Why is Your Dog's Diet Directly Related to Their Health?

     You have heard, "You are what you eat" as it relates to people, but did you know this same concept relates to dogs as well? The health of your dog's skin, coat, ears, and eyes are directly related to his diet. Therefore, the better you feed your dog, the better health he or she will enjoy, and you will be happy to spend less money at your veterinarian due to health-related illnesses that could have been avoided by diet.

How Do You Choose Food?

Many people assume they are feeding their dogs well because they buy the most popular and colorful bag of dog food at their local grocery store. Unfortunately, foods you buy at your grocery store are typically grain-heavy and lack sufficient meat content. What does this mean? It means your dog, which thrives on animal protein such as chicken, turkey, and duck is getting mostly grains such as corn and wheat, which many dogs have a difficult time digesting. Over time, these grain-heavy dog foods can cause obesity and many health-related illnesses that can shorten your dog's life, which dog lovers already know that dogs do not live long enough even if they live until they are 20 years old.

It is best not to buy your dog food from the grocery store. Rather, head to a feed store in your area or a specialized pet food store. These will often carry many of the meat-based diets, which mean that they include more meats than they do grains and they lack artificial ingredients, which can (over the life of your pet) cause health problems. Begin reading the labels, if the dog food has grains, they should be rice and barley, which have less allergic reactions in dogs, but the first ingredient should be meat, such as chicken meal, turkey meal, or salmon meal. You can also choose a grain-free dog food that consists of high quality meats, no grains, and typically uses potatoes as a way to hold the dry dog food together. Therefore, if the food has one meat source and just potatoes, watch the protein content, you do not want it too high, but 25 percent to 30 percent is good with a fat content of about 14 to 18 percent.

Choosing a Good Company

One of the responsibilities of being a pet owner is to make sure you do a bit of research online concerning the pet food brand you are considering giving your dog to make sure it is rated highly with other consumers and that there are no recent or previous recalls due to manufacturing problems. When you have done your homework and believe in the company that you are trusting to make your dog's food, you can feel good about giving it to your dog.

Final Thoughts

The bottom line is that the nutrition you give your dog directly affects their health especially as they begin aging. If you feed them a good diet as a puppy through adulthood as they reach their senior years, you will be making less veterinarian trips, which of course makes you and your dog happy!