So, you’re getting a dog for the first time and still clueless about which dog food to get. With the number of dog foods available in countless online and offline stores today, choosing the perfect food for your dog can be tough. This is especially true if you don’t know what qualifies as “good dog food.”
Choosing the right dog food for your pet is important because it affects your dog’s digestive system, their susceptibility to any food allergy, and the quality of their overall health. Feed your dog with this type of food, and they’ll eventually become weak and ill.
Regardless if you’re planning to give your dog wet food or dry dog food, we’ve got you covered. Below are some of the most important tips to follow when choosing dog food:
Pay Attention To The Meat Ingredients
One of the most important factors to consider when selecting your dog’s food is the ingredients. Keep in mind that canines evolved as carnivores and would need to consume meat regularly to stay active and healthy. Let’s talk about different kinds of meats often found in dog foods because not all meats are created equal.
Meat By-Products
Meat by-products are something you don’t want in your dog’s food. Meat by-product means any part of an animal can be used. For example, if the label of the dog food says chicken by-product, it means that any part of the chicken is added to the recipe. This can include eyeballs, intestines, beaks, feathers, and feet.
Another reason why you should avoid any commercial dog food with meat by-products is because some dog food manufacturers use animals that are very sick or were already dead before slaughtering. In short, meat by-products are leftovers from animals and don’t have any nutritional value.
We recommend giving your puppies and adult dogs with dog food that doesn’t contain any meat by-products. Always check the label to ensure that the dog food is 100% free from any type of meat by-products.
Meat “Meal”
The best dry and wet dog foods have a chicken meal, poultry meal, salmon meal, lamb meal, or any type of meat meal on their labels. Unlike meat by-products, meat meals consist entirely of meat, bone, and skin. This makes meat meal a better ingredient than any meat by-product.
One of the reasons why dog foods contain meat meals is because it’s condensed meat that contains high levels of animal fat and protein. This ingredient is highly beneficial to your dog’s diet because it gives them energy, improves their nerve function, and aids in creating cells.
The biggest problem when it comes to meat meals is that some companies might use animals that are diseased, dying, deformed, or dead before slaughtering. Dog food companies aren’t required to disclose this information in their production process and dog food labels.
Almost all dog foods use meat meals in their recipe. To determine which to buy and feed to your fur baby, check dog food reviews. Pay attention to what other pet parents are saying about a specific dog food company and whether their dogs experienced any symptoms.
Whole Meats
If you want to give the best dog food to your four-legged friend, look for one that contains whole meat. These types of meats are often labeled as salmon, lamb, beef, whole chicken, or even fresh chicken. This is a premium ingredient and is usually human-grade meat.
The amount of moisture found in whole meats is one of the biggest reasons why it’s different from other types of meat. Whole meats contain up to 70% moisture, while the moisture from meat by-products is actually removed before they’re processed into a kibble. This means that whole meat contains fewer nutrients than a meat meal.
Know Which Ingredients To Avoid
Now that you know the different types of meats used in pet foods, it’s time to dig deeper and talk about the ingredients you should avoid when choosing a dog food. Many cheap dog foods use these ingredients, making dog owners think that they’re getting more, but it’s the complete opposite. These ingredients are fillers and don’t contribute to canine nutrition.
The best dog foods sold in the market today don’t contain any of the ingredients below:
Grain
Dogs’ genes have evolved through the years, allowing them to digest different types of nutrition, such as grain. However, just because your dog can digest grain doesn’t mean that you should feed them with dog food that contains this ingredient. In fact, it’s better if your dog sticks to a grain-free diet.
Canned foods that contain grain can actually contribute to obesity in canines. An obese dog is more susceptible to several health problems, such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer. The quality of your dog’s life will also change once they’re obese as they become too weak to fulfill daily activities, such as running, walking, and jumping.
Invest in a dog food brand that doesn’t contain any grain. Grain-free foods can contribute to your dog’s complete and balanced nutrition, eliminate symptoms of food allergies, and are easier to digest. Choosing grain-free food for your dog also supports healthy skin and coats.
Meat By-Product
As mentioned earlier, meat by-products can include the heads, feet, blood, intestines, feathers, lungs, ligaments of a diseased, dead, or sick animal. These aren’t the best sources of vitamins and minerals for your fur baby, so make sure you don’t feed them with dog food that contains any of these.
Beef Tallow
Beef tallow is a low-quality fat source that is often used to improve the taste of the food and encourage canines to eat more. However, this ingredient does very little to your dog’s diet and nutritional requirements.
Instead of beef tallow, choose dog food with naturally-derived and high-quality fat sources, such as chicken fat or poultry fat. These ingredients are packed with vitamins C and E, which are highly essential in pet nutrition.
Animal Fat
Animal fat is a very generic term for poultry or mammal fat that has been rendered from unknown sources. Again, you want meat, fat, and other ingredients found in your dog’s food to be as specific as possible.
Food Fragments
Food fragments usually consist of low-quality leftovers from other types of food from the company’s manufacturing process. Oftentimes, this ingredient includes leftover waste white rice that has been used in the production of different alcohol products. Some food fragments also contain cereal food fines, peanut hulls, potato products, mill runs, and brewers’ rice. These ingredients don’t qualify for high-quality food, so make sure to avoid them at all costs.
Artificial And Sugar Sweeteners
A good dog food doesn’t contain sugar and other sweeteners, such as corn syrup, fructose, glucose, sorbitol, ammoniated glycyrrhizin, and xylitol. These ingredients are used to make dog foods tastier but negatively impact your dog’s diet.
Artificial and sugar sweeteners add unnecessary calories to your dog’s body and don’t contain any nutritional value. Long-term and excessive consumption of these ingredients also triggers obesity, nervousness, hyperactivity, and tooth decay.
Animal Digest
Always check the pet food label before buying any dog food. Make sure that it doesn’t contain any animal digest as this contains unspecified animal parts that are cooked down into a broth and then sprayed into the food. Food companies don’t often disclose the specific ingredients of animal digest or how it’s processed, so avoid buying any dog food that contains this ingredient.
Artificial Coloring
Food coloring is added to dog food to make it more appealing to humans. However, when choosing the best dog food, never settle for the looks. It’s more important to look into the ingredients as these can make or break your pet’s health.
Avoid any dog food that contains food coloring, as this ingredient has been linked to behavioral problems, allergy-type symptoms, and even cancer. Regardless if you have puppies, adults, or senior dogs, don’t feed them food with this ingredient.
Hydrochloric Acid
Some dog food manufacturers add hydrochloric acid to their products to help dogs digest their food. However, hydrochloric acid is naturally produced by dogs in their bodies to break down food, which is why you don’t need to feed them food that contains this ingredient.
Consider Your Dog’s Life Stage
Many dog foods sold in the market today are labeled as “complete and balanced nutrition for all life stages.” Reading this label might seem very convenient but might not actually be the best option for your puppy or senior dog. Keep in mind that dogs also have different nutritional requirements at different life stages.
When choosing dog food for your fur baby, always consider their life stage. For example, if you’re taking care of a puppy, choose a dog food that supports their growth and contains a single-source protein, namely beef, chicken, tuna, lamb, or turkey. Puppies should also be fed dog food with at least 25% protein.
An adult dog, on the other hand, usually is less active than puppies and will require less amount of fat and protein. Senior dogs (seven years old and above) need protein to help them keep healthy muscle mass.
Research Your Brand
Once you find a dog food brand that uses dog-friendly ingredients, do your homework and research more about the brand. Where do they source their proteins? What kind of quality control checks do they conduct before selling their products? How do they manufacture their dog foods? You should have answers to all of these questions before buying any dog food from any brand.
The best dog foods are made by brands that are transparent not only about their ingredients but also how they source them. You should be able to see all of this information (and more) on the brand’s website, customer reviews, or their product page.
Researching the brand you’re eyeing to buy from will require a lot of time and effort, but doing so will be worth it in the long run. You don’t want to give your fur baby dog food that will cause them to throw up, right?
Ask For Expert Advice
Finding the best food for your dog doesn’t have to be a one-man show. There are many agencies that can help you narrow down your options, so you’ll end up giving the best food for your fur baby regardless of their age, breed, and nutritional needs.
For one, the Association of American Feed Control Officials or AAFCO has established the basic nutritional requirements and labeling requirements for dogs. The agency governs what food companies can legitimately claim and cannot claim in their products.
The label accuracy of the AAFCO governs how food is described and how much food ingredients must be included. Here are some examples:
- Foods that claim to be “entrée” or “dinner” should contain at least 25% of the named ingredient
- Foods that state they’re “flavored” should only contain a trace amount of that ingredient
- Foods that state things like “with” a specific ingredient should only contain no more than 3% of that ingredient
Work With A Vet
Before introducing any dog food to your fur baby, consult a vet first. As mentioned, feeding your dog with the wrong type of dog food can have detrimental effects on their health. Instead of improving your pet’s health, the wrong dog food will likely trigger health problems.
By talking to a vet, you’ll be guided on the best dog food based on the unique needs of your fur baby. Your vet can also recommend the correct serving proportions and frequency to ensure that your dog doesn’t get too much or too little of their dog food.