Is grain-free food worth the price?

For some pampered pups, the days of smelly food from a can are a distant memory. Instead, they might dine on freeze-dried turkey hearts or pheasant patties, organic raw food or gluten-free meals. There are many grain-free options, from companies big and boutique, and those that advertise that their food comes from just one source of protein — New Zealand lamb or wild salmon, for example.

“We put our own values into our dogs’ likes and needs. We’ve decided, because I only eat natural foods and I’m grain free, my pet should be grain free because it’s healthier for me so I think it’s healthier for them,” says Jeff Werber, a veterinarian in Los Angeles. But changing your pet’s food isn’t always necessary, he said, especially if your dog’s coat glistens and she has a healthy stool.

Pet-food sales in the grain-free category are a $3billion industry, which is 10% of the $30-billion pet-food industry as a whole, according to consumer research firm Packaged Facts. Twelve percent of dog owners and 7% of cat owners bought grain-free or gluten-free pet food in July and August 2014, the firm says.

Some premium items will drain your wallet faster than a dog chasing its tail. At P.C.’s Pantry in Boulder, Colo., owners Mary Lee Withers and her husband, Ed, sell their own line of gluten-free and grain-free dog treats. At $14.95 per pound, pet owners just might be tempted to give gluten-free treats a try themselves, especially since they contain human-grade food. At one L.A. shop, dog treats were as high as $16 for a 3.5-ounce bag. Or just look online: A 12-ounce bag of freeze-dried salmon and cod for cats sells for $23.

Mary Lee says plenty of people buy gluten-free treats because of known pet food allergies, but others buy them because the 100% meat formula is appealing. “Grain-free dog treats are great for training purposes because there are a high-value treat.”

More consumers also are asking whether the meat in pet food comes from a feed lot or a field. “They are asking how is the food made, what’s in it, what’s not, who made it,” says Cathleen Enright, president of the Pet Food Institute, a trade group based in Washington, D.C.

The Assn. of American Feed Control Officials has standards, enforced by the Food and Drug Administration, that pet foods contain a balance of nutrients aimed at keeping pets healthy.

Werber has a simple test: “The most important thing when it comes to pet food is that they like it.”