Getting to Know Dogs by Diana Andersen

Author:Diana Andersen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Dog book, dog care, choosing a dog, dog breeds dog health, puppy, puppies, buying a dog
Publisher: Animalinfo Publications
Published: 2014-02-27T10:45:52+00:00

Obesity is a common health issue in pet dogs.

Supplements

All commercial dog foods are required to contain vitamins and minerals to meet minimum nutritional standards. Some of the supplements may be destroyed during the manufacturing process but the better quality products have additional supplements added after the product has cooled. There are also better quality vitamins and minerals that are more easily absorbed. Chelates and sequestered minerals have far better absorption than sulphates and oxides such as zinc oxide. It is best to feed a high quality food that contains all of the ingredients needed by your dog, than to feed a poor quality diet with added supplements.

Fruit and Vegetables, Flavours, and Sweeteners

Fruit and vegetables can provide vitamins and minerals but are generally only present in small amounts and are largely unnecessary in processed diets. They may provide additional fibre to diets using low quality carbohydrates but products with better quality protein, fats and carbohydrates are a better choice than products that contain lower quality ingredients with the addition of vegetables. Onions, grapes and raisins should never be given as these can be toxic to dogs. Flavours, colours and sweeteners are also unnecessary and included primarily for marketability purposes. Sweeteners and flavours are often added to poor quality diets to improve palatability. While some flavours such as beef stocks and broths are not harmful, sweeteners can add to the risk of diabetes and other health issues. In addition, sweeteners can be addictive, making it difficult to switch dogs to a higher quality product that does not use sweeteners. Chocolate is also toxic and should never be given to your dog.

Preservatives

It is difficult to entirely eliminate preservatives from your dog’s diet. Even if they have not been added to the final product, they may already be present in some of the ingredients. Good quality ingredients require fewer preservatives and some products use natural preservatives such as vitamin E, and various herb extracts. Products with high levels of chemical preservatives are best avoided.

Assuming that you eat a reasonably healthy diet, adding table scraps to your dog’s food may not necessarily be a bad thing, although to avoid an annoying begging habit, it is best to put the food into your dog’s bowl rather than to give it directly from the table. Scraps to avoid using are those that are high in sodium and fat. Adding the fat trimmed from raw meat cuts may also lead to an obese dog. The more things you add to your dog’s diets the more careful you need to be in your choice of commercial diet. A good quality commercial diet will help offset the negative impact of anything that you add that may imbalance the diet. It is always a good idea to ask your vet about the diet you are feeding. They will generally be happy to give you an opinion on the foods and feeding regime you are using.

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