This article deals with basic information and detailed advice on selecting the best dog food for your best friend. It addresses natural, organic, raw, homemade, and commercial dog foods. It will also enlighten you on matters of canned and dry dog foods, where to buy, probiotics and nutritional supplements.
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As a dog owner, you should always be on your toes and seeking the best information, and advice on how to determine what is the best and healthiest diet for your best friend.
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It is your duty to make sure what you are feeding him or her. What are the ingredients and are they nutritional and healthy or will they harm your pet and shorten his life span, that's what you need to know.
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Good teeth, shiny coat, clear and bright eyes, lean body free of fat, good digestive system and lots of energy, is earned. You need to understand terms that are used in the ingredients on the bag of food.
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If it says "all natural", does that mean it is a good ingredient? Or if it says "high in protein", is this a good thing. The answer to both is no. The answers to many, many more such questions, can be answered by viewing AAFCO Definitions of Dog Food Ingredients which is free and available on my site.
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There are ingredients you should definitely avoid feeding your best friend? There are many harmful and even fatal ingredients that need to be avoided at all costs. This is what I will show you how to do, so, you can proceed with confidence as to what is healthy, and what is very dangerous and even deadly for you dog.
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What is the best dog food? How do you know, with every manufacturer all claiming to produce the "best dog food" on the market? Maybe, it's the brands with the biggest budgets that can advertise, market and promote their product. You guessed it, this does not mean it is the
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best dog food.
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The truth is, you have a host of different scenarios you can avail yourself of. Such as a commercial natural ingredient, organic, raw, frozen, freeze dried or a combination of these foods. It doesn't matter whether you purchase pre packaged foods that are specially formulated for a dogs nutritional needs, or if you produce your own meals using the proper ingredients. This I will also teach you.
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The key point to remember is, that good nutrition lowers vet bills and avoids many health problems caused by an inferior product. Most owners think that offering such high quality foods will be too costly and unaffordable for them. Not in the long run, and not if you wish the best for your friend.
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CANNED AND DRY DOG FOODS
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Whichever one you are considering, remember to check and see if the ingredients on the label contain whole, real recognizable ingredients that comply with known high standards. This means, no by-products and no grains are the first thing to eliminate, as they will surely wave the red flag as a low quality product. The main ingredient should consist of specific meat meal, or, meats as the main ingredient and not unspecified meat meal. Any whole meats such as chicken, beef, lamb, duck, turkey, pheasant, bison, venison, salmon and the like are all good ingredients. Also look for a variety of fruits and vegetables.
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PROBIOTICS AND NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS
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While probiotics and nutritional supplements are added to most dog diets, the more reputable and higher end manufacturer's provide detailed information for each and every supplement, and how, the supplement will benefit your dog. Any preservative used, should be natural and healthy and not some of the deplorable chemical additions. Good natural preservatives such as ascorbic acid, vitamin C and vitamin E, are acceptable ingredients.
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WHERE TO BUY THE BEST DOG FOOD
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You need to arm yourself with detailed information, advice and the knowledge I will give you to properly begin your search for the best dog food either at your local food stores, veterinary offices and natural food stores. You will even be able to search on-line once you know, what is good and what is not good in your selection of a dog food.
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COMMERCIAL DOG FOOD
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They have the budget and the money, they can claim whatever they want to claim. In fact, most of these major manufacturer's have had recalls on their products, in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
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Most of the low end, cheap and low quality foods are made up of mostly by-products, meat meals, fillers and grains.
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RAW DOG FOOD
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Dog owners know exactly what their dog is getting. Some also believe that raw meat, will allow their dog to grow stronger with a leaner body. I am not too sure I subscribe totally to this belief, but used in combination with other foods, it can be a healthy alternative as well.
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The meat must be very fresh as to avoid any possible food poisoning. You may even want to throw in a raw bone occasionally, so long as it is not cooked. When it is cooked, it becomes brittle and splinters, thus causing harm to your dog.
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HOME MADE DOG FOOD
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Expenses can be cut dramatically when doing a homemade dog food. You can tailor a diet that fulfills every one of your dog's nutritional needs, while giving him a variety of fresh made wholesome meals he can look forward to every day. You can see to it that his meals are chemically and filler free.
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Print out your free downloads from my site below, and take them with you when you go analyzing the ingredients used by the dog food manufacturer's.
Author Resource:
I am Your Consumer Advocate. Visit Your Dog Food Authority , for many more interesting articles and a host of free tools available for download.
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