What Are The Three Choices Of Dog Food and How Are They Made?

Once your pup reaches about a year you should start to switch from the puppy chow into the adult food. What kind of adult food should you chose? There are three types of dog food, dry, semi-moist or canned. 

Dry foods are usually the more popular choice and they go through a lengthy process to make. Most companies start out with raw materials such as grain, meat and fat. Then they grind them down to help increase the availability of the nutrients and mix the ingredients. Next is a process that is called extrusion which uses an extruder. An extruder is a machine that looks like screw inside a barrel. The food cooks as it goes through the barrel and changes the screw’s turning speed. This is how the dog food is cooked and the end results are spongy dough. It is then send through what is known as a die where it is cut with a knife. The new kibbles now go into a dryer where the moisture is removed. The last step is called enrobing and it is the addition of either liquids or powders to the outer of the kibble. This is where the fat and flavor enhancements are added.

Semi-moist foods are made almost just like dry foods but when they are going through the extruder the temperature is lower and dryer and then it would be for dry dog food. Semi moist foods are obviously higher in moisture and have an increased risk of spoilage from mold and bacteria. To help prevent this manufactures formulated the semi-moist foods with mold and bacterial inhibitors and place them in special moisture proof bags.

Canned foods have been around since the 1800s. Canned food (or soft dog food) is food sealed in a can and then heat sterilized. Raw ingredients are used as they are in Dry food and semi-moist food. These are then added into a mixer and are cooked. After it is cooked but still hot, it moves into the filler/seamer. This is when it is placed in the cans and vacuumed sealed and then sterilized.

Now that who know how each food is made, how do you decide which one is best for your dog if you are feeding them store bought food.

You might want to stay away from semi-moist food. Just as you did for puppy hood. They are quiet high is salt and sugar. Sugar can contribute to gingivitis which can lead to tooth loss. Salt of course can lead to dehydration in some dogs. If you really want semi moist food for your dog, you can do ahead and add some water to his kibble already. Be careful though you do not add to much. Kibble tends to swell when it is wet and it could cause bloating in your dog. Try to stick with dry or canned. To come to an even better conclusion, you should look at your dog to decide if you should go with the dry or canned. Is your dog a large breed dog? Large breed dogs tend to eat more than the smaller breeds and you might benefit more from dry food which is sold in bulk.

Canned foods are better for the smaller breads of dog, but be careful with this because sometimes with canned food you can see a faster build up of tarter and plague on your dog. As you will find out, in the end it is going to be your dog that makes the final decision for what type of food you feed it. We tried all sorts of dog foods for our dog before finally deciding on one and it was a lot of trial and error with him.

The Revealing Facts of Dog Food Obesity

Dog nutrition has to be the most important element to successful dog care that you the dog owner need to be aware of. Dog nutrition contributes largely to the life span of your pet and the quality of life that your pet leads. It is such a huge topic of interest right now that finding the right food and following the correct guidelines can be quite a challenge.

Many dog food owners complain that they need to be scientists to understand the dog food labels! Because there are now a vast amount of different dog breeds, pet food manufacturers have developed different types of food best suited for optimum dog nutrition for the specific breed of dog. Being aware of your own dog’s specific nutritional requirements can be a difficult task in itself, and if you are not sure you can always speak with your Vet who will advise you on the best avenue to take.

Dog nutrition will change depending on the dog’s age, the possible developing of bad health, etc. This said, providing the utmost nutritional base for a dog that is going through a difficult stretch for whatever reason is very important. Your Vet will be able to best help you in determining the appropriate food for your pet in cases such as this so be sure to check with him or her.

Below I have listed some general tips to ensure that your dog gets the most out of whatever
food you do offer him/her:

Feeding at the same time each day

When you bide by a feeding schedule, you can ensure that your dog’s food is always fresh. Dog food that is filled in the bowl first thing in the morning is exposed to air and so will not be as fresh. Also, allowing for the food to be down all day, means that your animal can just eat all day long and we all know what that can lead to!

How much food your dog needs

This fact can be tricky. There are multiple factors to consider when trying to figure out the appropriate amount of food to feed to your dog daily. The activity level of your dog, your dog’s metabolism, and genetics, are all factors to consider. What you want to attempt to do is feed your dog enough to maintain his ideal body weight. For information concerning the ideal body weight of your dog, consult your Vet.

Feeding table scraps

Under no circumstances should a dog be fed table scraps. Not only will this develop into a habit on your part, but your dog will never leave you or your family alone while you are all at the table.

Furthermore, certain foods are very bad for dogs to ingest, and can lead to toxicity and severe illness for your dog.

Exercise

Simply exercising your dog can help to control excess weight gain if your dog is prone to this.
Another suggestion for controlling excess weight gain is to put your dog on a low density calorie dog food. Your Vet will be able to assist you in deciding if this is an appropriate option. You may think that it is cute to have your dog on the chubby side, starting as a pup and then on toward adult form, but, it is not healthy so be sure and take your feeding your dog seriously.

What Do You Prefer for a Dog Food: Commercial or Premium?

What is the difference between commercial and premium dog foods?
The difference between commercial dog food and high quality dog foods is quite extensive however, there are easy methods that we as dog owners can take advantage of to ensure that we offer the best possible diet to our faithful companions.

Commercial Dog Food

The commercial dog food market is heavily relied upon by wholesale and commercial stores as it is this type of product that contributes widely to the success of these consumer franchises. For the production of a commercial dog food product, dog food manufacturers use a lower quality ingredient structure. This includes animal by product. Animal by products contain little nutrition and are thought of as fillers.

By doing this, the cost of production is low. The profit is high due to the public buying the product at a reduced price than that of the premium product. Most pet owners are not concerned with what the label on the bag reads. Many just buy their dog foods blindly and feel happy enough with what they are feeding their pet. Fillers (cheap additives) are included to make the food taste good.

Premium Dog Food

Premium dog food is exactly what it says it is. These are good, nutritious products that are safe to feed to your dog. They are good because they are:
- Products that are manufactured with your dog in mind instead of the dollar.
- Products that are properly nutritionally balanced.
- Products that contain high quality ingredients.
- Products that take due time to be created allowing for proper research to be conducted
- Extensive product testing, example, Taste trials.

Commercial dog food manufacturers gain from our ignorance! Would you as a parent feed your new baby a low quality formula, or would you go with the more expensive yet far superior brand? A good pet owner will opt for the latter every time! Knowing how important a healthy diet is to the present and future longevity of one’s dog makes the point for feeding premium dog food very well.

The below list is a simple guide containing things to consider the next time you go to purchase dog food for your dog:
- Commercial products are sold in commercial establishments such as grocery stores.
- Premium products are not sold in grocery stores.
- A lot of commercial products list whole meat of some kind as their first ingredient. This is misleading due to the measurement being taken before the meat is cooked, reducing it drastically.
- Premium products will not list whole meat as their first ingredient.
- A lot of premium products contain specific breed formulas best suited for your breed of dog.
- When buying a premium dog food, you will pay for what you get. In order to ensure a quality product money is spent to research, test and tinker with the product to create the finished product.

Premium dog food is worth it’s weight in gold to your dog!

Dog Food: Chicken In Dog Food

When you select the best dry food for your dog, is it better to go with the chicken meal than the pure chicken?

Chicken meal is better because it is simply chicken that has been baked to remove bacteria and other toxins. Chicken is simply pure chicken. What you might not know about chicken, is that it is made mostly of water. If a label on a bag of dog food says 60% whole chicken that is quite misleading as that does not take into account how much of that 60% of chicken is left after
baking it to remove unwanted substances!

When you read the label on the bag of dog food and it says 60% of chicken meal, your getting more of the chicken because the product has already been baked to remove unwanted affects such as bacteria.

Converting to Dry Matter

If you really want to know what you are doing you need to understand that all pet foods have different levels of moisture. Canned foods can have up to 80% moisture whereas, some dry foods can have as little as 6%. This is important for 2 reasons. The first is that the food is priced by the pound, and when you buy dog food that is 80% water you get 20% food and the rest is water. So this means that the amount of food your pet consumes is small and expensive. The other reason for understanding percent moisture is to help you compare crude protein and fat between brands and between canned and dry. The listings on the label are for the food as it is, not as it would be on a dry matter basis. So without converting both brands of food to a dry matter basis you will not be able to compare them accurately.

Fortunately, the conversion is not that complicated.

If a dry dog food has 10% moisture we know that it has 90% dry matter. So we look at the label and check the protein level that reads 20%. Next, we divide the 20 percent protein by the 90% dry matter and we get 22%, which is the amount of protein on a dry matter basis. Does this make sense so far? Good. Now let us compare this to canned food that has 80% moisture.

We know that with 80% moisture we have 20% dry matter. The label shows 5% protein. So we take the 5% and divide it by 20% and we get 25% protein on a dry matter basis. So the canned food has more protein per pound on a dry matter basis after all the water is taken out. We can do the same for fat, fiber and more.

If you can do the calculations, you can then understand the whole nutrition of the dog food.

Where to Find Nutritious Dog Diet?

Locating the best and most nutritious meals for your pets diet can be a daunting task if you are not well prepared, below I focus on some of the most convenient places you can find dog food. We all want our dogs to eat well, why? Because we understand the advantages of a well balanced healthy dog diet, the challenge we may have is where to buy this nutritious dog food. Markets today abound with all types and varieties of dog food. We are indeed spoiled for choice like it's popularly said. Be it canned dog food or dog food in bags, it's all available and much convenient because all you have to do is pop into your local store, whether departmental or grocery. Store chains don't want to be left behind either, and they too are catching up with the trend, so you can't miss dog food in their shelves, besides they give you better prices for your purchase of dog food.

 But suppose you are wary of purchasing your dog food products from the grocery store, then you should consider getting it from the stores that stock feeds animals. Companies like TSC frequently deal with clients interested in purchasing best quality pet food. They can be more than glad to offer you assistance in deciding the best meals for your dog, and even recommending the best brands for you that can best meet your dog's nutritional and dietary needs. You could also obtain expensive good dog food from such stores that may not exist in your Closest Wal-Mart.

Most companies have moved their products to cyberspace. These companies use the internet as their market platform for their organic and natural pet diets. This means you can use the internet to locate dog food products that feel good to you. Some of these electronic merchants will deliver the dog food product you purchase on-line onto your doorstep, feels good. Modernity has revolutionized the way we feed our dogs, HOW CONVENIENT! The internet offers you unlimited options when it comes to your dog's diet like never before, take advantage of it. But do not be hasty and overlook the apparent. Consult with your vet about the best varieties of dog food. Some vets even sell specific dog food brands and other numerous varieties straight from their offices.

Once your mind is settled on a certain kind of dog food brand for your dog, remember to show it to your vet when he comes in for check up or when you pick your monthly worm medication. A trustworthy vet cannot offer you dog food that is not good for your dog, because they understand the health problems it could lead to. Your vet is might be the best place to locate dog's food suitable for your dog's diet.

Do not be surprised that the best and highly nutritious dog food can be obtained fresh from your home kitchen or even your kitchen garden. There are pet owners who prefer to domestically prepare their dogs food. A dog's diet must have animal tissue present, some greens, and even grain. Meats, greens and grains carefully chosen can be domestically prepared to make sure good nutrition for your pet is maintained for you pet. If you have grown carrots and green beans in your kitchen garden, think about incorporating these to your pet's diet, it will do lots of good. Besides you won't have to worry about the source and preparation because you know already that.

Excellent dog diet could also come from the butcher. If you decide that your pet diet is going to be home made, you can undoubtedly find good quality animal tissue from your local butcher. Chicken breast and ground turkey is best. Whatever type of food you settle for in meeting your dog's dietary needs, always seek your vets advice prior to making any diet changes. Once you have your specific diet figured out, make the best use of the healthier and handy method accessible to you.

Guidelines To Choose A Healthy Dog Diet For Your Pet

Selecting a well balanced and healthy diet for your dog can be a difficult albeit challenging task if you let it. The colorful branding and trendy packaging can easily get the best of you and obscure your discernment of a dog food product. The dog's diet is one best secret to keep your pet healthy and vibrant for many years to come. It's therefore important that you purchase a diet that will supply your pet with vital nutrients and enable it to thrive.

Below are some tips to guide you in selecting the best food for your pet's diet. The first thing you should keep in mind is that dog's are different, just like humans. A diet that works well for your neighbor's dog may not be the best diet for your dog. So the first thing to do before you go shopping for your dogs' food is to consult your vet about your dogs' dietary needs. Vets are dogs best friends and will advice you accordingly on what best to buy and how to identify what's
suitable.

After you have consulted with the vet, find out a respected dog food brand and make it the major constituent of your dog's diet. It's not uncommon to come across a good quality that you haven't heard of, but most popular and reputed makers of dog food provide a certain amount of security and safety about feeding your dog a healthy diet. Large and well known dog food companies take time to research on animal nutrition. Therefore, give your pet the advantage of enjoying the benefit of the manufacturer's wealth of information than going it all alone.

Choose from dog food that is age appropriate, this means that if your dog shows signs of aging, then consider a dog diet specially formulated for older/senior dogs. Nutritional needs of puppies are different from mature dogs. Find out the different types of dog food that meet the specific needs of your dogs. Sometimes the dog breed and size could make a significantly difference in the variety of diet that you are required to feed them. Diets specially formulated for puppies and other larger breeds is available. This is a good thing to consider when shopping for your dogs dietary needs.

Weight of the dog and its activity level are other factors worth consideration when deciding on which feed is appropriate for your dog. So, if you have a very active or underweight dog, you may be advised to select dog diet specially designed for such situations. If you decide to purchase a particular diet for your dog, consider the portion quantity. Obesity is a more severe problem in pets because it could result to hip troubles and significantly decrease your pet's lifespan.

Table scraps are strongly discouraged, because feeding your dog on table scraps encourages the begging habit and could likely result to obesity. You are therefore urged to maintain a stable high-quality diet for your dog, more so food specially formulated to meet your dog's dietary requirements is a plus. Supplement to a high quality diet if you vet recommends. Don't give excessive supplements, as this could result to a low quality pet health.

Consult your vet regularly for advice and insight on what best to feed your pets. A good diet feeding program will yield to good health for your pet. You are better off choosing the diet wisely. Only go for dog food brand that that is well regarded and match it to your dog. Giving a proper diet to your dog will translate to good health and a longer lifespan.