How to Find a Good Dog Food

Introduction

Feeding your dog a quality dog food is important for your dog's health. Not all dog food is created equal. Some are good, some not so good. There are some tips that you'll want to follow to find a good dog food for your dog.

By: Eric Letendre

Length: 2:60

Comments: 3

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Difficulty: Easy

Tips & Warnings:

Spend some time reading the labels on the dog food bag.
Know the difference between by-product and meal meat source.
Pay attention to the grain source.
The dog food should be preserved with Vitamin E.
Pay attention to what is used to preserve the food.
Corn can be very difficult for dogs to digest.

Step1

The first place to start is the label on the dog food bags. You want to start paying attention to what ingredients are in the dog food. The label will tell you what they are using to make the food.

Step2

The first ingredient is the most important. If the first ingredient is corn then you know that the food is more corn than anything else.

Step3

We want to make sure that the first ingredient is protein, not a vegetable. Dogs are omnivores. They are not carnivores and they are not herbivores. They make up their diet from animal protein and vegetables. The food should be made up of animal protein and a vegetable source. Corn is not the best grain source for your dog. It is very hard to digest and a lot of dogs don't do well with a corn-based diet.

Step4

When you look at the protein source it is important to see if it is a meat meal or a meat by-product. For example, a lot of dog food is made with chicken. When you look at the label, see if it says chicken by-product or chicken meal. If it says chicken by-product, it means that they have used all of the parts of the chicken to make the food. A by-product is any part of the chicken, including the beak, feathers and so forth. Not the best for your dog. When the label says that it is chicken meal, it means that only the meat of the chicken is used to make the food. So chicken, lamb, beef meal is better than chicken, lamb, beef by-product.

Step5

The first ingredient is an animal-based protein and then the grain source. The best grains for your dog are rice or oatmeal. They are much easier to digest. Some experts feel that dogs don't need any grain source in their diet. A lot of dogs do develop allergies to certain grains. There are some dog foods that are completely grain free. If you think your dog is sensitive to certain grains, you may want to try one of the grain-free foods.

Step6

The next thing you want to be aware of is how the dog food is preserved and what chemicals are in the food. Some dog food is loaded with dyes and chemicals like ethoxyquin, BHA and BHT. Studies have shown that there is a connection between ethoxyquin and cancer. It is much better to feed your dog a food that does not have any of these dyes, preservatives or chemicals. Dog food can be preserved with Vitamin E, which is much healthier for your dog.

Resources

Learn how dog food effects your dog's behavior

Comments

kaseysviewblog said

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on 7/23/2008 Excellent article,with good information.

Syncopechic said

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on 4/13/2008 Thanks Eric, I was wondering why my Dog didn't like his dog food and now I know. It has too much Corn in it! I have been adding canned dog food in with the dry and that will help for now, but with my next pay check I will get a better brand. Allana has a nice thought but the raw diet cost more and there has been meat issues in the past. With everything you have to weight the options for yourself and then decide.

AllanaBaroni said

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on 2/19/2008 My dogs have been on the raw food diet for several years now, and they couldn't be younger! You can either purchase the food already made, or you can make it yourself. Research the benefits at http://www.rawlearning.com/.