Decoding Dog Food Advertising Hype

Dog Food Nutrition

Dog food nutrition and food for dogs is a confusing and advertising-driven market. Be wary of falling into the marketing ploy of believing that if you don’t choose the “right” food, you don’t love your pet because the truth is, nutrition aside, a dog is only as picky as its owner. Dogs require a balanced combination of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water with sufficient levels of calories to facilitate optimum daily growth, activity and repair for your pooch.

Dog foods also need to strike a delicate balance between vitamins and minerals – too much or too few of one can interfere with the absorption levels of another. In all, more than 200 ingredients can be used in dog food at the commercial and retail levels.

Chances are your dog will be healthy and happy with a quality dry food topped with a salt-free meat broth, leftover veggies or lean meat scraps. But if your dog does have health problems, or if you’re concerned about the chemical content of commercially manufactured foods, there are plenty of viable options out there, including making your own!

Dog Food Ingredients

Commercial dog food ingredients usually include meat-and-bone meals, grain by-products and horse meat in addition to the vitamin, mineral and water elements. Beef was pretty standard until the 20th century – as dog owners became concerned about the amount of beef in their own diet, they also began to want to cut back on the amount of beef in their dog’s meals. Pet food companies were happy to oblige and began offering chicken, fish, venison and lamb as alternatives.

By-products such as organs, tongue, cheek meat and feet are definitely out of fashion with progressive pet owners, but are still included in some versions of dog food. As federal labeling standards have evolved, it has become easier to figure out just what is included by reading the labels.

Puppy Food – It’s Different!

Puppies have different nutritional needs than adult dogs, which is why you can buy specially engineered food for puppies. Meat should be the first ingredient on any puppy food label. Otherwise, the main difference lies in the amount of food served and times per day served.

Hypoallergenic Dog Food

Dog allergies are often acquired due to prolonged exposure to one type of food. Common items including beef, chicken, wheat, corn, soybeans, pork, eggs and dairy products sometimes just begin to register in a dog’s bloodstream as a foreign and dangerous substance and trigger an immune system response that manifests as allergies.

It is estimated that somewhere in the neighborhood of 70% of dog food allergies develop after two years of a dog tolerating one type of food. If your dog does develop a food allergy, work with your vet to troubleshoot various available options.

Hypoallergenic dog food is available on the retail market and plenty of veterinarians manufacture or promote brands they have had success with in the past. Some highly rated brands on the market are Flint River Ranch (a lamb/millet/rice formula only available online), Avoderm (highly rated for skin and stomach allergies and commonly available at pet stores), ACANA by Champion Pet Foods (available at specialty pet stores), Pinnacle by Breeder’s Choice Pet Foods, Orijen by Champion Pet Foods (highly rated for skin and hair health), and Canidae.

Prescription Dog Food

Prescription diets for your dog could be prescribed for any number of health reasons. These specialized prescription dog foods are just what they say – available at the behest of and for purchase directly from your vet. Digestion, immune responses, blood pressure, renal function, liver metabolism or blood glucose levels are all systems that might be targeted by using these prescribed nutrient formulations.