Keeping your dog as healthy as possible is always the most important thing you can do. There are multiple ways to make sure that happens, and one of the biggest is to find out what should you feed your dog on a daily basis.
If you’re familiar with pet care or you’ve owned a dog for a while, chances are, you know that there are a lot of options out there. You can buy just about anything for your dog to eat these days, ranging from new up and coming food, right the way through to the old school classics that have been dog food choices for decades.
With all of that choice out there, it’s easy to see why things get tricky. It can’t all be good after all, even if that’s what everyone seems to think. To keep you on the right track, it’s important to look at some genuine advice about your dog, and help you both keep on the straight and narrow.
Types of Dog food
The first stop on our doggy diet tour is with the food out there that’s available to your dog. There’s a lot of it, after all. Typically speaking, all dogs are supposed to have a meat-heavy omnivorous diet for the good of their health, but when you get down to the very basis of things, it’s all very dependent on your individual dog.
To help take a look at what your options are, here are some of the biggest categories you’re likely to see being sold or fed to dogs regularly.
Raw Meat and Bones
For some dog owners out there, it’s hard to stray far from the old ways of raising animals. What should you feed your dog is a question that’s been asked for decades after all. That usually comes with sayings like as fit as a butcher’s dog. Typically speaking, this kind of diet consists almost entirely of raw, uncooked meats. Usually red meats at that.
It’s hailed as one of the more natural ways for your dog to get their nutrition, but just like with humans, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best way to do it. Hygiene still has to be vital to keep your pet safe, as well as yourself.
Bones are often in the same category for one huge reason. They’re a natural part of the animal. On top of that, however, it’s also important to note the dangers that come with bones. Always ensure bones are raw and aren’t likely to splinter. That’s some advice you really cannot afford to forget.
Cooked Meat
Moving slightly away from that and on to the much, much more popular choices, we need to take a look at cooked meats too. These make up the vast majority of all dog food out there in some way or another. Whether it’s tins, pouches, or even human food, it’s usually a balance of cooked meat and other things too.
Cooked meat tends to be the safest easiest and cheapest way to feed your dog well, and also usually comes as an easy part of a dog’s balanced diet. That’s perfect if you’re not quite sure what best to feed your dog in the first place.
Carbohydrates
One of the less common answers to what should you feed your dog is often carbs. It surprises a lot of people. Realistically though, in most of the meals that have cooked meat, you’ll usually find carbohydrates in there too. As our knowledge of nutrition develops, our knowledge of dog nutrition does too. That’s what lead us to all of the inventive creations that you can come across today.
The best examples of these come again in pouches or tins and are the same crabs that we eat ourselves. Things like pasta and rice are among the most common, but they are always only subtly placed to help our furry friends get the fibre intake they need to be healthy.
Vegetables
On the same score as carbs, it’s also getting more and more common to see different types of vegetables in dog food as well. This is for pretty much exactly the same reason, but with a few other benefits, on the top.
Although dogs are pretty different from humans in term of how we work, we do still share the same nutritional background. What we mean by that is that we both still need a mix of macronutrients, like carbohydrates and proteins, as well as micronutrients too. As you might have guessed, veg is absolutely full of the stuff!
Kibble – Dry food
Another massively common choice to go for is kibble, or dry dog food. It may not be quite the same as the other types of dog food we’ve discussed, but it’s popular. That’s because it’s a bit of a mix up of all of the other categories put together and prepared to be all in one easy to access place.
For that reason alone, it tends to be one of the easiest ways to keep your dog going strong. Every dog is different though, and this isn’t a one size fits all.
Ultimately, the best advice you could get is likely going to be what you’d give yourself. Try and be as balanced as possible with something that your dog enjoys. Throw in the odd healthy treats here and there too.
To get the best answer to what should you feed your dog, the best advice always comes from a vet. They can tailor personally to your dog. Don’t ever be afraid to speak to a vet! Every dog has special requirements, so never feel like it’s not relevant. Their whole life is affected by food! Don’t forget to check out more info form the RSPCA here, either.