by Heather Zorn, P.A.S
The answer is simply, YES! You need to become a better educated consumer so you can make the best choices for your special pooch when it comes to nutrition.
#1 Learn how to read a food label, which includes dog food, treats, and anything else they may consume…
Focus on the first 5 ingredients. Look for real meat as at least the first ingredient, like chicken or beef. Skip the brands that list a carbohydrate as the first ingredient. Chicken meal or lamb meal is great for your dog, it’s high in protein and although you wouldn’t find it appetizing, your dog will! Avoid unspecified meat meals. These often come from 4D animals (dying, diseased, dead or disabled/ destroyed).
#2 Learn to read through the propaganda to the real message…
Fancy marketing strategies are designed to make you buy products without looking deeper into the value of the food or the nutritional information. A hint: If you see bright pictures of fruits and vegetables on a bag, walk away! Rarely do these products have any of those items in the actual food. I recently sat in on a marketing meeting for a national dog food company. Instead of talking about how to raise the percentage of quality ingredients or pricing strategies based on quality, the focus of everyone in the room was how to make the advertising campaign and packaging products to appeal to a wider audience. Not once was a strategy for increasing the meat percentage in the food discussed, nor was reducing carbohydrate levels, nor was the health of any dog considered in this THREE hour meeting.
#3 If the dog food comes from discount super store or grocery market, you should probably reconsider your choice…
Super stores and grocery stores carry cheap, low grade quality food, and generally for a hefty mark up price. Buying your dog’s food at one of these locations is the equivalent of feeding your children TV dinners for the duration of their childhood. Remember, if you are feeding a commercial dog food, it comprises the majority of your dog’s diet day-in, day-out for the duration of their lives. Don’t you owe them a little bit more than what is conveniently located on a shelf next to the Pepsi you forgot to buy?
#4 Add meats to the diet…
Dogs by nature are carnivores. They eat meat. On occasion, in the wild, wolves will consume small amounts of berries in season, but it is not the norm. Ancestral dogs don’t scout out fruits and vegetables. Dogs do not have a large carbohydrate tolerance. So why is it that commercial dog foods are comprised primarily of carbs? Because they are cheap! Ideally, a raw diet is best and mimics what nature intended for dogs to eat. However, it can be time consuming and expensive and most people don’t want to bother. So, supplement your dog’s diet with meats, including chicken and beef and organ meat. You don’t have to buy top quality filet mignon to enhance your dog’s diet- buy on sale and freeze it. If you are not comfortable feeding raw, go ahead and cook it up. Make a little extra chicken or burger when preparing your own dinner, just skip the seasonings. Also skip the carbs- they are getting more than they need in their dog food.
#5 Buy the best quality dog food and treats you can afford
While there are some really good quality foods at a moderate price range, quality products will cost more than those available at the discount super stores and grocery stores. Quality costs more money to source, produce and therefore sell. That is not to say that the most expensive dog food is the best, again, it comes down to being an educated consumer and reading the labels! If we all do what we can to implement change in the pet food industry, maybe the big companies that use the worst ingredients will take notice that we prefer AND BUY quality food.
Animal Nutrition Solutions Equine and Canine Consulting Services is a company committed to consumer education and improving the health of your dogs and horses. Our blog is here to provide you with quick access to nutritional information, and our products were created in the interest your dog and horse’s best health. Our supplements are designed to provide the nutrition lacking in a proper diet, without the unnecessary additives, chemicals, and by-products found in most other supplementation products.