Dog Food: the important predecessor to dog poop

Dog food is an imperative component to dog poop. Dog food determines in part the base color, consistency, frequency, and odor for your dog’s droppings, and as such is the unchanging factor from which deviant dog poops can be recognized.

Yet, dog food is available in literally thousands of brands, with a variety of styles and ingredients from which to choose. So how do you pick the best dog food for your pup? What form should it be in – canned, dry, or tube? Your veterinarian can be an excellent resource for choosing the best dog food, but do your own research as well. Certain brands will offer vets a financial incentive for endorsement, so make sure that your dog’s health is the primary concern.

There are essentially three different types of dog food: natural, premium, and non-premium. The best dog food choice is a natural brand, such as Innova, Wellness, or Natural Balance. The next best selection is a premium brand, such as Eukanuba, Iams, or Purina. Avoid the non-premium, non-natural brands like the plague. These brands, like Kibbles and Bits, tend to come in gigantic bags because your dog needs to eat so much of them to maintain his health, and do not offer proper nutrition. They might seem cheaper at first glance, but in the long run you will spend much less money on a premium or natural brand, just in sheer quantity.

When choosing the best dog food brand, start by examining the back of the label. A high protein percentage is of chief importance, so compare a few bags and weed out those under about 20%. My favorite, Innova Evo, is an impressive 43.16% protein.

Next, take a careful look at the ingredients. The first ingredient should be some type of meat: chicken, lamb, turkey, etc – avoid those that start with meat by-products or meal. As you scan through the rest of the list, watch for large amounts of grain, as it is not a necessary or healthy part of your dogs diet. Vegetables are fine. Also be wary of endless streams of long, scientific-sounding words. These preservatives and additives are better left on the shelf. If you can’t pronounce it, you don’t want your dog to eat it.

Your dog may have food allergies just like you do. Sirius vomits if he eats dog food containing barley or oatmeal, so I have to be careful that neither of these land in his bowl. Keep an eye for what ingredients make the healthiest dog poops.

Once you’ve picked your brand, you must decide whether to pick dry food, canned food, or the slightly rarer tube food. For small dogs, canned dog food can be an excellent choice because of the high moisture level. Some of the canned foods even offer better nutrition than their dry food counterparts. However, for those of us with large beasts, canned food just isn’t financially viable. Tubed dog food tends to be packaged in larger amounts than canned, and is much easier to work with. It is an excellent supplement to dry food, and many dogs find it a tasty treat. Still, it is not the most budget friendly, which leaves large dog owners with a single choice: dry dog food.

Here is a fantastic secret to dry dog food: add water. That’s right, simply pour some warm water over the food (think breakfast cereal and milk for the correct amount) and let it soak for a half hour before feeding. Both Niko and Sirius had deep chests and would often erp up some food after meal time. Adding water aided in digestion, stopped the erps, and created healthier dog poops for all.

What dog food do you like the best? I am sold on Innova brand, though I have also fed Wellness in the past, and have experience with Eukanuba and Science Diet as well. In a jam, a can of Iams beef in gravy will work for Sirius. Most other foods upset his stomach.

Technorati Tags: dog food, best dog food, dog poop

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 08th, 2008 at 7:11pm and is filed under Dog Poop Calendar, Dog Poop Info. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.