Choosing Commercial food for your dog

By Kodichukwu Okonkwo, DVM | March 19th, 2015




Feeding your dog is unavoidable. Just like you cannot stay without food these dogs cannot live without food. Most dogs eat anything served to them because they need to eat something to stay alive so when you feed un-nutritious food they still eat. Some dogs will practically reject some meals and eat others due to their individual preference not because they are necessarily ill.

Dogs’ primary food

 The dog is in the canine family with the wolves, foxes, hyenas to name a few and their primary food is flesh or meat. As you may know, in the wild, they hunt and eat their prey raw or without cooking the meat so they try to eat it fresh with all the nutrients the prey absorbed intact. This instinct of hunting and eating the prey is inherent in most dogs however domesticated they are. This is why you might see your dog chasing after lizards and rats, in some cases they kill and eat the lizards and rats.

The common feeding Practice

Most dog owners tend to feed their dogs with anything especially household food and bone with little meat in it. Yes, these dogs will chew the bones for a long time, they may even take the same to a secluded place to avoid disturbance. This is not because the bone will give the dog all he needs but because the dog is manifesting their behavior in the wild. Notwithstanding, dog lovers and experienced dog breeders use feeding regimen taking into account the natural appetite of the canines from which they get the most outstanding results.

Commercial foods for dogs

Many companies have ventured into the manufacture of ready food for dogs, these foods come in many brands and packaging ready to be served immediately without cooking or prior preparation. Some are dried pellets of various shapes and sizes easy to chew, packaged in bags while some are wet, easy to eat, packaged in cans. There are old brands and new brands are springing up.

Why should you choose commercial food for your dog?

Good commercial foods for dogs come with many advantages including: acceptability, sufficient nutrients, easy to serve, time saving etc. Many dog owners are busy people and have limited time to care for their pets or dog so the right commercial food will save people in this category a lot of stress.

What commercial food should you choose to serve your needs?

Like I earlier mentioned commercial dog foods come in dry and wet so you make your choice based on your person and preference taking into account what your dog accepts.

Dry food

These are packaged in bags labeled with their colorful brand names and weight of its content. Some come in small bags of 1.5kg, 2kg, 3kg, 7kg and large bags of 15kg, 20kg, 22kg etc. Some are made for small breeds while some are made for large breeds, giant breeds and toy breeds. The difference is mostly in the size of the pellets, its hardness and of course the breed nutrient requirement.

Can food (wet)

These are packaged in cans with colorful labels. The cans are usually tags with 300g, 400g, 650g etc. They are usually sold in cartons of 24 cans, 12 cans, 6 cans and so on. They are mostly in two categories which is puppy and adult which reflects in the content. The puppy can foods usually come in loaf (mashed) or small chunks of food with high protein content compared to the adult can food.

Advantages of Can food over Dry food and vice versa

1.       Can foods (wet) are usually readily acceptable by most dogs and puppies compared to dry food.

2.       Dry food stays longer when served to the dog without getting bad.

3.       The dog needs little water after eating can foods while plenty water is necessary to be served alongside the dry food.

4.       Dry food can be used with programmable food dispenser able to serve for days.

5.       Dogs below 3 months find it difficult to eat the dry food due to its hardness compared to the can foods.

Summary

Commercial dog foods have been able to reduce the pain of cooking and preparing food for our dog helping the dog owner to give their animal complete meals at each feeding. Many dogs placed on these commercial dog foods tend to do better than the ones fed with household foods. Remember that when you feed your dog properly you get the best from them. Yes I’m sure somebody with be asking: “At what price?” yes it costs a fortune to feed and maintain serving your dog with commercial dog food but at the end of the day it’s worth the effort.

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    Kodichukwu Okonkwo, DVM

    Founder of Fairvet Animal Clinic Ltd since 2011, studied at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. He is well experienced in small animal, large animal & poultry medicine, and also skilled at zoo medicine. He loves animals and builds both professional and personal relationship with pet owners in order to sustain a good interaction with pet and animal owners, coupled with His great skills in programming; he brought about www.fairvet.com which he personally built from scratch.



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