 |
Dog Food If its Cheap It Probably StinksThe Resource for Everything About Dogs |
|
|
|
Dog Food If its Cheap It Probably Stinksby Nancy Dean
Just like food for humans, the back of dog food packaging has the nutritional content information that helps you decide just how healthy the product is for your dog. The listing shows the ingredients in order of volume, starting with the heaviest ingredient. It will also show the "guaranteed analysis" for protein, fat, fiber content, moisture, ash, and sometimes phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium ratio. The label might also tell you that the particular dog food "provides 100% nutrition" or is "nutritionally complete." To comply with the law, the brand has to meet the nutritional requirements of the AAFCO (the Association of American Feed Control Officers), and promise that they test the food for a period of up to six weeks. Also required is contact information for the manufacturer, like phone number, address, and name. In addition, it's required that they give the package weight & the intended audience for the product (i.e. puppy, overweight, dogs with joint pain, etc). Like in "people stores," the price of the product is usually a decent indicator of quality. If a 40 lb bag is only $9.99, then it's a safe bet that you're going to be getting cheap ingredients. However, the difference between a high quality food and a shoddy brand isn't that steep. To tell the difference, look for a source of animal protein in the first two ingredients (such as chicken, lamb, fish, or beef). If you find that, you're probably dealing with a higher quality product, often marked as "performance" quality. If you find soy as a leading ingredient, stay away - dogs can't digest soy. Although the "performance quality" foods are usually marketed towards working or breeding dogs, they're the best food for all dogs. High quality foods also are made w/ith the ideal ratios of oils and fats needed for healthy coat, skin, and energy. The second best tier of dog foods are labeled as "super premium" and contain a high quality animal protein source first on the label, followed by grains. Even though super premium will give your dog energy through the high fat levels, it is not as healthy as the top of the line dog foods because the proteins can come largely from grain (which is not as efficient an energy source as animal compounds). Dog foods labeled as "light" or "economy" are comprised heavily of grains. They will make your dog fat and lazy because they contain almost zero animal protein sources. This is why they're "economy" - grains are cheaper than animal protein. Sometimes these low quality foods are marketed towards older dogs, even though an older dog would benefit more from any other other dog foods mentioned earlier. If you feed this to your dog, your "reward" will be large, heavy, vomit-inducing bowel movements - this is because a dog's stomach can not break down the inferior ingredients.
Return to Index |
|
|
|
Cannot find it here? Search the internet with the power of Google: |
 |
