Dog Food Ingredients

It is essential for dog owners that they understand the ingredients that go into their dog's pet food. Every time that that you vary the diet you must understand what is in the dog feed. This is especially important when you are buying commercially prepared foods. If you have noticed that different preservatives are present in a new food then you should be aware that if dog develops any symptoms that point to a food allergy, then newly introduced preservative in the feed should be considered the prime suspect.

If your dog doesn't seem to want to eat the food then maybe his preference is for a food with more or less moisture. Common fresh food given to dogs that is prepared at home consists of chicken pieces with cranberry juices and blue-green algae. A vegetarian based diet may consist of beet pulp, pasta, soy bean oil, wheat middlings, calcium carbonate, magnesium oxide, copper sulphate, iron sulphate, zinc oxide, choline chloride etc.

Non vegetarian diets often consist of raw eggs, chicken, beef, mutton, fish, quail etc. Taurine is one of the essential ingredients for a dog's nutrition and is added as a supplement. Likewise, if the dogs feed consists mainly of frozen fish then thiamine may also need to be supplemented. Most of your premium dog foods contain essential fatty acids, carbohydrates and have adequate fibre contents with vitamins A, B, D and E. To keep your dog's skin healthy and his bones growing properly you should ensure that the feed contains zinc and calcium.

To summarise the best way to keep a tab on your dogs food intake is to prepare it yourself so you may ensure that he receives the correct levels of vitamins and nutrients as well as carbohydrates and proteins in his diet. This may be more expensive than buying commercially made dog feed but should ultimately be better for your dog's health.