Good Health Comes From Good Dog Nutrition
25 Mar 2010
The Good Old Days
Before the advent of commercial dog food, people fed their dogs scraps from the table and the dogs supplemented that food with other food found as they roamed throughout the day. In 1860, James Spratt invented the dog biscuit, which was made in England.
Over time, the dog’s range narrowed, leash laws enacted and eventually the family dog became limited to his immediate home area. The cereal companies, needing something to do with their scraps, decided to make the scraps into dog kibble.
Choices In Dog Foods
Owners can choose from a wide variety of dog foods, some better than others for your dog. Dry kibble, semi-moist and frozen are three of the choices. Dog food also comes canned. Canned dog food is broken down into different styles: ration, all-animal, chunk style and stew.
The dog food known as ration has ingredients that are ground and cooked. None of the meat is identifiable. All animal food has some byproducts visible and identifiable. The chunk dog food is ground, but then pressed into chunks. Stew has added gravy, more for the benefit of the owner’s eyes than the dog’s taste buds.
Chemicals Found In Dog Food
As a dog food is more processed it becomes necessary to add more chemicals to it. Foods with gravy contain food starch, coloring and gums. To make food more tasty to the dog and visually appealing to the owner flavor enhancers and coloring is added. To keep the semi-moist dog food moist, prophylene glycol is added. Preservatives such as mold inhibitor, ethoxyquin, BHT and BHA are added to improve shelf life.
The Nutritional Needs Of Dogs
Many dog foods claim to have 100% of everything a dog needs to live; however, unless the dog can absorb the nutrients it does not matter how complete a food is. For instance, plant protein needs to be processed so that a dog can absorb nutrients. If it is not processed, plant protein will not do any good for the dog.
Imagine eating the same thing day after day, week after week. Even if it said on the package that it had 100% of your daily requirements of everything you need to live, it is hard to imagine that at the end of a month you would be completely healthy.
Dogs, like people, need a variety of foods as minimally processed as possible. Ian Billinghurst, from Australia, has written a book about the BARF diet. The dog eats raw bones and food such as fish or chicken carcasses, raw eggs, vegetables, fruits and yogurt. All grains are off limits.
Many people insist that this diet has made their dogs more energetic and healthier. Other people are completely against feeding a dog a raw diet. Whether the BARF diet or other raw food diet for dogs is right or wrong, dogs do need to eat food that they are adapted to biologically. If they do not eat quality food with easily absorbed ingredients, their health will suffer and degenerative disease will set in.
Choosing A High-Quality Dog Food
Prior to purchasing a healthy food for your dog, think about the level of activity and the age of the dog, as well as the dog’s state of health. These things will assist you to choose a food that is best for your dog. The more you learn about dog nutrition, the better able you will be to make the right choices for your dog.
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