Dogs that eat high quality and well dosed food are not only healthy, but also have more energy, a nicer coat and a higher willingness to learn. Unfortunately, many owners do not feed their dogs enough, either out of ignorance, savings or for reasons that are easiest for them to keep and serve. Everything you need to know about feeding healthy dogs can be found in this text, while we will look at medical dog food in one of the following articles.
Buyers of dog food have many questions, which we are always happy to answer, but often they fail to ask the right question, namely – What is the best dog food? The answer to this question is more complex than the answers to questions such as “How often should a dog be fed?” or “Is dry or wet food better?
Natural nutrition as a goal
All pets must be fed in a manner that most closely resembles natural nutrition. The dog is the only large carnivore that has been domesticated, and during the 20,000 years of its existence as a special species in relation to the wolf, the dog has changed its diet to a semi carnivore. Dogs have a preference for meat and eat meat when available, but can also eat plant foods. So you will certainly not make a mistake if you feed the dog food of animal origin with the addition of plant food, because it is the basic “recipe” for dogs. Studies in which dogs were given a large amount of high quality natural food so that they could choose what they wanted to eat, showed that they eat a lot of meat in the first days, but very quickly switch to only about 30% protein, and the meat with nuts, cereals, fruits and other foods. It has been proven that dogs can be perfectly healthy even with vegetarian food, but then it is necessary to add vitamin D and pay attention to the protein content, while a diet that simulates a diet in nature is much easier.
Animal proteins are the basis of any dog food, whether fresh meat, heat-treated meat or dry, semi-dry and wet dog food. When preparing your own food, cooked or roasted meat is better than fresh meat because there is a constant risk of bacteria in fresh meat (bacteria from unprocessed meat is the most common source of stomach problems in dogs) and fresh meat has no advantage meat, although many proponents of “natural nutrition” argue.
A significant portion of Pet Spot’s line consists of dog foods created to mimic the diet of dogs in nature to the maximum extent possible. For example, each type of food in the Taste Of The Wild brand contains everything that would wild dog food in a selected ecological zone, such as in the plains, near watercourses or in the forest. Choosing this food is always a great thing and dogs especially like to eat it.
Pay attention to packaging: Proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
We hear about fats, amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals every day, but nutrition can often be complicated, so we quickly forget what we hear. Fortunately, when it comes to dog nutrition, we don’t have to worry much about vitamins and minerals, because healthy dogs don’t need more than what they eat (if the food is labeled as balanced and complete), so the most important thing is what kind of protein ), fats and carbohydrates dogs get, as well as in what proportion.
Protein
The role of protein in the diet is to provide important amino acids without which the body cannot survive. Per kilogram of body weight, a dog must receive at least 1.5 grams of protein per day to be healthy, and it is recommended to add two grams, so an adult dog weighing 20 kilograms needs at least 30, ideally 40 grams of protein per day.
For example, if a dog gets a can of food weighing 450 grams, which contains 8% protein, it means that the dog has 450 * 0.08 = 36 grams, which is enough for a dog weighing 18 kilograms.
Calorie requirements of dogs
See how many calories your dog likes and make sure you give him too many calories
However, not all proteins are the same. The best for the diet contain 10 basic amino acids in an ideal ratio, whereby the dog easily recognizes quality food and it happens that dogs even avoid proteins that lack only one amino acid (dogs choose food far more by smell than by taste, because they have 50 times more olfactory receptors than humans).
If the package states that the protein source is meat, such as beef or chicken, this is a sign that it is a high quality food mixed with meat or even after the meat has been removed. Ideally, as with human food, it will be indicated which part of the animal the meat comes from (e.g. chicken) and whether it is “pure” meat without bones or skin.