Choosing the right food for your dog is a very important task. The food you serve to your dog should cause them no upsets in their digestive system and provide them with enough energy to go through the entire day. Still, with so many types of dog food available on the market, finding the right one for your furry friend can be a real struggle. That's why we've come up with 5 steps you should follow in order to choose the best food for your dog.
Consider your dog's age, health and physical characteristics
Before you start looking for the right food for your dog, you'll have to think about their age, health and physical characteristics. Puppies need more calories than their mommies and daddies, and if you have one, you'll have to look for food specially designed for the little ones. Also, if your dog isn't healthy, going for food that will help them get better really is a no-brainer. Last but not least, you should take your dog's physical characteristics into consideration, since there are both foods that are more suitable to larger dogs and foods that are more suitable to smaller pooches.
Know the wording on food packaging
It's very important that you know the wording on food packaging can be an indicator for which food you should go for. Those with names such as "beef dog food" indicate that the listen protein makes 95% of the entire product. On the other hand, foods with "dinner" in their name only contain 25% of the listed protein. And the same rule applies to foods with "nuggets," "entry" and "formula" in their name. Lastly, if you spot a phrase like "with cheese" or "with beef" it meets the entire product has up to 3% of the listed protein in it.
Know everything about the ingredients
Knowing how to read dog packaging is necessary but you also have to know what each ingredient really is all about if you want to be able to choose the right food for your pooch. First of all, you need to know that dogs need to have meat included in their diet and should only follow a vegetarian diet in certain circumstances. Therefore, looking for dog foods that contain meat is always recommended. On the other hand, avoid the foods that have a vegetable or a grain listed as the main ingredient, since these tend not to have enough nutritional value.
Think about whether you should go grain-free
Chances are your furry friend is allergic to grains. However, these can be found in most of dog foods and in this case you’ll have to look for food specially made without grains. Luckily, finding a grain-free dry dog food shouldn’t be too difficult. But how do you know if your dog is allergic to grains? Excessive scratching, vomiting, diarrhea, and licking of paws are all common signals, but you can’t detect a grain allergy without paying a visit to a local vet. They should be able to help you find the answer and recommend you the type of food you should go for.
Do your homework on the brand you choose
After doing so much nit-picking, you’ll finally be able to choose a brand of dog food your pooch will love. Still, this isn’t the end since you’ll have to do some on the manufacturer, simply to make sure that really is the best dog food for your dog. Doing your homeowner on the brand should help you ensure quality control and correct sourcing of ingredients. This is the case because having all of these things listed on the label isn’t required. So, browsing their website and customer reviews should provide you with some piece of mind.
Follow all of these steps and you should be able to find a dog food brand that is appealing to your canine friend. Moreover, you’ll be able to keep your dog healthy and you won’t have to waste money foods they don’t like.