The Importance Of Dog Nutrition
The Good Old Days
Dogs used to eat scraps from their master's meal, as well as whatever they could find on their daily jaunts in the area around their homes. That all changed in 1860 when James Spratt, an Ohio electrician on business in England, decided to make dog biscuits after seeing sailors feeding leftover biscuits to the local dogs.
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
Today, dog food comes in many different styles, including canned, dry, semi-moist and frozen. Canned dog food is further divided into different styles, including ration, all-animal, chunky and stew.
Ration canned dog food is ground and cooked so as to be unrecognizable. The All-animal canned food contains chunks of recognizable byproducts, such arteries. The chunk dog food is ground and reshaped into chunks; byproducts are not identifiable. Dog food with added gravy is called stew and exists primarily for eye appeal.
Many Dog Foods Have Added Chemicals
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.
No living thing on Earth eats the identical foods each day, every day. Even wild animals eat a variety of foods. Many dogs are fed the same food year after year with little variation. This is not the best thing to promote good health, even if the food claims it is 100% complete.
Animals are the same. Dogs need a variety of protein sources, fruits and vegetables from as close to the original as possible. An Australian man named Ian Billinghurst advocates the BARF diet. This diet has dogs eating raw bones and raw food. Chicken carcasses, yogurt, raw eggs, vegetables and fruits and the exclusion of all grains make up the BARF diet.
Anecdotal reports of dogs eating the BARF diet are of more energetic, healthy dogs. But, the BARF diet has its opponents who insist that it is a dangerous way to feed a dog. Whomever is correct really does not matter in this discussion; however, dogs and other animals should eat what they are biologically adapted to eat. Inferior nutrition will wreck havoc on the dog's health, leading to degenerative diseases and shorter life span.
Selecting A Quality Dog Food
There are many high-quality dog foods on the market today that have no by-products, high levels of digestible protein and low or no grain that owners can choose from. Before selecting a food for your dog, it is important to take into consideration the age and activity level of your pet, as well as learn all you can about dog nutrition so that you can make an educated choice about what to feed your dog.
Dogs used to eat scraps from their master's meal, as well as whatever they could find on their daily jaunts in the area around their homes. That all changed in 1860 when James Spratt, an Ohio electrician on business in England, decided to make dog biscuits after seeing sailors feeding leftover biscuits to the local dogs.
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
Today, dog food comes in many different styles, including canned, dry, semi-moist and frozen. Canned dog food is further divided into different styles, including ration, all-animal, chunky and stew.
Ration canned dog food is ground and cooked so as to be unrecognizable. The All-animal canned food contains chunks of recognizable byproducts, such arteries. The chunk dog food is ground and reshaped into chunks; byproducts are not identifiable. Dog food with added gravy is called stew and exists primarily for eye appeal.
Many Dog Foods Have Added Chemicals
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.
No living thing on Earth eats the identical foods each day, every day. Even wild animals eat a variety of foods. Many dogs are fed the same food year after year with little variation. This is not the best thing to promote good health, even if the food claims it is 100% complete.
Animals are the same. Dogs need a variety of protein sources, fruits and vegetables from as close to the original as possible. An Australian man named Ian Billinghurst advocates the BARF diet. This diet has dogs eating raw bones and raw food. Chicken carcasses, yogurt, raw eggs, vegetables and fruits and the exclusion of all grains make up the BARF diet.
Anecdotal reports of dogs eating the BARF diet are of more energetic, healthy dogs. But, the BARF diet has its opponents who insist that it is a dangerous way to feed a dog. Whomever is correct really does not matter in this discussion; however, dogs and other animals should eat what they are biologically adapted to eat. Inferior nutrition will wreck havoc on the dog's health, leading to degenerative diseases and shorter life span.
Selecting A Quality Dog Food
There are many high-quality dog foods on the market today that have no by-products, high levels of digestible protein and low or no grain that owners can choose from. Before selecting a food for your dog, it is important to take into consideration the age and activity level of your pet, as well as learn all you can about dog nutrition so that you can make an educated choice about what to feed your dog.
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