Сhoosing a Dog Food
#1: Type of food: canned or dry?
Both dry and canned food has some good advantages.
- Dry food is convenient to store: you can pour it into a sealed package and get exactly as much as the dog needs to eat. One more good pro for feeding your dog with dry food is that it helps mechanically clean teeth.
- Canned food is four times less caloric than its alternative, and contributes to better removal of salts from the dog's body.
The recommendation for vets is to combine dry and canned food in a dog's diet to make it more varied. Still, note that dry and canned food should not be mixed in one meal.
#2: Dog food line: classic, premium, or superpremium?
- The most budgetary dog food belongs to the economy class. But because it is made mainly from offal, vets don't recommend building a pet's diet on it.
- Premium dog food contains not just by-products, but also real meat. Such food is a little more expensive, but it better meets the dog's needs in nutrition and contains additional trace elements that help it stay healthy and energetic.
- Super-premium dog food usually contains only natural ingredients, which fully satisfy the needs of the animal in a varied and complete diet.
#3: Age
- Puppies need additional nutrients for skeleton formation and development, so their food contains various amino acids, calcium, phosphorus, and zinc.
- Food for adult animals is generally less nutritious.
- Dogs over seven years should eat specialized food for animals with decreased physical activity.
#4: Lifestyle
Depending on the activity of the dog, manufacturers offer food for stay-at-homes and animals with an active lifestyle. The difference here is estimated not just in calories, but also in additional nutrients that animals need during physical exertion.
Dogs that live outdoors all year round require maximum nutritious food. Not to freeze in the winter season, such dogs need lots of calories and microelements.
#5: Breed
Some diets take into account the developmental features of certain breeds.
Representatives of dwarf breeds often have problems with obesity. They are also prone to diseases of the mouth and teeth and can have issues with the nervous system. So their food is developed with a high content of linoleic acid, calcium, and B vitamins.
Large dog breeds require low-energy food. It is so because rapid growth can lead to joint diseases. In such a case, joints will develop slower than muscle mass and cause the animal various health issues.
#6 Speciality lines
There are also veterinary lines of dog food, which are generally prescribed by professionals. They help deal with various health issues like allergies, dental diseases, sensitive stomachs, etc.
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