K9 PetBlog: What to feed?

Hi All, 


This is probably one of the hardest decisions to make, as there are so many options available from complete foods, wet foods to the raw diet, with so many different brands, how do you choose?
Well firstly look at the ingredients, we generally advise to look for a dog food that has fresh meat (lamb or chicken) or 'A' grade meat as its first ingredient (not animal derivatives), and the same applies to a fish diet i.e. fish & potatoes.


Chicken (Fresh)...


Fresh chicken is highly palatable, highly digestible and is an excellent protein source for cats and dogs. It has an extremely high biological value meaning that it is easily broken down into its constituent amino acids (the building blocks of protein) necessary for a variety of structural and metabolic functions within the body.
Most fresh chicken used in pet foods is 'chicken viscera' - so organ meat and intestines - which  is highly nutritious and is exactly what dogs would eat in the wild. 
Using up the leftovers from chicken destined for human consumption makes this a very efficient food source for pets.


Chicken (Meal)...


Like fresh chicken, chicken meal is an excellent protein source. It compromises the clean parts of the carcass ground up in into calcium rich flour. Good quality chicken meal does not include heads, feet or feathers.


Dogs should also have consistent digestion, and should not need to go to the loo six or seven times a day - neither should it look and smell like a herd of cows have been there afterwards!! The rule here is that the better food is being digested, the less will need to be passed out as waste.


You may of heard of the comment: 'too higher protein can make your puppy hyper-active!'. This is true but only if the protein is from a poor source i.e. animal derivatives.


So what are animal derivatives?


Meat and animal derivatives - a generic term for animal proteins which avoids having to specify where the meat comes from - it can be any part of the animal. This enables the pet food companies to use whatever meat is the cheapest when they make their food - and there's no way you can tell what it is. It could be chicken, but it could be *beef, pork, horse or even heads, feet or feathers.
*(Beef is a meat protein that is not ideal for pets as it is harder to digest and utilize that other meats such as chicken and lamb, and it can also cause dietary intolerance's and allergies)