How to Know What Dog Food Is Right for Your Puppy

Processed dog feed is the best even though some dog owners do not fancy it. Veterinary specialists have performed several testing and research on these feeds before recommending them for dogs’ consumption. The nutritional contents are great for the development of dogs, and it helps them to stay as healthy as possible.

Dogs in general love meat, but that’s not the only food they can eat. Their system can benefit greatly by consuming whole grains and vegetables. These foods are not fed to dogs to keep them full; the vitamins and minerals derived from them can be a great way for them to build up strength. Commercially processed feed contains all ingredients needed to improve the total well-being of dogs.

These ingredients include fruits, grains, vegetables, and meat added in the right proportion. The feed provides great benefits for dogs’ digestive systems and other systems in their body.

You should find out about the nutrients your puppy needs as the recommended nutritional requirements vary from adult to puppies. This is why you need to know what exactly works for your dog at a certain age. A source of this information is the Merck Veterinary Manual, which gives a detailed explanation on what to give your dog and at what proportion according to its age and weight. Please note that the type of nutrients present in feed for small breed dogs is not the same as the one for the large breed dogs.

In order to be sure you are buying the right feed, you need to check the nutritional content and read the instructions written on the label. Go down the memory lane by remembering what you’ve been feeding your dog with, to see how they correlate with the feed you are about to buy. It’s not nice feeding a certain type of feed to your puppy every day; dogs also get discontent with time.

Although all processed feed has their nutrients written on the label, sometimes they can’t be trusted says mydogstopreviews.com. You shouldn’t take their word for it just like that. There’s a way to master the process of checking for the information without getting tricked. The manufacturers sometimes withhold information about what their product contains. So, they write the main ingredients while leaving you to decipher the rest. No matter what, all feeds should include protein, especially meat protein, to make it compete with standard recommended feed.

If you find a feed with meat protein being the nutrient with the highest proportion, then you should go for it. They are the best you can find as other nutrients are not needed in the rate at which proteins are. To ensure your puppy grows properly and remains healthy, feed with protein tends to work wonders.

Importance of Proteins

You might be wondering, why do we need to check the protein before any other nutrient?

Well, the answer is because we need protein more than any other nutrient. Protein can help us to stay healthy, and this applies to dogs too. Dogs need it to stay active as it helps to prevent diseases and infections. When broken down, it forms amino acid, which helps to repair worn-out tissues. For dogs to be as healthy as needed, they need to take in 20 types of amino acids. Ten out of the acids should be fed to them while they produce the other 10 in their body. The absence of one of these acids will cause a deficiency that might pose a problem for the dog.

If you feed your dog thoroughly with the nutrients it requires, it will have the ability to process the protein very well for it to benefit from them. This is because eating protein is one thing; being able to use it is another thing entirely.

Besides, the type of protein present in a feed should be checked. The most recommended protein source is animal products like meat. These meats also vary in their origins, which can range from beef to chicken, and lamb. Your dog can easily digest proteins from these meats, so they are your best bet. One thing you must keep in mind is that when chicken is listed as the number one ingredient, you should check the next ingredient to see if it’s not carbohydrate. In case the next ingredient is a carbohydrate, drop it and look for the one that has ‘meal’ as the second ingredient.

The bottom line is choosing a feed that has meat as its first ingredient on the list. Meat meal and by-product meals are also used to represent meat sometimes. They are also good, and you can choose them.

Reading Ingredients List

Reading a list of ingredients shouldn’t be rocket science; however, when checking for ingredients on dogs feed, you should be careful. There’s a rule of listing ingredients on food, either human or animal food. This is listing the most abundant nutrient first, then the second, third, and the rest follow.

With this method, we can see what is present and in what percentage. For instance, if you find an ingredient at the foot of the list, then you should know that it may not be present in the proportion that might provide any benefit to you. That is to say, manufacturers list ingredients to impress buyers, whereas a little portion of it was added even to show its existence.

The best way to check the nutritional list is to check the list of ingredients that comes after salt; these ingredients take up less than 1% of the whole diet. Assuming you need to have a certain ingredient in your dog’s feed, and it is listed after salt – some may write it as potassium chloride – do not buy it. Instead, find another feed that has it listed before salt.

Please note that this method can only be used for food ingredients and not for mineral and vitamins as these nutrients are required in small doses. A little bit of them is enough to work perfectly on your dog.