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Dog Forum - General Dog Topics

Puppy age
What is the right age to select a puppy?"You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they w...

Paper training
Did you have any experience with paper training?

Re: Hello
Quote from: SageMother on September 24, 2007, 06:02:28 PMI am Sage and live in Colorado.  I used ...

New Cute Dog Pictures Site
I started a new site where you guys can post photos of your dogs. here http://www.cutedogbreeds.c...

Re: drooling dogs
We have a Bloodhound puppy, she's about 6 1/2 months old.  In the last few days she's been drooli...

Where did you get yours?
Where did you get your puppy?In some places, it's illegal now to even have puppies, because they ...

Re: Dry Skin
Don't wash him too often or it'll take the natural oils out. My dog has the same problem and i us...

Re: drooling dogs
I have a french bulldog and while he doesn't drool usually, he sometimes gets something stuck in ...

Re: Suggested Feedings
I don't even read the suggested diets anymore. Sometimes they seem accurate, but other times comp...

Re: Training session
Maybe controlling her diet will make her less tired? Try to ration out her meals so that you feed...


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Best Dog Foods

Why is it important to provide balanced dog food to your pet?

Proper nutrition to your dog is an important factor in promoting its general good health, performance, and long life. It also plays an important role in preventing many diseases that may affect your dog. Deficiencies and excesses of nutrients can harm your dog's health. Therefore it is important to have proper information relating to dog food for the sake of the good health of your pet.

Feeding patterns vary depending on age, weight and activity level of your dog. Puppies have a higher calorie needs as compared to adults and should therefore be fed more often though in smaller quantities. Although conventional wisdom says dogs should be fed animal-based food, they can also survive on a vegetarian food as the food contains sufficient amounts of proteinf plus essential nutrients.

Normal active adult dogs should consume about 1000 kilocalories a day. On the other hand, growing puppy need about twice as many calories per kg of body weight as compared to adult dogs of the same breed. Puppy owners should start feeding them at approximately 4 weeks after birth in multiple, well-spaced meals. The amount of dog food has to be adjusted to maintain optimum body weight. A good indication that your puppy has good weight is when the ribs cannot be seen but can be felt without feeling a thick layer of body fat under the skin.

Dog are not strict meat eaters and can thrive on a vegetarian diet. Regardless of the sources, normal adult dogs should get about 10 percent of their total calories from protein. Old dogs require more protein to maintain their protein reserves.

It has been proven that it costs less to feed dogs with Super-Premium dog
food than an Economy dog food. The reason is that Premium dog foods contain more energy and protein than an economy brands. In test carried out here, the dogs had to be fed 5 times as much of the Economy brand dog food to get the same nutritional benefits of the Premium dog foods.

Other tips related to dog nutrition

• Dogs should have plenty of water to drink (60 mililiters per day per kilogram of body weight)
• Give the dog good balanced diet- Whether homemade or commercial (Super-Premium food), the feed needs to have all the nutrients the dog needs and in sufficient quantities. Dogs eat larger, less frequent meals than cats do. It is fine to feed an adult dog one or two times per day. Puppies, however, need two to three daily meals
• Commercial dog food offer a higher standard of cleanliness. For canned foods, once opened they should be kept in a cool dry place. Canned dog food contains meat and like human canned food, should be covered and refrigerated. It is recommended that canned dog food be used 3 days after openng it. Follow the manufacturer's instructions when feeding your dog commercial foods.
• It's not advisable to feed dogs cat food. The reason is that since the nutritional requirements for cats and dogs are different, a deficiency, excess or imbalance of certain nutrients can affect the dog and cause it to be sick.
• Fiber is also good for overall health of your dog. The diet of normal adult dogs should contain between 2.5 and 4.5 % fiber. Too much fiber causes other nutrients in the food to be digested slowly resulting in loose stools, reduced palatability and frequent defecation. Foods low in starch content, such as corn and wheat bran and barley products, are high in fiber. On the other hand, food high in starch, including rice and dried potatoes, have less fiber.
• When buying dog food, always check the label. Check for quality meat source as part of the ingredients and for freshness. Watch out for the following ingredients in dog foods which are not recommended:-
  - Meat by-products:- Organs and parts not desired for human consumption including bones, blood, intestines, lungs, ligaments, heads etc
  - Corn: difficult for dogs to digest.
  - Meat & Bone Meal:-Inexpensive sources of animal protein. Poorly digestible and fail to provide adequate nutrition.
  - Chemical Preservatives:- Potentially cancer-causing agents
  - Sweeteners:- Usually added to low quality foods to increase their appeal and palatability. Includes corn syrup and sugar
  

Dogs require vitamins in low concentrations. Deficiency in vitamins can cause dogs to display certain abnormalities. Commercial feeds usually have the right balances of vitamins and minerals so this should not be much of a problem.