Many of the lovely animal clients I see experience health issues as a result of poor nutrition and an unbalanced diet. Each animal is an individual and its important to tailor their diet to their needs.
In my experience cats and dogs do best on a species appropriate balanced raw diet. They often struggle with grains, additives and preservatives that are usually found in commercial pet food. The most popular food requests are for the human family's fresh food to be shared with the animal family.
The pet food industry has come under scrutiny more and more recently and has many shortcomings. I recommend watching the documentary Pet Fooled for further information on the pet food industry (video below).
I encounter many animal guardians doing the best they can to feed their animals what they need to be as healthy and happy as possible. I have found the work of Dr Karen Becker to be particularly helpful in this regard and I suggest following her advice and recommendations on how to meet your animal family's nutritional needs. Her video on the best and worst pet foods has a wealth of information on feeding cats and dogs.
There are a number of nutritionists that can assist you with tailoring your animals diet.
For cats and dogs - Little Angels Pet Nutrition (Venusha)
For horses - Diets by Design (Sheldene)