallergenic. As pet owners become increasingly aware of the changing nutritional needs of their pets as they age, there has been a great extension to life stage and lifestyle products, once the domain of premium and super-premium products.

In cat food, wet food continues to dominate product sales, which manufacturers have continued to promote by stressing the premium nature of their wet brands. The opposite is true in the dog food sector, where it is dry dog food that is the dominating product type.

Pet owners are increasingly likely to consider their pets as part of the family and will go to greater efforts to care for them, as a result with anthropomorphism gathering pace, manufacturers are increasingly able to persuade pet owners to trade up to super-premium and premium products.

Veterinarians agree that pets are living longer, healthier lives since the use of commercially prepared pet foods became widespread. Decades of research have gone into the development of pet food to make sure the special nutrition needs of pet dogs and cats are met.

Sciantec is one of the major laboratories analysing petfoods and offer a range of analysis to cover the wide portfolio of manufactured foods.

The correct sample preparation is essential to obtain the correct result and we are experienced in matching the best preparation method to the sample matrix.

Analysis includes:

• Nutritional
• Vitamins
• Minerals and trace elements
• Undesirables
• Microbiology