A humorous excerpt from a dog diary makes the e-mail rounds periodically. The joke? No matter the day or time, the entries are identical: “Oh, boy! DOG FOOD! My favorite!”

If only we could be as easygoing about what we feed our furry friends. In recent years, new foods and formulas seem to have debuted as often as American Idol hopefuls. Eye-popping packaging shouts words like “natural” and “organic.” And, as some owners explore home-prepared diets, a kind of militancy has crept in, with the implication being that if you don’t feed a certain way, you’re the fur-mom equivalent of Joan Crawford.

“It’s just overwhelming,” agrees board-certified veterinary nutritionist Tony Buffington, DVM, Ph.D., a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition and a professor of clinical nutrition at Ohio State University Veterinary Hospital. “The pet-food industry is very competitive, so there’s sort of this arms race going on.”

Here are some things to consider before pressing that nuclear button and committing to a specific brand or approach.

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