feeding a dog

By Erwan Go

Dogs can be fed properly, safely, and consistently when everyone in the home, or family and friends outside the home, are aware of the dog’s dietary needs. When it comes to Feeding Dogs, there are many commercial dog foods on the market all claiming to feed a particular kind of dog; large breed puppy formulas, small breed, obese, natural, etc add to that the different diet plans available for special needs puppies and dogs.

Feeding Dogs is to think about what they would eat in the wild, and then to try to reproduce that as closely as possible with the ingredients we have available. Feeding Dogs is partly art, and partly science. The dog food manufacturers have done the science part. Some people feed their dogs a mix of canned and dry food twice a day. Others feed only dry and allow free feeding, and so on. Be sure and pick a frequency of feeding, brand, and type of food to suit your dog needs.

Feeding Dogs is a hot topic for all dog owners, and professionals in the dog sport commit to learning as much as possible about the complex topic of canine nutrition. It’s no secret that every top dog show and trial in the country is sponsored by a dog food manufacturer that has committed millions of dollars to the development of excellent quality dog food for dogs of every discipline.

Feeding Dogs is not the best idea ever, particularly if you have any that are prone to food aggression. Especially when first establishing a new feeding routine, it’s critical that you remain on-hand to provide guidance as to what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior. When one dog is finished, pick up the empty bowl and do not allow him to crowd or steal any food from the pups which are still eating.

Feeding Dogs is much more rewarding than feeding humans. Dogs never seem to complain about their meals, and they show so much appreciation and end up doing so well on our home diets that I think we all end up enjoying the whole process.

For decades, images of dogs happily chewing on bones have been promoted on television and in motion pictures. As a result, pet owners have been feeding their dogs both raw and cooked bones, thinking that they are providing a natural form of nutrition for their pets. In reality, they are compromising the dog’s health and unintentionally risking the animal’s life. The consumption of bones by dogs has resulted in vomiting, organ puncture, and cancer. Feeding Dogs bones is not a good thing to do!

If a pet owner is in doubt regarding proper nutrition for a dog, it is recommended that they consult a veterinarian, or, at the very least, perform cursory research on the internet, One of the best, and most easily accessible, sources of information regarding animal nutrition is the internet. A concerned dog owner can search the internet using words such as “Feeding Dogs,” “dog food,” or “dog nutrition.” Food requirements vary, depending on a dog’s breed, weight, and size. If a pet owner can’t bear not to give the dog a treat, use rawhide or chew bones made of dog food purchased at the store or pet shop.

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By Abhishek Agarwal

glucosamine for dog

Okay, so if you’re done with scratching your head over the mind-boggling varieties of dog food available in the market and wondering just which one of those tins with umpteen benefits and supplementary vitamins, minerals and fiber doses is the one for your pooch – let’s move on to something that has proven goodness! Yes, we are talking big-time strong bones – with glucosamine, which you may have seen advertised on certain brands of dog foods as an ingredient; do consider including it in your dog’s regular diet if you want to have a long-life companion that is healthy, strong and raring to go for that evening walk at anytime!

This can be possible with the scientific break-through provided by glucosamine being beneficial for humans with a joint health issue: a known dietary supplement, it has proven to be advantageous for maintaining good joint cartilage health and improving the lubrication of various joints, by acting as a building block element. This improves joint movements and since it has already worked for humans, it wasn’t long before the goodness of glucosamine was tested for dogs as well; the results were good and proved beneficial for canine health being ensured at peak performance levels even as dogs grew older.

Simply put, the benefits of Glucosamine are best felt for improving the smooth functioning of joints and strengthening bones as it moistens and lubricates a dog’s joints so diseases like arthritis, to which large breeds are predisposed to developing and joint/hip problems can be avoided.

In the natural form, glucosamine can be found in shellfish while the other source is fermented corn; the latter is suitable for veggie loving dogs. It is now being increasingly recommended to dog owners to strongly consider including glucosamine in their dog’s daily diet as it is not only a health-building element, but also safe from side-effects of any kinds -even when taken with other medications and supplements.

Most of the high quality dog foods of today have realized the benefits of glucosamine and added them to their line of products with animal nutritionists have endorsed this on TV shows, magazines and even in doctor’s clinics having felt the need to encourage dog owners to also realize the goodness of glucosamine for their pets. Even in supplement form, Glucosamine can benefit your dog: as tasty treats are a-plenty for snack-time instead of trying to improve dog-health with pills, so it is a better bet to Go with Glucosamine!

On a precautionary note, if the dog food you currently buy for your pet already contains glucosamine, you may wan to first consult with your vet to decide whether additional supplements are needed – before you change your dog’s diet.

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Executive Summary about Natural Pet Food by Christine Wilhelm

natural pet foods

The pet food recall last year was scary for all of us pet owners. Afterward, I educated myself on pet nutrition and what should and should not be in our pet’s food. From all that I read about a pet’s nutritional needs, I suspected the problem was with her food, a well known expensive commercial pet food which I found contained suspect ingredients such as chemicals, preservatives, and by-products.

I decided to change her diet to an all natural kibble, supplemented with raw food and the results were amazing. I have now compiled a list of my recommended Pet Foods which will be permanently maintained on my blog “The Cat/Dog Log,” for all pet owners to reference. So please be specific when listing your pet food.

Recommended Natural Pet Foods:
Barf World Raw patties;
Blue Buffalo Co;
Evangers;
From Family;
Halo Purely for Pets;
Holistic Blend;
Merrick;
Natura: Evo, Innova and Karma;
Natura: California Natural canned only: Lamb/Chicken & Br.Rice/Herring & Sw.Potato;
Nature’s Variety – Instinct – canned;
Newmans Own Organics Premium;
Solid Gold: Hund-N-Flocken, Katz-N-Flocken, Millenia, Wolf King;
The Honest Kitchen -dehydrated raw;
Wellness by Old Mother Hubbard

Criteria for the list:

* First ingredient must be a specified meat such as “chicken” (not “chicken meal”- it’s fine if “chicken meal” (example) is the 2nd or 3rd ingredient.
* No by-products
* No corn as it’s hard to digest and one of the prime causes of allergies in pets
* Fat should be specified, such as “chicken fat,” not just “animal fat”
* Preservatives should be natural and not chemical, for instance Vitamin E

Chicken meal is only the meat from the chicken, whereas chicken by-products can be all parts of the bird, including beaks, feathers, feet, intestines, etc.

The Pet Foods that list meat as the first ingredient tend to be the most expensive, and I know that we can’t all afford the top of the line Pet Foods. There are many other good pet foods out there where the first ingredient is for example “chicken meal,” but my goal here was to list the very best Pet Foods. I also feed raw food for one meal a day to assure they are getting the best quality high protein diet I can give them. For premium content and convenience, nothing beats BARF World frozen raw food patties.

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Executive Summary about Organic Pet Food by Heidi Junger

organic pet foods

Google yields about 5,930,000 results for the term Premium Pet Foods. Although manufacturers of so-called Premium Pet Foods often use lower quality animal and fish meals, gluten, or fish oil, they exploit this very effective marketing term to advertise and sell their less-than-high-quality products.

Aside from the use of low-grade ingredients, most manufacturers of Premium Pet Foods add slurries of vitamin-mineral premixes, and this allows them to designate their foods ‘complete’ or ‘balanced.’ Considering the low quality of over-processed and otherwise altered ingredients used in most Premium Pet Foods, it is understandable that vitamins (mostly synthetic) need to be added as an afterthought to provide some nutritional quality.

Due to lack of regulation, low operating standards, and minimal ethical concerns on the part of some pet food manufacturers, feed-grade ingredients are generally not healthy choices as ingredients for so-called Premium Pet Foods. Quite honestly, feed-grade ingredients cannot be a healthy choice for any pet food.

Truthfully, very few of the Premium Pet Foods that aren’t also USDA certified organic contain ingredients that are based on natural, minimally processed, foods.

A truly healthy Premium Pet Foods is, quite simply, holistic. Certainly the formulation of such a pet food would start with whole food-based ingredients that are USDA certified organic. True holistic Premium Pet Foods only use unrefined ingredients which are gently processed. For example, heat processing destroys most ingredient-based nutrients, and is therefore another reason why questionable nutrient-vitamin mixes are added to pet foods.

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Executive Summary about Pet Food by Amanda K. Jones

pet food

Many pet owners are considering the option of feeding their pet a homemade diet. Domesticated pets can become ill from ingesting contaminated food. The source of the food can be from either commercial or home prepared diets. Foodborne illnesses in dogs and cats can be caused by bacterial infection, bacterial toxins, mycotoxins, chemicals, metals and other contaminants.

It is important to distinguish the difference between food infections and food poisonings. Food infections result from the ingestion of infectious microbial cells (like salmonellae) that invade the pet’s tissues and after a period of time reproduce to pathogenic levels. Food poisonings result from the ingestion of food that already contains a microbial toxin (like aflatoxin). The signs of food poisonings usually appear rapidly, sometimes less than one hour after ingestion.

In a recent study done by the American Association of Poison Control Centers, food poisonings accounted for only 1.7% of reported causes of poisonings in dogs and cats. While the risk of litigation and bad press encourages Pet Food manufacturers to be diligent in maintaining high product quality standards, there is always the chance for miscalculations and errors.

The USDA keeps a running tally of recalled human food products on its Food Safety and Inspection Service website. Many health-conscious pet owners abandon commercial Pet Food products and prepare homemade diets for their pets.

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