Quality Dog Food

What ingredients make for good and bad dog food?

With so many dog foods available on today’s market that are commercially prepared, it is often quite difficult as only a dog owner to tell which ones are better than others and why.

First of all, many of the big companies are paying really slick marketers and advertisers millions of dollars per year to advertise their dog food. The amount of money they are spending on marketing has no relationship to the quality of the dog food. This is unfortunate for you as some of the best advertised dog food is inferior.

There is one way for you to guess the quality of dog food however it is not fool proof. You can normally use the price of the food as an indicator as to the quality. Low priced foods are not always, but most often, the lowest quality foods on the market and likewise the more expensive are normally better quality.

When feeding your dog you want to make sure that the adult dog food you are feeding is 22-25% protein and 15-19% fat. The protein should come from a good quality source. Some dogs such as puppies, large breeds, and active breeds have different protein and fat requirements so make sure to discuss this with your vet to ensure proper feeding of your dog.

When making an informed decision, you must know which ingredients are better than others. When you look at the dog food label, the following are the kinds of ingredients that you are looking for:

- Human Grade Ingredients Chicken meal
- Turkey meal
- Fish meal
- Rice
- Potatoes
- Lamb meal
- Potatoes
- Rice
- Sunflower Oil
- Vegetables and others.

For a good dog food, the first four ingredients on the dog food label should not be grains. Instead they should consist of things like meat and proteins.

You also want to make sure it says chicken meal and not chicken as the primary ingredient. If it says chicken only, this means that the manufacturers are counting the entire chicken toward protein value. This includes all of the pieces they have probably scraped of the ground such as beaks, feathers, and feet. With chicken meal, they are only counting the cooked down version of the protein. This will ensure that your dog is getting the appropriate kind of protein and not by products.

Vitamins and fatty acids are also good ingredients in dog foods. Some examples include Vitamin E, Omega 3 and 6, etc. These are very important for a healthy looking skin and coat.

Make sure your dog food is not laden with preservatives. Some of the ingredients that you don’t want to see on your dog food label are the inferior protein’s which consists of but are not limited to variations of the following: Wheat, Corn, Chicken by-products, Soy, Gluten.

These ingredients are hard to digest and can cause health problems later on if used for a long period of time. Sugar is another ingredient that you want to stay away from.

You are always better off making your own dog food and dog treats from recipes such as those you can find at www.dogtreatrecipes.com.au, however if you are purchasing dog food you really should only purchase from a company that spends time and money field testing their products.

You can always be sure that companies such as Purina, the Iams Company (which also includes Eukanuba), Royal Canin, Nutro, Diamond, and Hill’s Science Diet are constantly testing their foods to provide the optimum quality ingredients. These companies offer different grades of food, however, from lower quality to premium quality so make sure that you always read the labels.

These are not the only companies by any means who make good quality dog food. The important thing is to read the label, do your research, ask questions of your veterinarians and pet professionals and always be informed. People who work at feed stores are usually a good resource and can help you find good quality pet food. Breeders can also be a good source for finding a quality food for your dog. Dog trainers will also often have a good knowledge of proper nutrition.

You should always follow your veterinarian’s recommendation on food as well. Many times dogs of certain ages or with certain health conditions need to be on a prescription diet. While these diets are often expensive, they do contain the proper nutrients that dogs in these categories need. Many times owners will switch to a commercial food because of cost or palatability concerns and the dog’s health will go in to a decline. Your veterinary staff know what is best for your particular dog.

While it is often confusing, proper dog nutrition is vital to the health and longevity of your dog. By knowing what consists of good quality ingredients and which ingredients to avoid, you can be assured that you will choose the proper food for your dog. As always, if you have questions, ask your veterinary staff for more information.

If you are looking for healthy nutrious but yummy gourmet dog treat recipes come and visit Justin Bryce who is the Proprietor of http://www.dogtreatrecipes.com.au

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At the time of writing this article, there has been a HUGE commercial dog and cat food poisoning scare in the USA - from contaminated dog food. Around 60 Million cans and pouches of prepared pet food were recalled.

Some owners lost their dogs and cats, because a type of plastic called melamine had found its way into pet food! This was traced to a Chinese sourced wheat gluten contamination with melamine. Why pet food manufacturers use wheat gluten in pet food is a mystery - it is a VERY POOR source of protein!

We make our own homemade dog food for a number of reasons - one of them being the unknown composition of commercial dog food!

Why DOES canned or packet food look and smell so similar, no matter what brand you buy?

I was always suspicious, the commercials show lovely piles of beef or even chicken breast fillet and vegetables etc. How COULD they put that in there, those cuts are so expensive?

Well basic economics says they don’t! But what makes me angry is their attempts at deception!

We started making homemade dog food, some time after I got an Insiders look at what is called a “protein recovery unit”.

I nicknamed it the Beak Factory because this plant used leftovers from a chicken processor - heads (beak and all), feet, feathers and gizzards - and turned it into a foul smelling dirty brown powder destined to go into pet-food!

It stank so bad and that smell got into my hair and on my clothes and I am not exaggerating when I say the smell hung around me for the entire day!

This protein powder is often among the first ingredients listed on the pack or can - and goes by the name meat by-products or sometimes meat meal. It’s part of the reason that commercial dry biscuits almost always smell the same! If you’re game - try eating one of those biscuits yourself - see what your dog has been putting up with!

But you see because this protein powder undergoes a high temperature process during manufacture, it’s deemed to be safe for pets.

But the huge dumpsters of heads, carcasses, feet, feathers etc I SAW were left at ambient temperature for who knows how long - so you can imagine the putrid condition they were in?

I REFUSE to feed this refuse, which is what it really is - GARBAGE - to our dogs! Because while they MAY have killed the bacteria in this rubbish, what they may not destroy are some of the toxins that the bacteria produce as part of their action!

In addition to the bacterial toxins; there may also be toxins produced by moulds and fungi; known as aflatoxins and mycotoxins and some of these are known to be heat tolerant!

Now I don’t want to bore you with a lot of technical info on toxins - but I do want you to see that I am not exaggerating!

So here’s just one article - on just one bacteria - Staphylococcus aureus. About 1/2 way down the page you’ll see a comment about the toxin it produces and its resistance to heat in cooking: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/staphylococcus_food_g.htm

And that is just one bacteria - there are lots more! Try Googling the words Aflatoxin, Mycotoxin or bacterial toxins for yourself!

Plus there’s potentially accumulated insecticide residues in the concentrated bird feathers…..AND I’m not even going to mention the stories we’ve read about euthanised animal carcasses from vets or abbatoir animals that were diseased - or road kill!

In short - it HAS ALWAYS BEEN potentially contaminated dog food! But even if you totally ignore the contamination issue - it’s STILL a very cheap and nasty source of protein!

Because it’s labelled as Pet Food Not For Human Consumption - there is far less scrutiny, concern and accountability! FACT IS : they HAVE to label it as UNFIT - ask yourself why would that be?

Why would you feed this stuff to any pet that you care about? We love our dogs - so to avoid food based on rubbish, with added soy protein, colourings and other additives - we make our own homemade dog food exclusively!

And here’s the thing - Homemade dog food is not only BETTER FOR YOUR DOG it’s also far cheaper than than commercial dog food - here in Australia, we can feed an adult Staffordshire Bull Terrier for about 45c per day!

Now’s when the Pet food companies and some veterinarians comment that the food that you make needs to be complete. It’s like it’s some sort of mystery; as if we are too stupid to do it ourselves! I take offense at their attempts to manipulate us into buying their products!

Dogs have shared human lives for thousands of years (long before pet food companies) - and NEVER became extinct due to malnutrition!

Let me state this - anyone who can read and can cook - can make their own high quality homemade dog food! All it takes is a bit of time and planning and since its easier to make in bulk - a bit of freezer space.

Canine nutrition has also been very well researched and published and now that we live in an information age; this information can be freely distributed worldwide!

Sure there are some basics - when making homemade dog food it’s important to remember that dogs are meat eaters (carnivorous). Since meat is almost entirely made up of proteins - protein is therefore an essential component in dog diets!

But did you know that many canned or dried foods are based on plant sources of protein (often Soy beans - and no wonder they fart so much); because vegetable proteins are MUCH cheaper than animal proteins

But vegetable based proteins like those found in soy beans, chickpeas, lentils etc are not complete in all the amino acids found in animal proteins like meat, fish and dairy.

To overcome this lack of complete proteins pet food manufacturers add the the horrible smelling powder I mentioned earlier!

In his book Home Prepared Dog and Cat Diets, The Healthful Alternative, - when speaking about commercially prepared pet food, Donald Stromberg had this to say:

“The cost of pet foods is lessened by using no more animal protein, than is necessary. Using sources of animal proteins not fit for human consumption also reduces the cost. For example, animal meat meals are unfit for human consumption. Some meat meal protein is from animals that died and were beginning to decompose.” (pg. 35)

Stromberg gives a figure of 13% protein for growing dogs and 19% for aging dogs. I always aim that homemade dog food falls into this higher protein range.

Since dogs in the wild are predominantly meat eating, most of their dietary protein will come from animal or insect sources - I use animal proteins.

However dogs also can and do eat fruit - foxes are known to eat blackberries and undoubtedly other fruit, for example grapes from a vineyard or fruit from an orchard. Our Staffords love all kinds of fruit - including banana!

I also vary the protein content of my homemade dog food, according to the needs of my dogs.

One of our girls (an Australian Terrier) is now 11 years old and diabetic, so her diet is quite high in protein and very low in fat. Pregnant bitches and growing puppies need considerably more protein and also need more total food quantity.

However when using meat as your source of protein, you CAN cause problems for the dog if the food is not balanced with the correct minerals. Red meat alone; will supply good levels of protein and iron, but almost no calcium and phosphorus for example.

Dogs in the wild forage on a variety of foods and would eat an entire rabbit for example - fur, bones gizzards and all! When they do this they are able to extract ALL of the minerals in the bones and intestines of the animal — so their diet is more balanced!

When making homemade dog food, it’s important to aim for this balance between protein, vitamins and minerals! When you use my homemade dog food recipes you’ll see that one of my principle protein sources is skinless chicken necks.

I use these because of their high protein/low fat ratio and low price - PLUS - the added advantage of the minerals like calcium, phosphorus and potassium etc, available in the bone!

AND skinless chicken necks are often available at low cost as human grade fresh meat in the deli departments of many supermarkets or poultry meat stores, which means they MUST be fit for human consumption!

Right here and right now then; your homemade dog food is streets ahead of commercial pet food, because you are using quality, nutritious and balanced protein from clean, safe food sources!

Try making your own Home-made Dog food I guarantee that your dog will love the REAL food that you are giving - instead of the psuedo food that he has been forced to accept until now!

Steve Gaskin is an author of Dog Training Articles - he and his wife own and breed Staffordshire Bull Terriers. For more information on dogs and dog training - for Ebook reviews and a FREE Home-made Dog Food Recipe visit: http://dogloverstoolbox.com

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You need to know what’s really in the food you are feeding your dog. As your dog, cat or pet’s guardian, the greatest gift you can give is every chance at good health! The gift of good health starts with the quality of nutrition that affects every aspect of your dog’s well-being.

The diets of our pets are a far cry from the primarily raw protein diets with a lot of variety of their ancestors. Canines and felines cannot live healthy lives without eating meat. Your pet’s teeth are designed for tearing meat and their stomachs are built to break down meat into important nutrients. One increasingly good popular choice is a holistic raw diet — a diet that has been popular for European pets for decades that supplies higher quality protein sources coming from high quality meat, with only natural preservatives, no by-products and no food coloring.

Do you know what’s really in dog food? Many dog foods are manufactured so poorly that vitamins are supplemented. Heat processing, standard in the pet food industry, destroys important nutrients with up to 100% loss of certain vitamins, up to 60% loss of amino acids, and up to 10% loss of fatty acids. Probiotics and enzymes are destroyed, and fats used in processing can be toxic or rancid. But that is not the worst of the story, and why you should know what is really in the dog food you are feeding, and why a holistic diet should be chosen.

Not all of the pet food manufacturing companies use poor quality and potentially dangerous ingredients, but the vast majority do. Commercially rendered meat meals are often highly contaminated with bacteria such as Salmonella, sourced from animals that died from disease, injury, or natural causes, that may not be rendered or cooked until days after death. While the cooking process may kill bacteria, it does not eliminate the endotoxins resulting from the bacteria. These toxins can cause disease.

Multinational pet food producers through advertising have a tremendously loyal market in which to capitalize on their and others’ waste products, and have a reliable source for such bulk materials.

In 1990, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that euthanized animals were being used in pet food. Pet food manufacturers have vehemently denied the report; however, the American Veterinary Medical Association has confirmed the Chronicle’s story as to what is really in the dog and cat food.

Companion pets and zoo animals are euthanized with sodium pentobarbital and then processed and rendered. The sodium pentobarbital poison does not break down in the processing and goes into many commercial pet foods and feed for cows, pigs and horses.

The FDA’s Center For Veterinary Medicine concluded that it is highly unlikely a dog will experience any adverse effects from exposures to low levels of pentobarbital found in popular commercial pet foods, but such foods would not be allowed for human consumption. Furthermore, informed consumers who love and want the best for their dog companions would not choose to feed such ingredients if they knew what was really in their dogs’ food.

Part of the “witches brew” processed into dog food is slaughterhouse waste including possibly diseased and cancerous meat, grains considered unfit for human consumption, rancid grease and different fats, stabilized with powerful antioxidants to retard further spoilage. These fats are sprayed directly onto dried kibble to make an otherwise bland or distasteful product palatable.

The most commonly used antioxidant preservative is ethoxyquin(EQ) that has been found in dogs’ livers and tissues months after it had been removed from their diet. EQ has been proven to have a synergistic effect that may lead to the development of certain types of cancer and may promote liver disease and other medical problems.

Governmental rules require ingredients to be listed from the largest amount to smallest. Protein is crucial to your dog’s health, yet sources such as soybean meal, corn glutens, corn meal, whole corn, and ground or crushed corn is what is really in many dog foods as protein ingredients. While dogs do need some grains, too many commercial dog foods use grains as a substitute for meat. As a result, most dog foods list grains long before meat in their ingredients, but proponents of holistic dog food know meat should be the number one ingredient in any decent dog food. Ideally, the meat should be high quality human grade, making your dog’s chances for developing a protein deficiency very low. A good holistic feeding plan provides the proper level of vitamins and minerals — greater than many commercial dog foods –so you don’t need to give your pet supplements.

Sadly, protein deficiencies are common among dogs and result in health issues such as excessive shedding, damaged whiskers, poor appetite, compromised immune systems, gas, burping, smelly stools, diarrhea, vomiting, chronic skin and/or ear infections, smelly breath, brown teeth, dull and/or smelly coat, and personality issues associated with aggression or timidity.

Up until now you my not have realized what is really in dog food. Now that you have been exposed to some facts, become informed about what’s really in your dog’s food to give your pet companion the best chance at good health.

Informative Video

We have existed as a company since 1985, but it was a love of dogs, the dogs that have been a part of our life, and the passing of one dog in particular, Rusty, that inspired the creation of http://www.CalloftheDog.com and http://www.CalloftheDogShop.com — created to provide the things your dogs and pets need. Visit us for great information and quality dog supplies! Be sure to see our About Us page as well.

The two sites are dedicated to the dogs we have loved so deeply, and who have given us so much love in return. Purebreds and mixed breeds, but mostly rescues in need of a home. We educated them, but each one has had something to teach us in exchange.

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In the course of a year several new dog and cat food products will be launched onto the UK pet food market. Some of these will be manufactured by the big boys, Masterfoods or Nestle Purina, who will conduct scientific feeding trials, but others come from small companies who really are just marketing and distributing - they have no manufacturing facilities and make use of independent manufacturers who produce food for anyone. Several well known and well advertised UK brands and a host of smaller brands are produced centrally and simply distributed by the brand owners.

Small companies cannot afford the luxury of Research & Development facilities, they also do not have the facilities to do their own pet food feeding trials. Let’s face it, they are up against the might of the Waltham centre for Pet Nutrition operated by the company that brings you Pedigree, Royal Canin and the like. Their publicity states

‘Set in the heart of the English countryside, the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition is a state-of-the-art facility that unifies all of the research and development expertise of the Mars group of pet care companies worldwide.

Waltham collaborates with many of the world’s most prestigious universities and academics in advancing nutritional research and worldwide the Mars Group employs more than 100 dedicated veterinarians and 500 scientists (plus several of the world’s leading companion animal nutritionists).’

No small company can compete with the might of such a multi-national company.

So is the pet food I feed safe?

That’s an interesting question! Large pet food companies can afford the facilities of a testing centre, so what goes on there?

Well, the rules for conducting feeding trials seem to be all based around AAFCO guidelines.

Masterfoods say this about their feeding trials ‘Adult maintenance trials may take six months to complete. A full veterinary examination is also conducted to ensure the pets used in the trial are healthy. Food intakes and body weights are recorded throughout the trial period along with other important indicators such as oral health, skin and coat health, body condition and faecal quality.

‘At the conclusion of the trial a blood sample is taken to detect any nutritional deficiencies or excesses. As a further measure to assess palatability, in home feeding trials are conducted as we have access to approximately 8,000 households. This ensures we get a true reflection of pets’ acceptance and preference of the product range. Some pet food products may take up to three years to develop because of this rigorous three-step testing process.’

What about a small company?

You will probably find that small companies tell you that they do not conduct feeding trials because they do not consider them necessary - usually a new food is given to staff and family to try out on their pets. If there are no adverse comments from users over a four or six week period then the food is launched to the general public.

This can work out fine, but essentially they are using pet owners around the country to do their long term food trials. I know of ocassions where a food has been launched in this way and then caused health problems that were not picked up during the initial food tasting.

However, it also has to be said that all new pet food recipes have their origin at feeding trials which have been done in the past. The AAFCO nutritional guidlines have been used for years as the base figures for formulating pet food recipes, and you or I could probably put together a fine quality pet food based upon those guidlines - but we have to bear in mind that these were established through nutritional feeding trials, and have been ammended no doubt since based upon current knowledge.

For this reason, unless a recipe is using very novel ingredients, or formulated with proportions of ingredients that vary greatly from other foods on the market, it is generally assumed that these foods will be perfectly safe for the pets that they have been created for.

So, maybe pet owners do need to ask themselves a question. If I am trying a new pet food, am I happy that this food has been extensively trialled over a period of 6 months to 2 years and proved by scientific methods to be beneficial to health - or am I comfortable that a food has been formulated to a similar recipe to others on the market, given out to a dozen or so pet owners and over a short period of time no adverse comments made?

The choice is ours!

The author, who originally trained as a food technologist has, in his time owned dogs, cats, hamsters and birds, sold pet food and spent the past decade marketing it. Now down to one cat, one dog and running Pet Food Choice, a website full of information on pet food choices, money-saving ideas and much more - http://www.pet-food-choice.co.uk

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There is a lot of controversy with dog owners over which dog food is better. Some people have no idea what makes a good dog food. They buy the most expensive brand because they assume it must be a top quality dog food. Others feel that dog food is dog food and if their dog seems to be healthy then they see no reason to spend the extra money on a premium brand.

Before we look at dog food costs, let’s begin with what makes a good dog food. A top quality dog food depends on the quality of ingredients and the nutritional power of the food. It should offer a balanced diet and contain superior sources of protein as one of the first two ingredients. This can include whole fresh meats or single-source meat meal like chicken meal (rather than poultry meal). A top dog food would also contain whole, unprocessed grains plus vegetables and even fruits. It would have few fillers such as corn, soy, brewer’s rice and wheat bran. It would use natural preservatives instead of chemicals like propylene glycol and BHT or BHT.

Supermarket Dog Foods vs. Premium Brands: Which is a Better Value for the Money?
Some people experience sticker shock when they compare the price of a premium dog food with an economy brand. Many dog foods found in supermarkets are so-called economy brands, which, surprisingly, end up costing more to feed your dog than top rated premium dog foods. Why? Because “economy” dog foods tend to be lower in nutrients than premium foods and you have to feed your dog more to get the same nutritional punch of a more expensive premium brand. For example, the recommended feeding instructions for one supermarket brand say to feed approximately 6 cups a day for a 35-50 lb dog. The label on an ultra-premium dog food recommends about 1 ¾ to 2 cups per day. That’s around three times as much of the standard dog food vs. the premium food. So now which costs less? And just think about the extra poop you will have to scoop if you’re feeding your dog six cups a day! Some lower end dog food manufacturers have even reduced the recommended feeding amount to make their food look more economical.

Lower end dog foods usually contain corn meal as one of the main ingredients (an acceptable protein source, but may cause allergies in some dogs), plus chicken or animal byproducts or rendered meat/poultry. Byproducts are ground, rendered, pieces of the carcasses of slaughtered animals or poultry and can include heads, feet, necks, and viscera. These are less nutritious but are often used in lower-quality dog foods because they are much cheaper than whole turkey, chicken, or meat. Rendered is often referred to as “byproducts meal” and it means the cooked and processed remains of the leftovers in meat and poultry processing. Yuck!

What Should You Look for in a Dog Food?

Learn how to read the label. Better dog foods are made from whole product, such as chicken, turkey, and lamb. Also check the label to see if the protein source is free of hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides. Chicken fat is a very good source of linoleic acid, which helps makes dogs’ coats healthy and shiny. Also check the fiber content. Three to four percent fiber is recommended for solid stools. Avoid dog foods that have rendered meats, poultry or fats, animal byproducts, added growth hormones, brain or spinal tissue, artificial colors, artificial flavors, preservatives, and for dogs that may have allergies, avoid corn, soy, wheat, and eggs.

So what About the Cost?

There are many excellent dog foods on the market, and a variety of prices. Buying a top quality dog food doesn’t necessarily mean you will be paying the most; understanding the ingredients list and getting value for your money is what counts.

Valerie Goettsch is webmaster of My Favorite Dog featuring articles and information on top dog foods, dog health issues, training, and more.

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Food is where we get the nutrients we need to keep us healthy and full of energy. Like humans, dogs need nutrients to be healthy all the time. Dogs should be fed with the best quality dog food and not just any commercial food available.

It is essential to choose the right kind of food for your canine companion. Dog owners sometimes make the mistakes of just feeding their dogs with unhealthy dog food overlooking their dog’s health. Best quality dog food increases the lifespan of your dog. There are cases that some commercial dog foods are linked to the deaths of thousands of dogs. This can be prevented if you feed your dog with nutritious food.

The nutrients needed by your dog cannot be supplied by just any commercial food available and if your dog is deprived of the needed nutrients, he will eventually become sick and weak. Aside from lack of nutrients the preservatives in commercial dog food can destroy your dog’s health. Be cautions and learn to read commercial dog food labels. Best quality dog food can only be obtained from a well-balanced dog food recipes made at home.

It will surprise you that preparing home made dog food is a lot cheaper and rich in nutrients. If you love your dog you should make time to prepare his food and make sure it is healthy. Of course to help you prepare the best quality dog food, you need to understand the nutritional needs of your dog.

“Dog Food Secrets” will help you become an expert in dog nutritional requirements with the simple-to-follow guide to the 6 major food components essential for your dog’s health. You will instantly learn how to prepare the best quality dog food at home.

Super charge your dog with hand-picked, all-natural, nutritionally balanced, easy-to-make, home-made dog food recipes. This one of a kind, step-by-step survival guide makes your dog live a longer, healthier life, so you enjoy up to 8.3 more years of happiness and companionship with your dog. Discover how to prepare the best quality dog food visit Dog Food Secrets at Dogs’ Corner

To know more about pets visit All About Pets

Gerry Restrivera writes informative articles on various subjects Best Quality Dog Food for Your Dog’s Health. You are allowed to publish this article in its entirety provided that author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and included with every reproduction.

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With slick advertising, colorful bags, and multiple aisles of different brands, choosing the right food for your dog can be a confusing and daunting task. However, a number of key factors that contribute to making the right decision can be found right on the dog food label!

The first thing to remember when selecting a food for your dog is to completely ignore the bright and colorful pictures on the fronts of the bags! Many dog food bags are designed to attract the attention of the humans seeking them out and use adorable pictures of dogs and appealing colors to give the impression that the contents of the bag are as wonderful as the outside design. In many cases, however, this is not the case and, in fact, this is usually an indication of the exact opposite! Although people are often fooled by cute pictures, clever slogans, and perfectly shaped and colored nuggets of food, the reality is that the most important aspect of any dog food is its nutritional content and not the clever packaging design or delicious-looking nuggets.

One of the best indicators of the quality of a particular brand of dog food is the list of ingredients and, by far, the most important ingredient to look at is the very first one that appears on the list! Generally, the first ingredient comprises between 70% and 80% of the total content of the food and the first three ingredients combined make up 90% to 95% of the food! Dogs are naturally carnivores and, as such, they require their main staple to be some kind of meat in order to achieve optimum health.

Therefore, it is always best to choose a food that uses some type of meat as the first ingredient. The best foods will list meats as all three of the first ingredients and others will list one or more “fillers”, or digestible content that adds little or no nutritional value to the food. Nearly all dog food manufacturers use some kind of filler in their food, such as corn or wheat and the general rule is that the highest quality foods will have the least amount of fillers.

Dog foods can basically be broken down into three separate categories based on nutritional content and quality of ingredients used: Super Premium, Premium, and Generic. Super Premium foods are often manufactured by smaller sized companies and are usually only available in specialized pet stores. They use the highest quality ingredients and have an outstanding nutritional balance that can possibly add years to a dog’s life! Some Super Premium brands include, Royal Canin, Blue Buffalo, and Artemis. Premium foods use good quality ingredients and generally have a proper nutritional balance. Some Premium brands include, Iams, Science Diet, and Nutro. With the exception of Iams, Premium brands can usually only be pound in pet stores. Generic foods are usually the least expensive and the easiest to find (these are the one found in grocery stores, Walmarts, etc). They use the least expensive ingredients and some brands change ingredients frequently, based on meat market prices (this can be very detrimental to a dog’s digestive system, especially in sensitive breeds). Some Generic brands include Pedigree, Alpo, and Beneful.

When choosing a food for your dog, it is important to understand what each brand offers nutrition and quality-wise. With a quick glance at the ingredient label, you can often make a fairly accurate assessment of the quality of any given brand and make the right choice for you and your dog!

Learn more about Dogs and Puppies on Don Krnel’s site dogsandpuppies.info

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