Just
remember...A Healthy, Natural Diet will add years to your
pet's life!
Doggy Dinner: Choosing a Quality Dog Food
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 Canine, 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 found 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!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Learn more about Dogs and Puppies on Don Kernel’s site www.dogsandpuppies.info
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| Your
pet should eat foods that are nutritious, raw, lots of fiber,
organic, natural and drink a lot of clean water. So see to it
that you give your pet the best nutritious pet foods in the
market. Make sure that they have enough organic nutrition to
keep them healthy. When choosing quality organic,
natural dog food
or holistic petfood
I always go with these manufacturers. The same is true when
choosing organic
cat food.
 Natural
Treats - Many people, when they read
what is in commercial pet treats, are not happy about the
fillers and preservatives used so they choose to make or buy
gourmet pet treats with only natural ingredients. Try Liver
Biscotti as a great training treat.
Even if
you think you're feeding your dog an ideal diet, it may not
be so. For years my vet complimented me on the great health
of my dogs due to the largely raw diet I fed them, but little
did I realise that down the track they would begin to develop
degenerative conditions which I can now only attribute to
a failure to supplement with vitamins and/or balanced holistic
food.Choose your pet
medication and pet
supplements wisely. For
more help, check out our free
resource articles.
The merchants recommended
on our site have been chosen carefully. All have products
of quality materials and workmanship, easy payment options,
shipping and returns policies.
High
quality brands
of supplements, food and supplies. Low shipping!
| Visit
Sojourner
Farms, and learn more about their fresh foods program
for dogs and cats, and how you can make all-natural,
homemade pet food in minutes. |
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These
small, crouton-sized treats are the perfect size for
carrying in your pocket during training, walking, or
just treating for good behavior. |
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