Dog Food

The dog food industry is worth millions with many companies competing against each other for your business. If you are not averse to commercially prepared foods, then you probably find brands, like Nutro dog food, Wellness dog food, Diamond dog food, and Innova dog food, familiar. They are only a few of the more popular dog food brands available in the market today.

However, while many dog food companies are intent on providing your dog with the best source of nutrients in one convenient, commercial package, there are also some of those that are intent only in squeezing the money from your pockets.

The dog foods they are selling contain chemicals that have harmful effects on your dog like increasing the danger of developing disorders, such as kidney disease, arthritis, liver disease, and allergies. There are also dog foods with misleading labels that could easily fool consumers who don’t know better.

To prevent the same thing from happening for you and ensure that your dog is getting the right dog food, here are some tips:

Tip #1: Choose Dog Food That Is Appropriate For Your Dog’s Age
There are dog foods that are specifically formulated to meet the needs of your dog in each stage of its life. You can’t really expect a puppy to have the same nutritional needs as an adult dog. Neither can you expect that an active dog at the prime of its life would have the same nutritional needs as an old dog. Thus, life stage appropriate dog foods are made.

Corollary to this, avoid dog foods with label that states “complete nutrition for all life stages.” These types of dog foods cannot provide the proper nutrient level that your dog requires in his stage of life.

Tip #2: Look For “Fixed Formula” Dog Food Companies
When choosing dog foods, make sure to choose a product made by a company that uses “fixed formula.” This usually means that the formula has been tested by the company and has been found to be effective. On the other hand, companies that do not use a fixed formula use whatever ingredients they can get cheap. They do not bother with testing their products. And you never know whether they are still using the same chicken protein source that they were using a month ago. Remember that dog food companies can change the formulation of their products and only change their label to reflect the new formula within a period of six months.

Tip #3: Buy Dog Foods That Meet The NRC Requirements
This is usually displayed prominently in the product’s label. NRC requirements serve as the standard for the minimum amount of nutrients needed. However, take note that the NRC requirements are only for minimum amount of nutrients and sets no limit for the maximum. Thus, a dog foodthat goes over the minimum limit may be too excessive. Make sure then that the product you are inspecting only meets the minimum requirements without going overboard.

Tip #4: Study The List Of Ingredients
Again, this can be found in the dog food label. But remember that the list of ingredients can be easily manipulated to make you think that you are getting the right nutrients for your dog than you really are.

For instance, you might find one dog food containing the following ingredients: chicken, corn, soybean, etc. And then, you pick up another one with the following contents: chicken, corn meal, cracked corn, whole corn, shelled corn.

Both of these dog foods have chicken listed among the top three ingredients. Note that chicken is listed first. This means that chicken is the predominant nutrient content of the dog food. But note also the other ingredients. The second dog food has four corn ingredients. Notice how they are listed separately? That’s one way of making you think that corn is present in much smaller amounts.