Choosing Dog Food- Store Bought?
Most of the people think that most of the pet food that is available in the stores is not supposed to be given to your pet only because of the reason that it contains all the preservatives and are highly preserved. They are just considered as potato chips for humans, but this is not true. Giving your pet the pet food available in the market can prove out to be the best food that can be given to your pooch if the following tips are followed:
- Pet food should be chosen close to the ideal ingredient ratio for the dog’s diet which is 40% meat, 50% veggie and 10% grain food or any other carbohydrate. However, the regulated part of the label (i.e. the ingredient list) does not provide such kind of information.
- Meat ingredient will be listed first in the low quality dog foods, which can be followed by several side-products and fillers. Here in this case even if meat is listed but there would be more of fillers instead of the meat which will reduce the quality of the food.
- As dogs need animal protein and they are carnivores by nature, they can be given a well-planned vegetarian diet. . Most veterinarians and holistic practitioners agree that even if a dog can live on a vegetarian food, it can happen but they may not thrive on it.
- Preservatives may be necessary to keep the food edible, but it should be taken care of that they should not have to be artificial chemicals that might be cancer-causing agents. Pet foods that use chemical preservatives BHT, BHA and Ethoxyquin should be avoided. Vitamin E & vitamin C are good preservatives that are considered much better for your dog.
- Instead of Economy Brand dog foods, Premium Brand dog foods should be chosen. The cheapest food products are never the healthiest ones.
- it is easier on the dogs digestive system if you change you dogs food gradually and reactions to the new kind of food to which you have switched over will generally be less severe. It is advised that you gradually raise the amount of new food in the following proportion: 1/7, 1/3, 1/1, 3/1, 7/1, and 1, this being the portion of new food is to old food. Each change should be gradual and have a gap of several days (5days or so) between each change of food. The total change should take up to a month or so. This would avoid the entire digestive up settings of your dog.
- Generally, you’ll find what seems to be a good dog food has too much grain in almost every aspect. To help balance the ratios, try a grain-free canned dog food as a dry food supplement. Dogs always like to have canned food along with their food. Of course this causes a new problem in quality canned food that we will save for another article!
