Dog Food

It seems few subject are as touchy these days as dog food. The recent recall brought it back to the attention of the masses, but really, it's been a hotly debated subject for a long time.

We're not here to rip commercial dog foods. There are plenty of websites you can go to if you are looking for that. We believe some commercial dog foods are quite good, and you can have a healthy pet by feeding him these foods. But we also know some commercial dog foods are just junk. The same can be said for organic or natural dog foods as well.

So for this article our purpose is to simply educate you on what a dog food should and should not contain. And what you should look for when reading the label.

When picking out a food, you need to consider how active your pet is and how old he is as well.

Protein is important, and also the most expensive ingredient in dog food. But it is the source of that protein that has a major effect on just how good the food is. You want animal protein, but many manufacturers will use vegetable protein instead. It's not that they don't want to use animal protein, but realistically there's probably no where near enough meat available to feed every pet dog, so vegetable protein is a good substitute. However vegetable protein is more difficult to digest. That means your dog needs to eat more to meet his needs. The more he eats, the more waste you'll need to clean up. Look for a food that has more animal protein than vegetable protein. Things like corn, soy and rice on the label indicate vegetable proteins.

And remember that more protein in the diet is not always a better thing. Show dogs and working dogs need more, but feed the same amount of protein to a mellow house dog and you'll end up with a jittery and hyper pet.

Keeping this as simple as possible, your dog's good should contain enough energy for his amount of activity every day. It should contain enough nutrients and in proper relation to each other. And you want to make sure the food contains as many ingredients as possible that are actually used by your pet's system.

With that in mind there are 3 types of commercial dog foods available. Let's look at the three choices.

Canned Foods: Like all dog foods, these vary widely in quality and price. The constant is that they are easy to prepare and most dogs absolutely love them.

However most are about 75% water mixed with meat, fish, or cereal. Most produce what are termed low energy nutrients. That means your dog needs a large serving to give him the energy he needs. Of course if your dog is large, this can get quite expensive. It's worth mixing canned foods with dry foods. This will provide better nutritional value and also save you some money.

Beware of canned foods labeled "all meat." Like other canned dog foods, these will not give your pet the proper amount of needed energy. Again large quantities won't solve the problem, it will only serve to give your pet an unbalanced diet. The solution is once again to mix it will dried foods.

Semi-Moist Foods: These foods are highly concentrated and and contain anywhere between 15% an 30% water. That means more energy for your dog while eating less than canned foods. They are easy to digest and again, dogs love them. Most have a combination of meats, cereals, vegetables, sugars and fats.

On the downside, they are expensive. They are also generally full of sugar and corn syrup, so if you dog has diabetes, these should be avoided. Semi-moist foods are also full of artificial flavors and colors. And that's why so few professional dog care experts say to stay away from them as a main diet source. They will however make good treats when training your pet.

On the plus side, they don't need to be refrigerated and are easy to store and feed.

Dry Foods: Again there is a huge difference in the quality of these foods. Dry dog foods usually only have about 10% water which is good, and they generally are less expensive and easy to store.

But examine the ingredients carefully. Most commercial dry foods are mostly cereal and are very limited in protein. Choose a brand that has meat as the number one ingredient. Stay away from foods labeled Regular, Low Protein, Light or Econo. They are full of cereal, and will produce large smelly stools because of the trouble your dog will have breaking down and digesting them. Your pet will quickly become a couch potato.

There are 26 nutrients that are now essential in any dog food that can now be labeled as balanced. We'll take a closer look at these as well as the advantages of natural, organic, and specialty foods in future articles.

Recommended Merchants

Only Natural Pet Store -This is the place to shop if you want only the best for your pet. And each product (dog food and otherwise) is reviewed by customers so you can trust your dog is getting exactly what he needs.

Dog.com - Discount Pet Supplies - This is another great website that features only high quality foods for your dog. Among their products is the highly recommended Innova dog food.

Petco.com - Petco has a huge selection of high quality dog foods for your pet. Everything from Eukanuba to Royal Canin is available here.