Dogs don't get to choose their own diet we do that for them. Our
choice of food for our dog depends on our own education of what is best
for our dogs, with our information predominantly gathered from TV
commercials by pet food companies and vets who recommend certain
products because of product alliance. These TV commercials on dog food
fill your screen with plump chickens; fresh vegetables and a selection
of grains and all show a happy, healthy dog on the advertisements. They
are generally beautiful ads, emotional marketed to YOU. Dog food
commercials are not for your dog, they are produced and marketed for
you. Dogs are colour blind, so pet food manufacturers only change the
colour and texture of dog food to make it look better to YOU, not your
dog. I hope that in this article you discover some interesting pieces of
information that you can put into play in the way you select the food
for your dog and enlighten you as to how the pet food companies cater to
you, alone, and not your dog.
Dog food labels are intentionally
made confusing so that pet owners don't realise that they're feeding
their dog some awful, terrible, disgusting ingredients. Dog food
companies heartlessly exploit loopholes which allows them to add a very
cheap form of protein that has almost zero nutritional value to a dog
instead of essential animal protein your dog needs to survive. Did you
know that dog foods that claim to be come from bone, blood and animal
fat are often derived from animals suffering from various ailments, and
probably not the best choice for your dog. These multi-billion dollar
companies are actually allowed to mix in euthanized bodies of various
animals into the food you might be buying for your dog. Would you eat
meat that came from a euthanized animal? Didn't think so! So why should
your dog be subjected to this? Dogs can have food allergies from
commercial dog food which long term for your dog can make them very
uncomfortable, sick and weak. These euthanized various animals found in
dog food and the animal by-products commonly found can include feathers,
hair, leather, gristle and fecal waste. Pretty disgusting isn't it?
Dogs,
being scavengers, also thrive on eggs, berries, fruit and the food that
they might find in the preys stomach, such as grains and vegetable
matter. But, in saying this, dog's bodies are unable to process whole
vegetables. So with pet food companies ads showing plump chickens and
whole vegetables it makes you wonder if they really know that much about
a dogs nutritional needs and digestive system. Manufacturers are
masters at getting a dog to eat something it would normally turn up its
nose too. Do you know how they do this? Fat is sprayed directly on the
morsels of food, and that is what you and your dog smell and think would
taste wonderful - It's just an illusion. And those wonderfully shaped
and coloured treats and morsels are not for your dogs benefit, they are
for yours. Don't be fooled by pretty shapes and rainbow colours and
smiling dogs on the packets - Its emotional marketing at its best. All
your dog cares about is the way the food smells, tastes and all you
should care about is that it is getting its nutritional needs.
Dogs,
just like everyone else, have specific nutritional needs and they need
proper vitamins and minerals every day. Low quality ingredients,
excessive chemical additives, and poor labelling standards all result in
problems for your companion pet, from skin allergies to cancer.
Commercial pet foods and some pet food ingredients have been implicated
in a number of diseases in companion animals. One potential problem with
commercial pet food is pesticide residues, antibiotics, and mould
contained in pet food ingredients and manufacturers will not disclose
very much information about the sources of ingredients, how they are
processed, their quality control standards, or, in some cases, even
where the food is made. Doesn't that make you have some doubt as to how
trustworthy a company is if it cannot even tell you those things? It
makes me very doubtful!
Think about this... have you ever seen
your dog enjoy commercial dog food the way he/she enjoys a good meaty
bone? I never have and I have had a lot of dogs in my lifetime and
through my business care for all different breeds of dogs, sizes and
ages. Do you know why? It is because bones are fresh meat, exactly as
you purchase them is exactly what you give your dog. However, with
commercial dog food some companies may list real meat as their number
one ingredient, but they may actually have more fillers, which reduces
the ratio of quality ingredients to useless ones. Ingredients, such as
peanut hulls, are used for filler or fiber, and have no significant
nutritional value. Because the ingredients they are using are not
wholesome, their quality may be extremely variable, and the harsh
manufacturing practices destroy many of the nutrients the food had to
begin with. Cereal grains are the primary ingredients in most commercial
pet foods. These are often the result of an allergy or intolerance to
pet food ingredients. And to top that off, sometimes a manufacturer may
not have added any preservatives, but the meat or other ingredients may
have had preservatives added to them by suppliers. So, by the time the
food gets to your dogs plate the good quality that may have been
slightly present in the beginning has disappeared. And not every batch
of dog food is the same because meat by-products and meat and bone meals
vary from batch to batch creating an unstable source of nutrition for
pets.
The multinational pet food companies have increased
bulk-purchasing power; those that make human food products have a
captive market in which to capitalize on their waste products, and pet
food divisions have a more reliable capital base and, in many cases, a
convenient source of ingredients. The ingredients listed on the label
are very much less as to what is actually present in the food - they are
tiny; and the items themselves are usually scraps and rejects from
processors of human foods-certainly not the whole, fresh ingredients
they want you to picture. The labeling of dog food is a confusing
discussion to say the least and very much a tell half-truth scenario.
Many label rules exist such as; the "Flavour" Rule that states that a
food may be labelled as "Beef Flavoured Dog Food" even if it does not
contain any beef, as long as the flavour is "sufficiently detectable.
When a label reads "With Real Turkey," a consumer may assume that he is
purchasing quality turkey dog food for his pet. If the label reads "Beef
and Liver for Dogs," the food must contain a combined amount of beef
and liver to total 95%, and again there must be more beef since it is
listed first. However, as I outlined above the amounts in there are
based on tiny morsels and weight - weight is inclusive of water content
too.
Now, of course, not all pet food companies operate this way.
Today there are a few all natural companies and dog diets on the market
which pride themselves on human grade ingredients in their dog food, but
remember the definition of "natural" is very broad, and allows for
artificially processed ingredients that most of us would consider very
unnatural indeed. You have to be very careful in your selection and
educate yourself on the harmful ingredients and preservatives on the
labels of these dog-canned foods. I always go by the rule that if there
are no nutrients in the soil = no nutrients in the plants = no nutrients
in the dog food and I cant imagine they would be getting their plant
sources from the same crops as humans do.
Quality dog food is
crucial for your dogs well being as it is their one source of nutrition.
Nutrition is defined as the organic process of nourishing or being
nourished, the processes by which an organism assimilates food and uses
it for growth and nutriment: a source of materials to nourish the body.
The food your animal eats should provide all of the nutritional
components that are necessary for all organs and systems of a healthy
body to perform in harmonious unison. So, please when your searching
through all the dog food at the supermarket, forget the ads and ignore
the glossy pictures and fancy titles on the cans and packages and always
look for natural organic dog food with" natural" preservatives. Given
the high possibility that your favourite pet foods may be slowly
poisoning your dog, it's crucial that you find brands you can trust to
be animal friendly and have natural ingredients and low additives and
colouring. Many listed ingredients don't provide a significant health
benefit and are really a marketing gimmick. Remember you are looking for
ingredients that you recognize and you would eat. In fact, just as is
true for humans, fresh foods can provide much better nutrition for pets
than highly processed "fast foods. "
The reality is that there are
only two nutritional standards against which all pet foods are measured
(adult and growth/gestation/lactation)-everything else is marketing.
Don't fall into the marketing trap and a side note, generally, the
purchase price of pet food does not always determine whether a pet food
is good or bad, the price is often a good indicator of quality. Dogs may
not need the most expensive foods out there to survive... but they do
need the correct nutritional value in their diet everyday.
