Practical guide: Choose food for your dog in 5 simple steps.
One of the most challenging - if not painful - questions that plague the minds of most dog owners is which food to choose.
So for you, who really care and want the best for your little friend but at the same time you are "tortured" with questions that occupy a large part of your thinking such as:
"Which food makes for my dog?"
"Which food is the best?"
"What food do people with the same breed of dog like me prefer"
I think it's time to read below in order to be able to search and ultimately choose the most suitable food for your dog with ease and comfort.
Step 1 : Don't make the "mistake" of asking your friends what they give their own dog and getting exactly the same.
Every dog is different, a completely different organism from another. Even puppies of the exact same litter develop different digestive systems and different dietary preferences. Of course, the friend always means well to help and maybe point to a certain food to get us out of the search dilemma, but it seems that this does not help most foods. Incidents that you may have heard or even experienced include, for example, terrible gastrointestinal upset with a food that seems to have no effect on another dog.
Each dog has a unique way of digestion and specific flora in their gut that allows or prohibits them from certain foods.
Step 2 : Don't get lost in the "relentless" search on the internet.
I know that the first thing we will all do to find what we are looking for is the classic Google search. So with mathematical precision one nutrition article will "throw" you to another and one link to another. Result : big confusion, frustration to a degree, a lot of confusing information that you might know how to manage if you're a pet nutritionist - if not then begins a short ordeal that can have
three sub-results:
• Be so confused that you choose food at random.
• To choose the best food on the market, but which does not suit your dog at all.
• Spending a lot of your precious time with no result - a fact that stresses you out.
Step 3 Start with the basics!
When choosing food for your dog there are certain parameters that must be met.
1) Look for food based on the age of your dog. There are specialized foods for newborns (usually a milk substitute or in the form of mousse), for puppies (puppy - both canned and dry food), for adults (adult - depending on the breed we refer to adult dog from 9-14 months and above) for seniors (senior - depending on the breed and again from 7-9 years and above).
Each category has been created to meet the nutritional needs of each age group. For example, if you give puppy food systematically to your adult dog, then all you will achieve is to add harmful weight.
2) He foraged based on his race. Even if your dog is a half-breed, the vet can tell you if it is a mini, small, medium, large or giant breed. This helps you choose the right food kibble. A mini breed will need very small, easily manageable kibbles, while a giant will need kibbles that are large enough that you can hear your dog chew them rather than swallow them. This is very basic in order to protect our dog. For example, if a large breed is asked to eat a kibble that is smaller than it should be, then it will simply eat it with bulimia and tension, without chewing at all, causing its body gastrointestinal disturbances such as gas or and diarrheal phenomena.
3) Also, whether your dog is neutered or not is very important. Maintenance foods (for non-spayed) are different from those for spayed. For example in the neutered dog we prefer lower fat and/or lower magnesium.
Step 4 Discover his allergies.
The luckiest dog guardians are those who were lucky enough to discover their dog's allergy/intolerance - if any - at an early age (up to 7 months). The older your dog gets, the harder it is to know if it's really a food allergy or something else.
So what to look for in his behavior in order to be sure:
A) intense itching in the body but especially in the area of the ears
B) recurrent otitis and ear inflammations
C) chronic diarrhea or very loose stools with mucus
D) a large volume of gases and indeed extremely smelly
E) intense licking of paws and legs
G) dull coat with severe dry skin even when using a special shampoo
H) low energy and lethargy
I) extremely bad breath and teeth in bad condition from an early age
Attention! Food allergies can appear even at the age of three by feeding the exact same food as the phenomenon acts cumulatively.
Step 5 : Don't choose food based on price.
I understand that we are living in difficult times - financially - but essentially the same applies to our dog as it does to us: he is what he eats. So if you choose something with a dubious recommendation just because it's extremely "interesting" and "economical" the only thing certain is that you'll pay more down the road with repeated vet appointments or even intensive costly treatments.
Conversely, don't choose a good and suitable food just because it has an affordable price. You may only be paying for the brand and not its good recommendation.
The best strategy is in one move: Read the back of the package!
In particular, take only 5 minutes of your time to read the section entitled "Synthesis"/ "Ingredients"/ "Synthesis"/ "Ingredients". There it will be good to:
- make sure the first 2-3 ingredients are of animal and not vegetable origin and even named (eg chicken meal instead of meat meal). The ingredients in the first five positions make up the largest percentage of the volume of a food. Our dog is a carnivore and the dry food that is closest to his natural diet is the one with the most meat.
- avoid foods that contain by-products as they are essentially second-grade ingredients that can often be carriers of highly resistant pathogens, especially in animals that do not come from organic farms.
- avoid foods that contain ingredients, most of which are mutated due to extremely high demand, such as e.g. the corn.
- generally avoid foods that contain a large volume of grains and focus on compositions that contain carbohydrates of high nutritional value such as fruits and vegetables.
- make sure that the food does not contain extra sugar which can be used as a flavor enhancer but is harmful to our dog's health, especially its processed form.
- make sure the food is preserved with plant ingredients such as vit. Or even rosemary extract for example.
What is the best dry dog food? Watch the video
Follow the above tips and make life with your pet even easier and simpler!
Want extra tips? Email us at petastero@gmail.com with the subject "dog nutrition" and your dog's name!
We will be happy to help you.
