Good Health Comes From Good Dog Nutrition
by Tommie Howard
Filed under Pets
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, dogs were forced by leash laws to stay nearer to their homes so they could not forage for their own supplements to table scraps. Cereal companies took advantage of this and created dry kibble out of leftovers from cereal production.
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.
The dog food known as ration has ingredients that are ground and cooked. None of the meat is identifiable. All animal food has some byproducts visible and identifiable. The chunk dog food is ground, but then pressed into chunks. Stew has added gravy, more for the benefit of the owner’s eyes than the dog’s taste buds.
Chemicals In Dog Food
The more processed the dog food, the more chemicals that will be found in it. Semi-moist dog food contains prophylene glycol which acts as a humectant to keep the food pliable. Dog food containing gravies have food starch, gum and coloring added. Artificial color and flavoring are added to dog food to make it taste better and look better to the owner. The preservatives BHT, BHA, ethoxyquin and mold inhibitors are also added. According to Pet Food Industry Magazine more than 200 different ingredients are approved for use in pet food.
A Dog’s Nutritional Needs
Like almost all living things, dogs need fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, water and calories to support its growth, repair and activity requirements. A dog food must contain ingredients that a dog can absorb easily. It does no good to be 100% complete nutrition if the ingredients are only partially absorbed. Proteins from plants must be processed in order for a dog to absorb the nutrients.
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.
Australian Ian Billinghurst recommends the BARF diet. This controversial feeding plan has owners feed dogs raw food and bones in the form of chicken carcasses, fish carcasses, raw eggs, yogurt, fruits and vegetables and absolutely no grains.
The BARF diet has its loyal followers who insist that the benefits of the food plan include a healthier and more energetic dog. Still others insist that the diet is harmful. Either way, it can be agreed that dogs should eat food to which they are adapted biologically. If a dog is fed food that mother nature did not mean to be a primary part of the diet, illness, shorter life and degenerative diseases run rampant.
Choosing A High-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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