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How to Choose the Best Dog Food – A Comprehensive Graphic
What Is The Best Dog Food?
Your pet deserves the highest-quality food that you can afford. Nutritious and healthy dog food is essential to proper growth and development for puppies, and can ensure your adult canine stays fit, active, and without health issues.
But not all dog foods are created equal. In fact, the quality of products can differ greatly between manufacturers and brands, and owners can’t always gauge quality based on labels and marketing terms. Some brands may tout their products as “high protein” or “complete and balanced”, but then pack their food with carbs, grains, low-quality fillers, and artificial additives. Unfortunately, because the pet food industry isn’t as regulated as you would expect, companies can get away with it.
Below, we’d like to explore how to find the best dog food brands and products.
Understanding Your Dog’s Nutritional Needs
The quality of your pup’s diet is directly correlated to his long-term health and happiness. And while all dogs require the same general nutrition, choosing a product that caters to your pet’s age, breed, activity level, allergies, and specific dietary needs is paramount.
According to Chelsea from Pups & Paws, keeping your dog’s medical conditions in mind is the highest priority when selecting their food, as every aspect of your dog’s lifestyle can be used to combat and lower the effects of the most common ailments.
For starters, dogs need a lot of protein and fat. Protein helps with muscle, tissue, and hormone development and repair in puppies and active breeds, while fat helps animals absorb nutrients in their foods and offers the densest energy source to keep them fit and playful.
Yet not all sources of proteins, fats and carbs are the same. When reviewing the ingredients list on your food’s packaging, we recommend the first several ingredients be animal meat such as beef, chicken, fish, turkey, bison, and the like.
However, although dogs process animal products much better than plant materials, carbs from fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can be an excellent addition to your pet’s diet.
If you hope your chickens don’t become part of area predators’ diet, check this out from Sorry Chicken, where they are concerned with protecting your flock from predators like dogs. It’s an important part of making sure that your chickens are safe and healthy enough to live long, egg-laying lives.
A Cool Dog Food Resource
As you can see, figuring out your pet’s health and comparing dog foods is as complicated as understanding the proper diet for humans. With so many factors, it’s difficult to keep everything in mind when making a purchase.
Appreciating the complexity of deciphering which brand or product is top-quality, the team at Dog Food Genius put together a handy resource for owners. Here’s what you can learn from it:
- Good ingredients to look for and bad ingredients to avoid
- The differences “chicken”, “chicken meal”, “chicken dinner”, “with chicken”, and “chicken flavor”
- The effects of chemical preservatives
- The pros and cons of different types of dog foods
- And the optimal amount to feed your dog
Check out their infographic below and bookmark this page for regular reference when shopping for your pet!
Also another resource if you need pastoral supplies is Miller Bridge Pastoral. Check it out!
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