What's the best kind of dog food?

Feeding is, of course, one of the most important parts of caring for a dog. Substandard nourishment can lead to all sorts of problems for your dog's health, and it is necessary to put a good deal of thought and care into choosing the right kind of food for your pet in order to keep him or her happy, healthy, and full of energy. Always bear in mind that dogs are individuals, just like people, which means that there's no “best” food that will have excellent results for all dogs. Some may thrive on a particular kind of dog food, while others may experience allergic reactions to it, or gain weight, or simply not receive all the nutrients that they require - or even just hate the taste.

 

A big factor in choosing the right kind of food for your dog is age. Puppies require a very specific mix of ingredients that will provide them with a high nutritional balance in order to give them all the vitamins, minerals, proteins and calories their developing bodies need to sustain growth. If you were to continue to feed your dog puppy food once it was fully developed, however, you would most likely find that he or she would become overweight – never a good thing. Older dogs need a different diet yet again, since their digestive systems will not be so good as those of younger dogs, and so they'll need more easily digestible food in order to benefit from the nutrients contained in it. Not only that, but they're likely to be somewhat less active than younger dogs, so will be unable to burn off as much energy – which will again lead to weight problems if you don't take the lower activity levels into account when feeding. The breed and size of your dog also needs to be taken into account when you're determining the best kind of food.

You should generally choose a recommended, high quality food that is specially formulated for your dog's age and for its activity level. These foods may be more expensive than the economy brands, but not only are they much, much better for your pet, they're also generally less expensive in the long term! How? Well, because they're carefully formulated to provide the correct balance of nutrients for your dog, you'll find that the recommended feeding amounts are much smaller than those of economy brands. You'll need to give your dog more of a cheaper, less nutrient-rich food in order to provide him or her with the same amount of nutrition as a smaller serving of good quality food – which means that that bag of cheaper food won't last for as long as the more expensive one! So if saving money is affecting your choice of pet food, just try calculating how much each one costs per serving. You might be surprised.

Also look at the ingredients of the dog food. They will be listed in order of weight, and the best foods will have meat, eggs, fish, meat meal, or fish meal listed as either the first or second ingredient. These are the important ingredients – the ones with the highest percentage of usable, easily digestible proteins. If you choose a high-quality food with one of these listed as a main ingredient, and specially formulated for your dog's age and size, you can feel confident that you're buying the best kind of food for your dog.

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