How To Choose A Dog Food 

Do you know how to choose your dog's food?

Did you know that the most expensive foods in your pet store are not necessarily the best ones? In fact they might not even be very good. Now you can be sure that the really cheap ones are not even worth looking at. No one can make high quality dog food for super cheap prices. To find a high quality dog food you may have to look farther than the grocery or pet store.

You might see pictures of steak, chicken, fresh vegetables, and grain on a bag of dog food and think that they actually contain these ingredients. Read the ingredients; you might be in for a rude awakening.

I love veterinarians. But many do not know much about canine nutrition.

If it's not the right food, believe me you will know. Berry and Robin classic examples. When Berry is not eating the right food, he suffers diarrea and vomiting. Robin gets horribly itchy skin and just the most horrible gas you have ever smelled - she can clear a room in an instant. Her idea of aromatherapy has even woke up my husband and me - usually with me demanding to know if that was him.

When you think you found the right food let your dog give it a try. If after a month your canine is itching like crazy, licking his paws, having digestive stress - you may have to hold your nose, it is time to try another dog food.

The Good

• Whole fresh meat or single-source meat meal (e.g. chicken meal rather than poultry meal)
• A whole meat source as one of the first two ingredients (e.g. lamb or lamb meal)
• Unprocessed grains and vegetables

The Bad

• Generic fats or proteins like animal fat or meat meal
• Artificial preservatives
• Artificial Colors
• Sweeteners
• Salt

The Ugly

• By-products (things like lungs, kidneys, brains, bone, blood, stomachs and intestines) YUCK!

The following dog foods have received four paws up from Whole Dog Journal and Good Dog Magazine. Note: there are other excellen dog foods out there so if your dog food is not on the list don't worry. And remember not all dog foods work for all dogs. I have five dogs, and here at our "dog house" we serve three different types of dog food.

Azmira Classic
Azmira uses herbs, minerals, and extra vitamin C.

Canidae
This is what Berry is currently eating and it seems to be easy on his stomach. It has three meat proteins in the first five ingredients which is rare.

Eagle Pack Holistic Select
Wanda and Dresden's food. The holistic select is probably the highest quality food from Eagle Pack.

Natural Balance Ultra Premium
The Ultra premium really is ultra premium with three protein sources in the top four ingredients.

Pinnacle Breeder's Choice
A holistic formula great for allergy sufferers

Solid Gold MMillenia
Robin and Sarah's food. Solid Gold does not use animal fats in their foods. The MMillenia is also great for allergy suffers. It's also been great for Robin's gas problem.

Copyright 2000-2007 Margaret Svete