Article From SubmitYOURArticle.com: The Advantages Of Dry Dog Food - Some Helpful Tips

Copyright (c) 2010 Nick Travis

People tend to treat their pets as family
members. This can extend to feeding table scraps
or sharing their food with their dogs. All
veterinarians will advise against this practice.
Human food is almost always inappropriate for
proper health and nutrition. Canine specialists
recommend a good quality dry dog food, fed in
appropriate amounts. This diet has advantages
over the other options available to pet owners.

Dry food is less expensive than canned food and
does not contain excessive moisture. It can be
left in open containers for self-feeding without
fear of spoilage. Most dry offerings have crunchy
texture that is satisfying for dogs' chewing
behavior and can promote improved oral health.
There are many options for kibble-type food and
the quality range extends from cut-rate low
quality brands with questionable ingredients to
custom produced, high-price brands with exotic
content such as duck or venison. There are even
vegetarian brands that use plant-based proteins
instead of meat.

The actual protein content of dog kibble varies
greatly among brands. Protein makes up only part
of the food with the remainder being fiber and
filler. The amount and quality of fillers used to
increase food volume makes a difference in both
nutrition and cost of the food. Some common
filler materials are: corn, peanut hulls, weeds,
straw, feathers, and corncobs. These fillers have
no nutritional value and can promote allergic
reactions in sensitive animals. Higher quality
products contain only wheat or rice - based
filler and high quality fiber sources such as
beet pulp. Fiber is required to promote proper
stool formation.

The protein source can be one or more of many
animal-based products as well as vegetable-based.
Meat by-product is the common term for those
animal parts not used in food for humans. This
can be from chicken, beef, lamb or pork
slaughterhouses. Fish packing operations provide
much animal food protein and some operations
provide animal protein specifically for pet food.

Regardless of the source most protein in dry food
is processed or rendered into dry protein with
little resemblance to the original source. In
most cases this results in a healthy but cheap
component for the food product. To make a food
more palatable to dogs, various flavors are added
or even sprayed onto the product during the final
stages of manufacture. Mass-produced products
targeted at the low price end of the market
exercise less control over of ingredients. Small
custom producers generally give the health and
happiness of companion animals a higher priority.

Internet research into pet food production will
leave many readers worried about their pets'
wellbeing. There are government agencies that try
to maintain standards for pet food contents and
food container labeling. The basic quality of
mid-priced to high-end food is good and healthy
for animals. The super-low cost products can be
of questionable quality at best. One thing pet
owners can do is learn what the terms in the list
of ingredients actually mean then read the labels
closely before selecting a product.

Pet health experts will remind owners that
frequent changes can cause digestive problems. If
an animal is doing well on a certain brand of
food, change just for the sake of change is not
justified. It is better to stick with a selected
brand of dry dog food as long as the dog is
healthy and happy. The same concern applies to
the treats you give your pets.

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