Health food for dogs can improve their quality of life by reducing illnesses, improving coat and teeth quality and providing healthy energy. When choosing a food for your dog, read food labels and observe your individual dog to find the right food.
Customizing Your Dog's Diet
No matter how good the ingredients are, if your dog doesn't do well on a particular food, it is not the right diet for him. Many dogs are allergic to certain protein types, or other ingredients found in dog food. If your dog seems to have more health issues after the diet change, keep looking for something else.
Signs that your dog is on the wrong diet are excessive gas, licking the top of his paws, frequent ear infections, excessive grooming and possibly even vomiting or diarrhea. If your dog experiences these, try changing the protein in the diet and see if his symptoms improve.
When changing a diet, be sure to switch food gradually. Dog's stomachs attack foreign elements, so an unfamiliar food is not accepted right away and might cause diarrhea. To switch, feed a week with 3/4 old food and 1/4 new, then a week with 1/2 and 1/2 and a week with 1/4 old and 3/4 new.
Dogs can develop allergies to foods they eat too often, so it's important to rotate your dog's food. If your dog isn't allergic, find several foods with different protein sources to help your dog maintain a balanced diet.
Key Ingredients
Dogs are omnivores by nature, which means, like humans, their bodies are designed to receive nutrients from both meat and vegetables. However, in nature, dogs receive most of their nutrients from protein sources, so when choosing a dog food, the quality of the protein is the most important ingredient. Three of the first five ingredients should be protein sources.
Do not choose foods with meat byproducts or general labels such as "animal protein." This usually does not include muscle meat, which is where dogs receive a large amount of their protein. Select food that advertises specific ingredients, such as "chicken". If your dog is showing allergies, choose novel proteins such as duck, venison or rabbit.
Dogs cannot as efficiently digest corn, wheat, soy or white rice. Instead look for whole vegetable ingredients such as carrots, green beans and sweet potatoes. Many foods often include fruit such as apples and grains such as oats and barley. As an alternative, grain-free foods are available that utilize potatoes in place of any type of grain, which may not be necessary for your dogs diet.
Other great ingredients to look for are pumpkin, which is soothing to a dog's upset stomach, cottage cheese, which provides healthy bacteria, and eggs, which are an additional healthy protein source.
There is no one dog food that is right for every dog, but there are some foods that are much higher quality than others. Before buying a new food, compare labels at a local pet store and find the best combination of ingredients for your dog.