Choose The Right Dog Food

Feeding your dog anything doesn’t mean it is healthy. When it comes to balanced food or nutrition, dogs are most critical in their nutrition. An unbalanced food can cause your dog’s health problems and may suffer to live a shorter and less happy life.

Know Your Dog’s Food :

As per the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), Dogs also require more than 50 key nutrients, like vitamin C and minerals like magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus. An average dog diet contains 50% vegetable, 40% meat,  micro-nutrients (omega 3 fatty acids for skin and brain function) and 10% grain. Grown dogs need a minimum of 18% protein on a dry matter basis, whereas puppies require at least 22%. All dogs also require some fat, amount dependent on their level of activity. Dogs also need approximately 4% of their diets to be fiber.

Select Best Food :

People are often confused about whether they should feed dry food, moist food or canned. This totally depends on the individual animal. According to AAFCO, food is said to contain a single ingredient, it must contain at least 95% of that ingredient, not including water.

By reviewing the list of ingredients on the back of the bag is a good start to select balance and healthy food for your dog. By law, pet food labels must list their ingredients by weight. Look for meat, fish, egg, or some type of meat meal or fish meal as the first or second ingredient. There are many known brands of very well-formulated food to a group of dogs like Pedigree, Royal Canin, Drools, Hills, etc.

When to Feed Your Dog :

Dogs have different nutritional needs depending on their life stage. Make sure that the food you choose is appropriate for your dog’s stage of life. If your dog is an adult, two feedings a day is recommended. Puppies will need to eat more often to keep up with their faster metabolism and to fuel their growth. A puppy eating an adult food will not get the higher amounts of calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals he needs for proper growth. An adult dog eating puppy food is likely to become overweight.

Quick Tips :

Avoid calorie overload: Keep out your dog’s food at the beginning of the day, and that’s it, And don’t give greasy, fatty, and unfamiliar foods. Instead, feed them bland and cooked food.

Intestinal Upset: To avoid this problem, switch to a new food slowly, over the course of at least 7-10 days. Start by mixing 25% new and 75% old food, and feed that for at least 3 days. If all goes well, go to 50% of each type of food for 3 days, then 75% new and 25% old for 3 days.

Resources :

http://www.peteducation.com/

Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)

http://petfood.aafco.org/

http://www.aafco.org/