If you ask various pet experts, you may receive confusing information on what to feed a dog. On one side are those who don't trust commercial pet food and recommend only raw and organic pet foods. On the other side are people who swear that the only food you should feed your dog is a commercial blend.
Homemade vs. Commercial Food
The most common method of feeding a dog is to use a commercial brand, but making your own dog food has grown popular as pet owners want to know what goes into their pet's food to ensure their dog's health and safety. Both methods have their pros and cons.
Commercial Pet Foods
Commercial pet foods are the most economical and convenient way to feed your dog. You can buy your pet's food in several forms including dry, canned, semi-moist, frozen and freeze-dried.
Dry food has more nutrition pound for pound than the other foods. With the other types of foods, you're paying for packaging, storage, water weight, or the processing required to put it in those forms. Dry food tends to last six months to a year. Other forms, with the exception of canned food, usually last only a few months.
Regardless of which form your dog food comes in, it should have a nutritional adequacy statement saying that it meets or exceeds the nutritional standards set forth by the Association of Animal Feed Control Officials. Without this statement, you cannot be sure if the food is complete and balanced for your dog.
Premium Dog Food vs. Generic
If you are considering a commercial dog food, buy a premium dog food. Premium dog food is nutrient dense and highly digestible with no fillers, artificial colors, additives, or flavors, meaning that you feed less food for the same or better nutrition, resulting in lower dog food costs overall and less dog feces to pick up in the yard afterward. Premium dog food costs more, but considering that you often feed twice to five times less food than generic food, that cost is quickly mitigated.
Premium dog food has meat (the protein source) as the main ingredients. Many dog food purported to be premium may actually have more grain than meat in them by having many grains in the top five ingredients.
Generic food, that is, food that you can purchase anywhere, is usually made in cute shapes and has different colors to appeal to the consumer. What it makes up for in color and cuteness, it lacks in nutrition, being full of fillers and low-quality sources of protein. You must often feed several cups more and may still not get the nutrition that a premium dog food provides.
Homemade Dog Food
Deterred by various pet food recalls and concerned over what their pet is eating, some pet owners are looking to provide a healthy diet that is free from chemicals, nonhuman-grade ingredients and contaminants.
The risks of making your own food come down to whether you can make a complete and balanced food that provides the correct nutrition for a dog (many diets don't). Also, there is a risk of bacterial contamination when feeding foods that are raw.
If you choose to make your own dog food, consult with a veterinary nutritionist.
Raw Diets
Several popular homemade diets are raw diets, meaning that the food is minimally processed and the meat is uncooked. Proponents of these diets point out that these diets mimic what a wild canid might eat in the wild. The food has more naturally occurring vitamins than foods that are cooked or processed; however, if you don't handle the food carefully, it could harbor salmonella, campylobacter and other nasty organisms that can be passed to your dog, or even to you.
Like with other homemade meals, consult with a veterinary nutritionist.
Tags: your food, food that, complete balanced, consult with, consult with veterinary