Ann Marier


Are you fond of sharing your food with your dog? According to experts, giving your dog some of your food may not be a good idea. Some of the tasty food that we like to eat and even those dog food that we often buy in the market could cause a lot of miseries to our pets.

In fact, dog food allergies have been tagged as one of the leading cause while many dogs get sick every year. If your dog happens to be one of those breeds that are sensitive to food, you need to be extra careful when giving him or her any times of food. Dog food allergies can bring about some complications that could be very harmful to your pet.

Preventing Dog Food Allergies

Almost all types of dog food allergies can be easily prevented by proper care. Different dogs may be different allergy triggers so be sure that you know what types of foods could cause dog food allergies in your pet. You can easily determine the types of food that are harmful to your per through a process of elimination.

If you have been giving your dog a specific brand of food for sometime and you noticed that your dog keeps scratching itself even when it does not have any pest infestations, there is a big probability that your dog is having some kind of allergic reaction to the food. Try to stop giving your dog that same kind of food and see what happens. If your dog stops scratching itself after a few days, then do not give attempt to give it that brand of dog food anymore.

When trying to find out what triggers dog food allergies in your pet, you should keep a record of your findings. List down all the types of foods that does not cause any allergic reactions from your dog as well as those types of foods that caused some allergic reactions.

If you happen to have somebody who takes care of your dog while you are away, make sure that your dog caretaker knows that your pet has dog food allergies and what are the types of foods that triggers the allergic reaction. In case you have to go away on a trip for a couple of day, give a list of things that could trigger dog food allergies in your pet to your caretaker along with the name, telephone number and address of your vet. Instruct the caretaker to take the dog to the vet immediately if he or she notices that the dog is not feeling so well.



Taylor

Madeleine Innocent


What’s on your mind when you consider an all natural dog food? Could it be a commercial dog food which has the word ‘natural’ on the packet? Could it be you think of cooking your own dog food from scratch? Do you consider table scraps to be the ideal diet?

Wrong! None of the above will address your dog’s health, Why not?

Well, the commercial dog food starts off with very low grade meat, mostly meat by-products (the better quality going for the higher priced human food), high fat and sometimes euthanased animals, which contain the chemical sodium pentobarbital. Then, to bulk out the already cheap ‘meat’, a non-nutritional filler is added. That can be sugar, as there’s a world glut of it at the moment, or melamine if you live in China.

Then, to keep the product indefinitely at room temperature a preservative is added.

When you see a packet of dried dog food in the shop, with the slogan ‘preservative free’ ask yourself this question - how can dried ‘meat’ be kept indefinitely at room temperature without preservatives? Do you think you wouldn’t have heard of a new way to do this, if there was?

So either there is no ‘meat’ or there is preservative present. Trouble is, the preservatives used are very strong, cause huge health problems and aren’t allowed in human food.

So commercial dog food can be crossed off as an all natural dog food!.

I see quite a lot of ‘dog experts’ on the internet advocating you cook your own dog food. Whilst that is hugely better than commercial pet food, it’s still missing the nutrients that are lost in cooking. Typically these are vitamins and enzymes, both essential for a healthy dog. But other nutrients are altered by cooking. Fat changes during the cooking process from a beneficial food to a harmful one.

So you can cross though this one too, as an all natural dog food.

What about table scraps? That depends so much on the table scraps. If the human food is a good, natural one of lots of raw fruit and veg, with lightly cooked meat, then these table scraps have the potential of being the best dog food out of all three options, as long as there is enough left over to satisfy your dog’s nutritional needs.

If, however, your diet is typically fast food with a lot of processed food, then these table scraps will be little better than the commercial dog food.

Yet another cross through.

There is only one all natural dog food and that’s the one dogs evolved on. Nothing that mankind has done has improved one iota on that. And considerable decline has occurred.

Dogs have evolved over millions of years on an all natural dog food and it keeps them happy and healthy.

Once you get to grips with the idea of how dogs evolved, duplicating that diet within the constraints of what is available and the limits on your time, is not that difficult. However, there are a few important things you need to know such as:

what food should not be given more than once a week should bones be given what carbohydrates are the best ones and how much are there any fruit or vegetables that shouldn’t be given what amino acid is essential to a dog’s healthy skin should you supplement the diet how do you convert the diet of an elderly or sick dog safely

When you change the diet of your dog from a commercial pet food to an all natural dog food, there may initially be a de-toxing period. This is normal and natural, but can seem a bit scary to you if you don’t understand why it’s happening and the symptoms. It should be of short duration, depending on your dog’s age and level of health.

Dogs digestion is robust. They have evolved on eating raw meat and carrion. They can’t cope with preservatives, fillers, high fat or low grade protein, none of which occurs (at least in high proportions) in nature.

Once you have your dog on an all natural dog food, you’ll find fewer and fewer health problems. I’m sure you’d be as happy as anyone, to cut your dog’s professional health fees.



Jenny

Jane Simmons


Browse any grocery store or pet food store to buy Dog Food and you will agree that trying to decide on what is best for your dog is an exhausting task. Scanning the shelves of products available, you are bombarded by foods extolling different health benefits as well as a huge range of prices. The pet food industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and pet food manufacturers are eagerly marketing for every dollar. Not only are they marketing us to death, but also developing new products to put in front of us. Those products include “dry”, “canned”, “semi-moist” and health targeted products such as “senior”, “premium” and “gourmet.

So which food is best for your dog? Finding that out takes time and research. The truth is, the best dog food is the one that meets your dog’s nutritional requirements, which vary based upon the dog’s age, breed, body weight, genetics, and amount of activity… and one that fits within your budget. It is definitely worth consulting a veterinarian to get the best advice and nutrition plan for your dog. But for those of you that want to take matters in your own hands, you will find detailed below the most important things you will need to know.

Dog Food Labels

Susan Powter comes to mind when thinking about food labels. Remember this iconic infomercial star with the coined phrase “Stop the Insanity”? Her gospel about nutrition and the importance of studying the ingredients on the side of the packaging to distinguish the various elements and how each plays its role in overall nutrition, was novel at that time. It seems that this was the beginning of the mass movement to better nutrition, label reading and choosing products more carefully.

With all the recent pet food recalls, millions of dog owners have extended this scrutiny to selecting a dog food. But we can’t pull from the Susan Powter gospel for this, because dog foods are manufactured under a series of different standards and regulations, put forth by the AAFCO ( The Association of American Feed Control Officials ). There are special labeling requirements that require all dog foods to have certain information on the label. So, in order that we can all make a proper choice for our dogs, we must know how to read and understand the dog food label.

The AAFCO puts out an official publication, on a yearly basis, detailing special requirements for dog food. Among all the different requirements, they request all dog food manufacturers to adhere to label regulations and must include on the package the following:

# Product Name

# Guaranteed Analysis

# Nutritional Adequacy Statement

# Feeding Directions

The Name Game

When shopping for dog food, what is the first thing you look at? The product name, of course. We’ve all walked down the pet food aisle and seen the product names jump out as us…calling us. Displayed in bold type and fancy fonts such descriptions as “With Chicken”, “All Life Stages”, “Duck Entree”, “95% Beef”, “Natural Dog Food”. But what do these descriptions really mean? Is it just fancy marketing? The AAFCO has set forth rules that dictate how ingredients can be used in a product name.

95% Rule

# Applies to most canned dog food that consists mostly of meat, poultry or fish.

# Specifies that at least 95% of the dog food must be the named ingredient on the label, not counting water and preservatives added for processing.

# Counting water, the product must still consist of 70% of the product.

# If the name consists of a combination of ingredients, the two combined must equal 95%.

# The rule only applies to ingredients of animal origin, so grains and vegetables cannot be used as part of the 95% rule. So if the product name was “Beef and Brown Rice”, the product would still have to consist of 95% beef.

25% or “Dinner” Rule

# This rule applies to many canned as well as dry dog foods.

# If the named ingredient, or a combination of ingredients, found on the label consists of 25% of the weight (but less than 95%) excluding water for sufficient processing.

# The name must include a descriptive term, such as “Dinner”, “Platter”, “Entree”, or “Formula”.

# If more than one ingredient is in the name, they must both total 25% combined, with each named ingredient equalling or exceeding 3%.

3% or “With” Rule

# Originally, this rule was intended to apply only to ingredients highlighted on the package, outside of the product name.

# It allows manufacturers to highlight minor ingredients.

# The ingredient must have at least 3% added.

# The rule now allows manufacturers to use the term “With” in the product name.

Be careful when reading the dog food label because “Beef Dog Food” and “Dog Food with Beef” are not the same. The first must have 95% beef, whereas the latter only needs 3%.

Flavor Rule

# A percentage of any one ingredient isn’t required.

# The word “Flavor” must appear on the label in the same font size and color as the ingredient name.

# The flavor might be the corresponding ingredient, but more often than not, it’s another substance such as “meal”, “by-product”, a “stock” or a “broth”.

Guaranteed Analysis

The guaranteed analysis is the next component that needs to be on a dog food label. It serves as a general guide as to what the percentages of the main nutrients and other items are in the total makeup of the product. At the bare minimum, the guaranteed analysis must consist of the following:

# Minimum Percentage of Protein

# Minimum Percentage of Fat

# Maximum Percentage of Fiber

# Maximum Percentage of Moisture

Go ahead and look at your label at this point. See it there? Good. Now, if you have a can of dog food and a package of dry dog food at your disposal, take a look at both labels. After careful analysis you might want to ask, “Hey Michael, I notice when looking at both labels that the dry dog food has way more nutrients. I thought canned food had way more protein…what gives?”

Keep this in mind, as I have noticed this as well, that the amounts of protein and other nutrients stated on the labels appear to be less for canned versus dry, but looks are deceiving. The reason? Differences in moisture content. Canned dog food, on average, consists of 75% water, while dry dog food contains about 10%. So to make a true comparison of the nutrient levels, we need to put both types on the same playing field. To do this, we will be converting both products to dry matter.

To convert the nutrients, we need to dust off our calculators that we last used in high school, in order to perform a little math. (And you said to your math teacher, “I’ll never use this in the real world!”), But I digress. Here’s the formula we will be using: % Guarantee divided by % Dry Matter multiplied by 100

Example In one corner, we have a canned dog food that has a guaranteed analysis consisting of 9% protein, 6% fat, 1.5% fiber and 78% moisture. In the other corner, we have a dry dog food that has a guaranteed analysis consisting of 24% protein, 14.5% fat, 4% fiber and 10% moisture.

# Dry matter of canned: 100 - 78 = 22

# Dry matter of dry: 100 - 10 = 90

# Now we can do our calculations

Canned Dog Food

# Protein: 9 / 22 x 100 = 40.9%

# Fat: 6 / 22 x 100 = 27%

# Fiber: 1.5 / 22 x 100 = 6.8%

Dry Dog Food

# Protein: 24 / 90 x 100 = 26.6%

# Fat: 14.5 / 90 x 100 = 16.1%

# Fiber: 4 / 90 x 100 = 4.4%

So after were done, do you notice the protein? The canned dog food actually has 14% more protein.

Nutritional Adequacy Statement

You’ve seen it on the labels…”Complete”, “Balanced”, “For All Lifestages”, among others. But how are these claims substantiated? What rules are in place to regulate such verbage? The answer is set forth, once again, by the AAFCO.

The Nutritional Adequacy Statement is required and is one of the most important aspects of a dog food label. This statement assures us that a product meets all of a dog’s nutritional requirements. So how is a dog food substantiated for nutritional adequacy? They must use one of two ways:

Calculations

# The method whereby the dog food contains ingredients formulated to provide levels of nutrients that meet an established profile

# Calculations estimate the amount of nutrients either by an average nutrient content of ingredients or results of laboratory tests using standard chemical analysis.

# If it meets the profile set by the AAFCO, the label will carry a statement as follows: “(Name of product) is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO (Dog) Food Nutrient Profiles for (specific life stage).”

Feeding Trials

# The product (or a similar product made by the same company) has been tested in dogs under strict guidelines and found to provide proper nutrition

# If it meets the profile set by the AAFCO, the label will carry a statement as follows: “Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate that (name of product) provides complete and balanced nutrition for (specific life stage).”

The Nutritional Adequacy Statement will also include a statement about which life stage(s) the dog food is suitable for. Two profiles are used. Below is a definition of each and additional information about other profiles:

# Growth/Lactation - A product intended for growing puppies, for pregnant dogs or lactating females.

# Maintenance - Suitable for any adult, non-reproducing dog of normal activity level, but may not be sufficient for a growing, reproducing, or hard working dog.

# Terms like “Senior” or “Formulated for Large Breed Adults” means the dog food meets the requirements for the Maintenance profile, but nothing more.

# A product that doesn’t fit within the two profiles above must state that “This product is intended for intermittent or supplemental feeding,” except if it is conspicuously identified as a snack or treat.

Feeding Guidelines

Feeding guidelines are very broad, to say the least. At a minimum, they should include instruction like “Feed ___ Cups Per ___ Pounds.” But keep in mind that these instructions are very rough estimates. Most people feed their dogs way too much. In fact, 25% of all dog’s are overweight…causing problems such as:

# Diabetes

# Arthritis

# Heart and Liver Problems

# Bladder Cancer

You should treat the guidelines as a place to start. Talk with your veterinarian about your dog food and how much to feed. They understand that nutritional requirements vary and, by knowing your dog, they will be able to recommend a feeding schedule based upon several factors including:

# Age

# Body Weight

# Breed

# Genetics

# Activity Level



Lara

Madeleine Innocent


Most people don’t stop to think about the food they are giving their dog. The colourful packs on the laden supermarket shelves are normally as far as people give dog food a thought. You may be one of them, but are now branching out and looking for something a bit healthier.

Believe me, the packs can look tempting and with smiling veterinarians and dog breeders on the cover, you’re not that hard to convince.

But stop for a moment and consider a wild dog’s diet. Dogs are naturally pack animals and so they hunt in packs. They can bring down a large animal, as large as a cow, with their combined efforts. Then they all gather round, with much growling and snarling and consume most of the carcass, bones and all. Probably the only parts left is the hide and hooves.

Whether or not you can accept this idea, that’s how dogs evolved. And the wild dogs still manage very well. This is the most healthy dog food. There is nothing that can beat it.

Man, with his puny pseudo scientific ideas of improving on the natural diet of dogs is going down a dead end. You can’t.

Period.

There is only one type of healthy dog food. And that is the one which so closely resembles a wild dog’s diet, as to be virtually the same as far as health benefits are concerned.

Lets look at some of the differences between a wild dog’s diet and commercial dog food, a diet most dogs exist on (I won’t say live, as it’’s hardly a life).

A wild diet, a healthy dog food, consists of:



raw food

lots of raw bones

internal organs are consumed, but these are scarce compared with the muscle meat

carbohydrates which are limited to the stomach contents, so is small in the overall content



A typical commercial dog food consists of:



cooked food (many vitamins, enzymes and other nutrients are destroyed by cooking)

the meat is of poor (often extremely poor) quality (humans get the good stuff)

carbohydrates, in particular sugar, are a major part of the food - it’s cheap and bulks out the ‘meat’

the food is fortified with strong preservatives (not allowed in human food for their dangerous impact on health) - DESPITE WHAT THE LABEL SAYS

to try to redress the nutritional imbalance, isolated and synthetic nutrients are added - nutrients which can’t be properly absorbed and utilised when they are in isolation, or if they are synthetic



So in your search for a healthy dog food, keep firmly in mind the diet of a wild dog. It’s OK to take your time to get used to the idea. If you find the idea repulsive, just go slowly. Try to replace one thing at a time. Just keep in mind that dogs have evolved over millions of years, on this diet. Humans have only been producing (poor quality) commercial dog food for a few decades.

If you don’t like the idea of raw meat for your dog, that’s your issue, not his.

I also suggest that you keep in mind the concept that most people are lured by price. With the best will in the world, if a commercial pet food manufacturer suddenly started to produce quality pet food, because it would be more expensive, do you think it would be a sell-out?

That would only be possible if people had already started to reject the current commercial dog food and were now looking for a healthy dog food, so were prepared to pay a little more.

However, if you make your own dog food, you won’t need to find the extra cash. Not only is a homemade, healthy dog food economical to produce, it has an enormous impact on the health of your dog, often beyond your wildest dreams.



Michael