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Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Basic Guide on How to Choose the Best Dog Food

Dog owners work their nuts out to keep their pet healthy and happy. Food plays one of the most important roles in keeping pets healthy and active. Being a pet owner, feeding your pet a well-balanced diet is one of the essential things in maintaining his health. A nutrient-rich diet helps retain your dog's overall well-being including dental, joint, skin and coat health. It strengthens immune system, improves skin and coat sheen, and maintains the digestive system for optimal health. However, when it comes choosing a dog food, owners are in grave confusion due to lack of proper knowledge about the food.

Bringing the basic guidelines about how to find the best dog food, we would like to help you make the right choice of food for your pooch.

Follow These Steps to Know How to Find the Best Dog Food

Know What Is in The Food

The food regulatory bodies as well as food and animal welfare associations have set up some basic guidelines, which pet food companies need to follow and show it on their food labels.

When the food is developed with a single ingredient, it should always contain 95% of that ingredient excluding water. If the food company label shows a combination of ingredients, the combination need to contain at least 95% of that mixed food. For example, if a food pack claims to be made solely of fish, then fish should make up 95% of the food and if it is a mixture of two main contents, the same applies.

Some packs have phrases such as savory, entrée, dinner and platter - this means that the packaged food should have at least 25% of the showed ingredient. If the product says with turkey, cheese or beef, then only 3% of the said ingredient is necessary. Moreover, the food items stating the particular flavors should contain only a traceable amount of that advertised ingredient.

Choose by Ingredients

Whenever choosing a pet food, read the ingredients first. You may not be knowing that the ingredients listed are based on their weight. Ingredients with a heavy content of water like chicken, poultry, beef or fish are likely to make the top of the list. Going further down the list, there are key ingredients which offer key nutrients such as protein, but weigh less because the water content has already been removed for making a dry pet food.

Never Miss on Glutens and Grains

Numerous pet products contain grains, which form an important source of carbohydrates. These are good for dogs as they can easily digest, and use them as an energy source. However, some pet parents try to avoid grains in their dog food without any valid reason. Avoiding grains for dogs that are allergic is considered viable.

Furthermore, as humans have gluten allergy, they think that pets too suffer from the same allergy. So, most dog owners look for gluten-free food. On the contrary, the fact is gluten allergy is quite rare in canines.

Look for Quality

Apart from all the above mentioned facts, you need to also check for the nutritional evaluation stated on the pack. This statement reads as - "This food is complete and balanced for adult maintenance.", "This food is complete and balanced for all life stages." or "The food is complete and balanced for growth and reproduction."

Dog's nutritional requirement differ at different life stages from puppies, adult to seniors. Therefore, you need to choose the food accordingly. Never go behind the big adverts.

Consult your Vet for Advice

What amount, when, which food is good for your pooch- The answers to these is best given by your vet. Lifestyle, genetics, age, weight and reproductive status - all play a major role when it comes to what your pet should eat. If a pet is undergoing a treatment or suffering from a chronic condition like diabetes then they require special diets, which your vet may recommend. To ensure what should be fed and what not to your dog, it's always advisable to talk to your vet and ask for a dietary plan.

An all-time pet lover and an ardent pet health researcher, I always like to look little deeper into the pet products especially pet foods. And, my work at More "
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