With such a large number of different types of dog foods out there, which dog food should you buy to ensure my pet's good health? It is a responsible dog owner's job to select a balanced and nutritious dog food for your dog.
To select the best dog food for your dog, you must examine the label on the dog food carefully. Do not just scan through it. You need to read everything it says.
The ingredients of the dog food will be listed in the order from largest weight to smallest. This allows you to know what specific foods in what amounts are present in the food.
- If the first line of the ingredient says "whole meat", you can disregard it because this measurement is taken before the meat is processed.
- Animal by-products that are used in dog food symbolize inferior quality dog food.
- Watch for the moisture intensity: whenever it is above 11, the dry matter basis is said to be of poor quality.
Things to watch out for:
- When chicken or beef meal is the first ingredient listed on the ingredients list, this is a good sign. This means that the the protein level is much higher than it would be should whole meat be listed as the first ingredient.
- One great thing about premier dog foods is that they don't contain any animal by-products.
- An ideal dog food should contain at most 10% moisture. Premium dog foods usually fall into this category.
The difference between chicken meal and chicken is that chicken meal means that it has been cooked to destroy bacteria, while chicken is just pure chicken.
Water takes up the majority of a chicken's weight. If the ingredients list states there is 60% chicken, this figure is not quite accurate because that number is before the chicken is baked to destroy bacteria and other unwanted materials. So be careful.
However, when the label on the bag says 60% of chicken meal, you're getting more of the chicken because the product has already been baked to remove bacteria.
Since there are a wide variety of dog food today, the best way to ensure that your dog has a healthy diet is to always be aware of the ingredients in the dog food.
Keep in mind that if your dog is not eating healthy dog food, or if your choice of dog food does not carry the prescribed, needed ingredients, your dog will not be able to maintain proper health and can become sick. Worse, he might even die.
If you give your dog inferior quality dog food, your dog is the one who will suffer in the end. Surely you don't want that to happen, do you? Only feed your dog with the highest quality dog food to ensure its healthiness.
