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Healthiest Dog Food
Choose the Healthiest Dog Food for Your Type of Dog
The dog food your best friend uses might be good for their dog, but may not be the healthiest dog food for YOUR dog. And although your dog would probably love nothing more than a big juicy steak, you need to take several things into consideration in order to pick out the healthiest food for your dog and your situation. Different dogs have different nutritional needs at different stages in their lives.
Today’s pet food market is larger and more diverse than ever before. While this offers a large number of choices in various types of pet food, it also presents a dilemma in choosing the healthiest dog food.
- Are generic or store brands suitable for a dog?
- What about familiar name brands like Purina and Alpo?
- Are the pricier brands that advertise specially formulated ingredients (Science Diet, Eukanuba) really living up to their claims and worth the extra money?
All of these are valid questions that loving dog owners deserve to have answered. And the answer lies in the dog food ingredient label. But before you even look at the ingredient label, you need to figure out the right type of dog food.
Healthiest Dog Food Considerations
There are several factors to consider when choosing the right food for your dog.
• Your Budget
Dog food can be expensive, there’s no doubt about it. Low cost generics and store brands may cost less, but may not be the healthiest dog food as they are made with cheap ingredients and lots of fillers (see post on What Exactly Are Premium Dog Foods to find out more about what should and shouldn’t be in your dog food). You should buy the best dog food you can on your budget to help ensure your dog’s nutrition.
• The Dog’s Age
Puppies have different nutritional requirements than adult dogs just as human children have different needs than adult people. Senior dogs also have different requirements than younger adult dogs. The healthiest dog food will be appropriate for your dog’s stage in life.
• The Dog’s Health
Does your dog have a specific medical condition? If so, the food you choose may need to be partially dictated by that condition. Diabetic dogs need low-glucose foods and dogs with specific allergies (yes dogs can be allergic to all sorts of things, just like people) may require certain foods as well. Your veterinarian can help you choose foods that are appropriate for a dog with a specific medical condition.
• The Dog’s Size or Body Type
Some dogs are overweight. Some dogs are underweight. Some have a natural tendency to get lots of exercise while others tend to prefer to lie around a lot. There are, of course, small, medium, and large dogs as well as the ultra-tiny “toy” dogs. All of these different types of dogs will have different requirements for the type of food they need as well as how much of it.
• Summary
Now that you know the type of dog food appropriate for your dog, you can rule out a good number of dog foods. Now it’s time to really get into the dog food ingredients labels to figure out the healthiest dog food for your dog.
