Is Your Dog Eating the Right Food?

After work, you make a quick stop to your local supermarket to get some groceries for tonight’s dinner. You happen to pass the dog food aisle, and you remember you’re running low on some kibbles. Without putting too much thought into it, you grab your usual and throw it in the shopping cart. What is it?

Most recently, there have been great strides in the animal nutrition field. Animal nutritionists and veterinarians have done many researches and studies regarding which type of food are best for your dog.

It’s important to check the food label prior to purchase. But let’s face it, reading the pet food label is tedious and it’s easier to grab the first one you see. In this post, you won’t have to calculate any nutrients or do a crude protein analysis. Here are some easy steps to reading a pet food label:

Ingredients To Avoid

The ingredients you want to avoid when checking the pet food label are:

• BHA and/or BHT, which are harmful artificial preservatives
• High glycemic ingredients like white potato, rice, soy, or corn
• Grains, corn gluten, wheat gluten, bone meal, meat by-product meat, etc.

Why You Should Avoid Them

The ingredients listed above should be avoided simply because these are difficult for dogs to digest and can cause allergies. The artificial preservatives such as BHA and/or BHT have been shown to cause health problems in dogs.

What You Should Look For on Your Pet Food Label

As a responsible pet owner, you should look for natural and/or organic ingredients. However, just because the word “Natural” is branded on the package, it does not always mean it’s truly natural. There are currently no definite regulations that define what is or is not natural so skimming the ingredient list is crucial.

• Choose grains from barley, rolled oats, millet, quinoa, and brown rice to replace corn, soy, and wheat
• Vitamin E and C, natural and healthy preservatives.
• Omega-3, known to be good for your dog’s coat
• Some dog owners also strive to search for “human-grade” food in their dog food. This means that the food is purchased from human-grade facilities.

If you take a look at your usual dog food brand and decide to switch to a healthier and wholesome alternative, it’s important to remember to slowly transition the change in your dog’s food by mixing half and half of the brand you’ve been feeding your pet, with the new one. That way, your dog will be able to adjust to the new food without irritating his digestive system.

These simple changes you make during your trip to the supermarket have the potential to increase your dog’s energy, happiness, and overall quality of life.