Nutritional Value Archives

Must-Know Facts On Dog Food

December 21, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Many dog owners pay scant attention to what they feed their dogs. Often, they base their decision solely on price, rather than taking the time to find out what the food actually contains. If they did they’d be shocked to find that these cheap dog food products often contain ingredients that are harmful to their dogs.

Not only that, but cheap dog food may not be the bargain it appears to be (more on this later).For now, let’s focus on some simple tips to help you choose a healthy kibble for your dog.

Dogs need an omnivorous diet, with both meat and vegetables at a ratio of about 50/50. What is not needed is the grain based fillers in most commercial dog chow. Want to know if your favorite dog food brand meets this requirement? Simple, just read the label.

Unfortunately, labels sometimes appear to be written in a foreign language, so here’s a short-cut to finding out what you need to know. Just look at the first five listed ingredients, and if they are meat based products, the food will probably meet your dog’s nutritional needs.

It’s not that grains are bad for your dog, just that they are better fed whole. Grains like rice, millet, oats and barley are actually a rich source of fiber, but the grains contained in dry dog food are primarily there as filler, and contain minimal nutritional value.

You should also take note of artificial colorings, flavorings and preservaties. Many of these are chemical based and may be harmful to your dog. In fact, some chemical preservatives have been shown to be a contributing factor to various cancers. Preferably, you should choose a product that uses natural preservatives, like Vitamin C and E.

All this checking of labels can be a bit of a bind after a while though, so why not just cut to the chase. Buy a premium or super premium dog food brand and you can be almost certain that it will give your dog the optimum level of nutrition he needs.

Now you’ll probably look at the price of these products and wince. They do seem very expensive but as with most things in life, quality costs more. You may recall that at the beginning of the article I suggested that buying cheap was not the way to go. Here’s why that is.

Cheap dog food brands use sub-standard ingredients that are low in nutritional value. This means you have to give your dog more food to meet his nutritional needs. Feeding more inevitably leads to obesity, obesity leads to disease, disease leads to expensive visits to the vet, and your dog living a shorter, less fulfilling life.

A premium brand which optimizes nutrition means you’ll have to feed less, the “expensive” bag of kibble will last longer, and your dog will also be healthier, which means no expensive trips to the vet. Your dog also won’t pass as much waste, so there’s less for you to pick up – a benefit all of it’s own!

Hopefully this article has illustrated why you should always feed your dog the best dog food you can afford. But quite aside from the health benefits, your dog deserves it.

There’s lots more about dog food tips, dog care, facts about dogs and other interesting dog info at http://www.dogsanddogtraining.com

Dog Health Food – Your German Shepherd Could Be Suffering

April 20, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Your German Shepherd could be suffering from the side effects of commercial dog food, which is why so many owners are turning to dog health food. With so many potentially toxic ingredients being put into dog food these days, it can be hard to know whether you might be actually harming your best friend with every meal.

First you have to wonder how safe your dog food is from chemical contaminants that accidentally got into the food at some point in the production. Maybe basic ingredients were tainted overseas and nobody picked it up. Especially at the moment with companies all around the world looking to get more profit from less cost, we have to wonder if our dogs welfare is at risk.

How safe is your dog’s food really? It’s not uncommon for there to be chemical contaminants in human foods, which have much more strict controls.

In 2007 there was a widespread recall from over 100 dog food manufacturers after it was discovered that there was melamine (a type of plastic) in much of their dog food. It was eventually traced back to a factory in China which manufactured rice protein and wheat gluten (neither of which have any real nutritional value for a dog). So what that means is that it doesn’t matter what standards the US based company may have for their production plants if the ingredients coming into the plant are already contaminated!

Although this happened a couple of years ago, what has changed to ensure that it can’t happen again? Melamine was recently found in milk powder that was produced under human food standards. So what about the lower standards that pet foods are produced under? While it may a completely accidental, even the possibility of having toxic plastics ending up in dogs food is completely unacceptable.

I know I don’t want to pick up the paper and find out that my dog’s food has plastic in it. We are ultimately responsible for our dogs health, not just that they get the right nutrition, but to make sure that their food is free from harmful chemicals too.

Apart from the accidental chemical additives what else is your German Shepherd really eating? Commonly there’s a carcinogenic preservative called ethoxyquin in many factory made dog foods. This preservative has been banned for decades from human food due to it’s toxic side effects. Workers exposed to it exhibit a wide range of symptoms, not dissimilar to agent orange. But this toxic chemical is still being added to our dog’s food!

You won’t find it listed either, no matter how close you look. This is because fish meal when it is made gets treated with ethoxyquin, while it’s still on the boat. What this means is that fish meal might go into the food but the ingredients of the meal won’t be listed.

In some foods they promote the fact that there’s fish in there as a great source of protein and fatty acids, which is true. However if that fish is in the form of meal, then there’s a whole lot more going in than you bargained for. They could suffer from allergic reactions, cancer and liver failure. And this is something that supposed to be healthy!

For the sake of your German Shepherd it’s vital that you learn about dog health food. Commercially produced food is completely out of your control, you never really know what could be If you make your own then you can be absolutely sure that there’s no nasty chemicals and carcinogenic preservatives in your dog’s food. You can treat them to a variety of gourmet tastes and give them the very best nutrition possible.

Our dogs rely on us to provide them with the best possible food and care. To keep your best friend healthy and add years to their life, subscribe to our dog health food newsletter. You’ll find out exactly what goes into commercial dog food and how to make your own at home, cheaply and easily. Click here to subscribe http://www.dog-health-food.com

Article Source: Dog Health Food – Your German Shepherd Could Be Suffering

Dog Health Food – Don’t Let Your Beagle Suffer From The Wrong Food

April 9, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Your Beagle could be suffering from the side effects of toxic additives put into commercial dog food. Many people are turning towards dog health food as a way to be sure about what is going into your pet food.

Contaminated dog food can be in circulation for months before it gets picked up, and often it’s only when there’s a number of dogs getting sick and dying from the food that a recall is issued. Often quality is being sacrificed for the sake of profits.

In a bid to increase profits, many dog food manufacturers are using cheap by products from human food production and adding it as a protein source. This is can do your dog a lot of harm over the long term, leading to allergies and other chronic health issues.

In 2007, over 100 different types of dog food were recalled after melamine, which is a type of plastic, was found in many batches. Eventually the food was found to be tainted from imported rice protein. There are large questions about whether there is really any nutritional value in rice protein for dogs in the first place. But what this really means is that there is a chance that anything could end up in our dog food.

You may be thinking that this happened in China so I won’t affect you, but many companies around the world are using imported ingredients from China and other countries that don’t have the same regulation of their food products that we do in the western world. When you think about the tainted milk powder that was found recently, it’s only a matter of time before another batch of deadly food gets onto the market.

Even if there’s no accidental contamination, your Beagle could still be at risk from additives that are put into the dog food, before it reaches the factory. Ethoxyquin is routinely added to fish meal. Fish meal is then often promoted as a healthy form of protein. However they neglect to mention that ethoxyquin has been linked to serious allergic reactions, cancer and liver failure in dogs. And that it has been banned for human consumption for decades.

So have a quick look and see if your dog food has fish meal in it. And be aware that if it does then your dog is almost certainly getting a dose of a known carcinogen with every meal.

For the sake of your Beagle and it’s long term health, you really need to get educated about dog health food. It is our responsibility to know what is going into our dog’s food and to make sure that there are no toxic additives. or preservatives. We all want our best friend’s to live a long and healthy life and it’s not hard with a bit of knowledge.

How would you feel if your dog died at a young age and it was completely preventable? We need to know what goes into the food that we feed our dogs and if it’s making them sick. Our dog health food newsletter is chock full of tips for healthy eating, delicious recipes and information about what really goes into commercial dog food. Click here to subscribe http://www.dog-health-food.com

Article Source: Dog Health Food – Don’t Let Your Beagle Suffer From The Wrong Food

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Feeding Your Labrador Retriever: Part 2

January 25, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Many Labrador Retriever owners feed their pet semi-moist foods because they are easier to prepare than canned food and usually more delectable than regular dry food.

Semi-moist foods are usually packaged in easy-open pouches or as “hamburger patties.” The semi-moist foods contain much less water than canned foods, but they are expensive and loaded with sugar, preservatives, and additives.

These materials can sometimes produce allergic reactions that commonly result in skin biting or scratching by the sensitive Labrador Retriever. Though there are some semi-moist foods that are more nutritious than others, it is best to limit their intake to no more than ¼ of the dog’s diet, with the remaining ¾ being a quality dry food.

The dry-food category spans a large spectrum of quality, mostly commercial and professional. Most of the popular brands that are seen in supermarkets fall into the first category. The main problem with these is the amount the dog needs to consume daily in order to attain proper nutrition. Often, it is just too much, and leads to excessive elimination.

Check the recommended feeding amounts on the bag and apply it to the weight of your Labrador Retriever. If the suggested amount turns out to be more than your dog can easily eat in one meal, choose another brand. A second drawback of this type of dry food is that the mixture of ingredients often varies from batch to batch, due to fluctuations in which crop such as soy, wheat, oats, etc. is available at what time. Therefore, the nutritional value may differ somewhat from bag to bag.

The “professional” meat-meal blends offer some improvement. These are the high-quality dry foods that are sold primarily in pet shops, specialty stores, and online catalogs. They offer a nutritious, balanced diet in an easily digestible form. The makers retain a standard blending procedure from batch to batch to insure a uniform product.

The suggested feeding amounts are adequate to fill a dog up without overfeeding him. Although such products may cost a little more than the regular dry food, in the long run they are no more expensive than brands that require more to be eaten.

A quality meat-meal-based dry food has also been shown to aid in the housebreaking a Labrador Retriever because this type of mixture usually contains bran or fiber in amounts that help to produce firmer stools.

Commercial Dog Food – Do You Know The Truth About Dog Food Yet?

July 8, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

As a kid growing up in a family full of dogs, I remember the old days when mom and pop used to feed our dogs any type of table scraps that we had from our meals; not acknowledging any degree of dog health. And sometimes, the dogs would all have their meals prepared ahead of time. We ate all types of food and back in those days so did our animals, except for one major difference of today’s house pets – they didn’t eat a bite of commercial dog food.

Interestingly enough, three out of the four dogs we owned lived to the age of 18 and 19 years of age, with one dog reaching 21 years of age. And the only reason why the fourth did not hit these high numbers was because of bone cancer. Now our experience with these dogs does not negate any type of nutritional value that commercial dog food may provide, especially considering the leap in information and nutritional research that we have today, but it is a little ironic that standard human food did so well just a few years back.

Pet Food Advertising Has Brainwashed Us

A lot has changed over the past 20 or 30 years. Most dog owners feel that feeding their pets commercial dog food makes the most sense. They believe that high quality dog food sold in stores is not only the most convenient way to feed their animals, but it also is thought to give their dogs and puppies the best nutritional value offered, even better than human food. They believe that this decision is the right thing to do.

You hear this sort of thing over and over again whenever a discussion takes place about dog food and dog health. Just the other day I was discussing some dog tricks with my neighbor and the subject switched to what we fed our dogs. One comment that he made which is quite redundant is that “I feed my dog ‘dog food’ because it’s for dogs. Why would I feed him human food?” My neighbor goes on to display his sense of knowledge about nutrition for dogs by insisting that my way of feeding Charlie (my dog) table scraps was cheating him of the proper foods he needs for energy and growth.

Processed Food is still Processed Food

I realized that there was little chance of me convincing my neighbor of his falsely believed notions about proper nutrition and his dogs. Try convincing one of these people that a dog and a human both need similar nutritional foods. It’s not that easy. However, I did get across one point in which he understood and that was about processed food.

No matter how you look at it, or what you believe a dog should eat as opposed to humans, processed food is still processed food! This stuff is manufactured, which means it goes through various steps of processing, preservatives, and other additives before it hits the can and is packaged. Every step that is taken to get this food to the store shelves reduces its quality and nullifies most of its nutritional value, degrading proper dog health.

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