"What
is the best food to feed a dog?" Every day veterinarians are asked that
question by dog owners. It's a sincere question because most dog owners want to
feed the very best to their furry friends. Good health begins with proper
nutrition, regardless of price or convenience of acquisition.
Please understand that the entire discussion on this page
relates to healthy dogs with no kidney, thyroid, food allergy or other abnormal conditions.
Also, the content of this page is my opinion regarding the "best" dry
dog food and how to determine what you think is "best" to feed dogs.
A big reason why it i is strictly an opinion, there is no single
answer to the question "What is the best diet to feed a dog?" Or if
there is an answer it is, "It depends".
Over the past 37 years I have been examining dogs and cats in my
practices I have made it a point to ask the owner "What diet are you
feeding?" I have gotten all sorts of answers but in every case I relate
the owner's response to what I am seeing in the patient. And over the years my
suggestions regarding what to feed have changed.
Originally I took the pet food manufacturer's declarations as
fact -- that an assortment of "Complete and Balanced" pet foods were
perfectly nourishing because that wording was not legally permitted on pet food
labels unless feeding trials demonstrated its veracity. I eventually discovered
I was mistaken in the belief that any "Complete and Balanced" dog
food was appropriate to feed.
It was in 1978 that I had an awakening. A number of clients were
presenting dogs to me that had coarse hair coats and slightly greasy and flaky
skin; and often these dogs (and cats!) had chronic itchy skin, hot spots, ear infections and
seemed overweight.
So, they were over-caloried but under-nourished. Their calorie
intake was up but the food they were consuming simply -- no matter that the pet
food label indicated "Complete and Balanced" --was not providing a
proper nutrient spectrum to the dog. Sometimes I would simply say that some
fatty acid supplements "might help". I was a believer in those
"Complete and Balanced" diets. One of the reasons I couldn't see what
was going on regarding these dogs with poor health signals relating to diets was
that some of the "Complete and Balanced" diets were resulting in well
nourished dogs, partly because the owners were feeding table scraps as well.
I'll jump ahead a bit and tell you the defining element that
separated the good "Complete and Balanced" diets from the poor ones
was this: The poor diets were based on corn -- meaning, corn was listed as the
first ingredient in the ingredient list on the label -- and the good diets were
based on chicken or some other meat source -- lamb, beef.
The
answer came to me, finally, on its own. It seeped into my consciousness after
years of seeing a pattern. The key to the healthy dogs' diets was that they
were consuming a diet based upon meat and the poor doers were eating diets
based upon grain such as corn!
According to pet industry consultant Dave Geier of Geier
Enterprises, Highlands Ranch, CO, "Pet food companies invest over $100
million each year in research and development. This includes both basic
research into new and improved formulations as well as the protocols to
validate their efficacy."
All this ongoing research and development bodes well for dog
owners because the more we know the better we become at taking care of the dogs
and puppies in our lives. Geier goes on to say that, "The ingredients in some
high-end pet foods have never been better."
I have noticed that today's meat-based diets are far superior to
what was commercially available years ago. Dog owners are finally understanding
the need for meat and poultry products as a foundation for superior nutrition
for dogs. And the myth about "all that protein causing kidney damage"
has finally gone the way of such proverbs as milk causing worms and ear
cropping preventing ear infections. If you need to know more about the fact
that dietary protein does not harm the kidneys.
Therefore, one of the parameters you need to know when you are
trying to determine the best dog food to feed your pet is this: Is the diet
meat-based or grain-based? The meat-based diets are the best choice. (Remember,
we're talking about normal dogs, not those with heart, thyroid or other
abnormalities.)
I prefer
chicken as the first (main) ingredient when I recommend a dog food because I
have seen so many dogs on chicken-based diets that were in really excellent
health. Lamb, turkey, fish, beef and venison all are good choices, too, but
subtle nutritional variations in amino acid spectrum and the fatty acid
composition contributed by the "meat" may be different when these
protein sources are compared to chicken. That's just my opinion; don't stop
feeding a lamb and rice diet if your dog looks and acts great!
Veterinary nutrition specialist Dan Carey is a co-author of an
excellent text called Canine
and Feline Nutrition, and numerous other published articles that
all dog owners and breeders should read. He works in Research and Development
at The Iams Company. He believes strongly that dogs should be fed properly well
before any breeding activities begin.
“The bitch should
be at or within five percent of her ideal body weight. Excess weight is
associated with increased complications and excess weight in the final third of gestation is
associated with over-sized puppies. Her fatty acid status should be normalized
by feeding a diet that contains proper amounts and ratios of fatty acids. If
she has had previous litters, each successive litter places a nutritional drain
on her. One of the nutrient types that are depleted are fatty acids. If the
bitch is fed a diet without a balanced ratio of
omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (5;1), her own fatty acid index will
go down on successive litters.”
Nursing dogs require a higher caloric intake of properly
balanced food. So, what’s the best dog food to feed your dog? The answer
is it depends.
In truth, there seems to be no single dog food that is the best for all dogs
and all puppies. So what should you look for in a high quality dog food?
Here’s what I suggest to my clients: Look at the dog food labels. In the
GUARANTEED ANALYSIS look for the Protein content to be at least 30 percent, the
Fat to be at least 18 percent, preservatives to be via Vitamin E and/or C and
look for Omega Fatty Acid to be present. Supplementation can be harmful,
especially calcium supplementation to a pregnant bitch. If a good quality dog
food is being fed no special supplementation should be needed. If a supplement
is required to make the dog look or feel better or whelp healthier pups, you
should instead change the food.
Optimum nutrition demands that protein, fat, carbohydrate and
micronutrients such as minerals, vitamins, and enzymes are in balance with each
other. Therein lies the danger of a breeder supplementing an already properly
formulated diet!
Recall Geier’s statement about all that research that’s gone
into the food’s formulation. How are you to know what supplement to add and in
what quantity to “improve” the foods’ value? Should you be adding whole foods
such as eggs, cottage cheese, or meat to the dog’s diet?
Again, if a high quality, highly digestible commercial dog food
is fed that meets the previously mentioned percentages of nutrients, adding
table food may undo some of the balance and quantities of nutrients being fed
to the dog.
So be cautious and self-critical about supplementing a dog’s
diet in the hope of improving an already balanced, scientifically established
formula.
In conclusion: I recommend that a dog owner look at the dog food
label. Look at the ingredient list and a meat such as chicken should be listed
as the first ingredient. Look at the guaranteed analysis to see that the
protein level is at 30 percent or more. The fat content should be at 18 percent
or more. And if there is a rather wide spectrum of ingredients such as omega fatty acids and
vitamin E, that's good, too. There should be NO FOOD COLORING!
If you find a few diets that meet this criteria, and there are
quite a few from which to choose, you just might have the confidence that you
are feeding the best dog food you can get.
