Holistic pet foods, natural pet foods and Organic Pet Foods all refer to the same kind of food. Organic Pet Foods are free from the toxins pesticides can cause in plants and vegetables. The whole grains, fruits and vegetables used in Organic Pet Foods are all grown natural without the use of chemicals.

No difference.
Different marketing terms.
Read the ingredient label and analysis to make an informed decision.
Personally I like Nutro for my dog and cats. Good quality meat, no by-products, no corn, only rice.

By the way – there are no regulations for pet food marketing (at least in Canada) so they can say whatever they want on the bag pretty much, because there’s no one to inforce “lies”. They can call the food Pure Organic Grain Fed Atlantic Lobster Supper if they wanted to. And it have crap and a bit of lobster flavour in it. But, the ingredients and analysis must be true.

I like Blue Buffalo. No fillers, no by-products.

“Organic” is at least 95% organic in nature. It is food grown without chemical pesticides, fertilizer, hormones, antibiotics, or artificially-derived chemical additives. Also no radiation or genetic engineering allowed.

“Certified organic” is the same but with more strict guidelines and rules.

“100% organic” is 100% organic.

“Made with organic ingredients” is at least 75% organic in nature.

“Holistic” will often refer to food that is natural in form, and not processed or include processed/perverted ingredients. But this is not a term that has any strict meaning and is not regulated.

“Natural” means nothing, really. It is used often and again is not regulated.

Organic is always best, of course, and holistic foods often include organic ingredients. But ‘natural’ is pointless.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: I feed Taste of the Wild, which is not certified organic but being without grains, is a definite step in the right direction. For 33 lbs, it’s about $1.25 per pound – which, for a whole pound of food, is quite inexpensive.

My issue with regular Diamond foods is that they use many grains. Grains are not a digestible source of food, and so become nothing but filler. I highly suggest you find a grain-free food (such as Blue Buffalo Wildnerness Merrick Before Grain, EVO, TOTW, Wellness CORE, etc.), as your dog will receive more nutrients from such a food.

There is no official definition for the word holistic. AAFCO does not define it and it means a variety of things to different people. I define it as a food that includes vitamins, minerals and health supplements from natural sources like fruits, veggies, botanicals and herbs. Natural simply means something that occurs in nature. I believe, but am not entirely sure, that any dog food that does not have artificial preservatives, flavors or colors, can print “natural with added vitamins and minerals” on its bag.

Organic means that the ingredients (a majority of them, can’t remember what percentage) must be certified organic. This means that no fertilizers were used to grow plants, no genetically modified organisms are present and no antibiotics or growth hormones were used in meat sources.

Diamond pet foods are definitely a step above Purina, but their price proves that they do not use the highest quality ingredients. A food like Innova is so expensive because they use human grade ingredients.

If you need to feed Diamond because of your budget, try one of their other lines. Premium Edge, Taste of the Wild and Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul are all better than Purina.