In this article we look at some brief, simple advice on selecting a quality diet for your dog.
Just as we perform better when we eat the best foods, your dog will also be healthier if you feed it premium high quality pet food.
The top brands of dog food, while often a little more expensive also have higher quality ingredients that will give your dog better all round nutrition.
The best foods have a complex range of vitamins and minerals that have been designed to give your dog all the elements that they need in their diet. This applies to their canned foods and also the dry food such as biscuits and nibbles.
These foods also contain a lot less additives and we have shown in a previous newsletter how these additives in the form of preservative, colouring and fillers are detrimental to your dog’s health and fitness.
The nutrients that are found in the good dog foods can be absorbed well and your dog will be able to eat less food to get the same benefits. Their energy levels will be higher and the incidence of obesity will be reduced.
Their immune systems will be better and they will be less likely to develop allergies that some dogs are prone to get with skin rashes and other problems with their skin.
Some of the cheaper dog foods contain dyes and these are often the main cause of skin allergies in dogs. However, don’t be fooled in to thinking that the formula is as simple as: cheap (price) = bad, expensive = good. Not the case. Learning to understand dog food labels gives real insight on which foods contain the most suitable ingredients for your particular dog.
You can often tell when a dog has been on a good diet by the condition of their coat, which will have a lot more lustre than a dog that has been fed poor quality food.
They are also likely to shed less fur as it will be in better condition and that is a huge bonus for anyone who has their dog inside the house.
The premium dog foods are generally better for cleaning your dog’s teeth and this can save money in the long run by having reduced veterinary fees.
Having good teeth is one of the essential elements of longevity for a dog so this is a very important factor.
You can get some excellent information on various commercial pet foods from The Pet Food Manufacturer’s Association.