Proper food and nutrition for your dog

Chances are, other than maintaining a veterinary regimen, no single aspect of their lives is greater than proper food and nutrition for your dog. Again, let me remind you of something. My definition of a canine is a furry four-legged human trapped in a dog’s body. Therefore, if you go to a doctor for regular visits, why shouldn’t your dog? Better yet, don’t you watch what you eat? Well I’m sure there are lots of us who don’t, but you better watch what you feed your dog if you want them to be with you for a lot of years to come.

I hate to use a cliché, but if you are what you eat, the same holds true for your dog. And don’t let appearances fool you. Fido may look terrific on the outside, but be in serious trouble on the inside. If you notice that your dog is displaying a temperament that isn’t customary or what you’ve been used to, or their behavior becomes odd, and then do yourself a favor. Look in their food dish. In other words, pay attention to what you are feeding them. WARNING Cheap foods are no good for your dog!!!

The basic food is usually kibble, or the dry dog foods, and normally, the first ingredient listed on the bag is one of three different foods — corn, rice, or soybean. However, the better brands of dog food list either fish meal or meat as the first ingredient. From an economic standpoint, even though the better dog foods cost more, dogs will generally eat less of them and gain as much valuable nutrition compared to that of the cheaper foods. Therefore you’re not really paying more for their food as you would think.

Remember that whenever you read an ingredients label (on any consumable item), they are listed in order of containing the most to the least. So if either fish meal or meat is more than halfway down the list of ingredients, chances are there’s only enough of it in the kibble to cover that manufacturer’s butt from a legal standpoint. There won’t be that much of a benefit to Rover.

There are six ingredients that necessary in a dogs diet in order to ensure that they are living a healthy lifestyle. Water is one of them, and you can handle that part. However, in order to ensure proper food and nutrition for your dog, make sure that the following five are in those ingredients listed on their bag of dry dog food:

1. carbohydrates 2. fats 3. minerals 4. protein 5. vitamins

If any of these are missing, I highly recommend that you search for another brand to feed them. Supplementation is rarely required when you feed your dog a kibbled food that contains these ingredients. The bottom line is that if you truly love and care for that dog the way you do your own family, then price should never be an issue when it comes to the proper food and nutrition for your dog.