The Dog Food Minefield

There are hundreds of types of dog foods on the
market. The internet has increased the
availability of different brands from less well
known manufacturers.But which one to choose? We
begin to realise, thanks to the internet again,
that there are all kinds of very unsuitable
ingredients included in pet foods and dog foods.
Large mass manufacture companies use byproducts
of all kinds that remain dubious in terms of
nutritional benefit to your animal and have been
known to contain ingredients that can be bad for
your pet's, dogs health. Purchasing just any dog
food that has an attractive shiny packaging,
glitzy advertising is clearly not the right
course of action.

Your best bet is to follow a series of criteria
for a good and healthy dog food and a reputable
dog food manufacturer. If you simply look into
the options available clearly, you will be able
to arrive at a choice of dog food that you can
really feel confident about.

The following are some tips on knowing how to
select the right dog food for your dog:

First Know what Not to Buy

Unfortunately most large dog food manufacturers
use ingredients that would open your eyes and
turn your stomach at the same time. Such items
as road kill, diseased animals, byproducts of
little nutritional value, rancid grease, spoiled
grains, blood, pus, cat and dog parts, and even
plastic packaging have all been found in dog
foods by manufacturers that advertise their
products as pure and healthy. Byproducts like
Heads, brains, beaks, bones, intestines, and so
forth are the main source of protein in these
foods. So first of all, you obviously don't want
to buy dog food that has items like those
mentioned above in it. This essentially means
that you can eliminate most of the really large
multinational pet food manufacturers. What you
want are small to midsized pet food sellers that
have a certifiable reputation for quality.

Go for Purity as much as Possible

Though simple byproducts of animals processed
for human consumption are a fairly inevitable
part of most pet food, at least you should know
that they implement these ingredients in a pure
manner - from healthy animals in clean and
sanitary conditions. The oils and grains should
likewise be fresh and of some nutritive value.
Finally, try to find foods without a lot of
artificial preservatives and colours. Do
whatever research you need to do to be sure of
this. Simply reading the ingredients is a first
step, but it is not enough if you wish to be
thorough. Look into the company's background and
find out if there is any in depth information on
their manufacturing process.

Avoid Soy and Gluten

Soy products have no place in dog food. Dogs
are carnivores and would not eat soybeans in the
wild. In fact, they do not have an essential
amino acid that is necessary for digestion of
the compounds of which soy is composed. Most soy
found in these pet foods is used as filler only.
Thus if you buy and feed your dog products with
soy, you're paying for non-nutritive food bulk
that may even be unhealthy for your dog. Corn
Gluten is also often used in dog food mainly as
a stabilizer and humectant, preventing
oxidation. However this substance has the effect
of binding water molecules and making them stick
to dogs' colons, promoting constipation and
creating an increased cancer risk.

Dog Health

The most important goal of any dog food is your
dog's nutrition. You need to be aware that there
are many ingredients routinely used in dog food
and other pet food this is bad for dog health or
at the very least non-nutritive. Then you can
work from this recognition to find alternative
dog foods that will really promote your dog's
nutition requirements and well being while
supporting ethical and pure industry standards.

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Chudleys.com is used as a resource for this
article. They currently hold a royal warrant for
their products<br />http://www.chudleys.com<br
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