Dog FoodDog food comes in a variety of shapes and sizes – and choosing the right dog food for your dog will be one of the most important decisions you make. Well there’s plenty of choice (!), there’s… dry dog food, dry mixers, tinned dog food, raw dog food (the barf diet), frozen dog food (when you buy it not when you feed it!). Then you have variances within those, natural dog food, organic dog food, and dog food containing preservatives and additives – it can certainly be a confusing subject! When you acquire your dog, whether from a breeder or a rescue centre, you are often given a few days supply of the dog food and water your dog is used to. It might be an idea to acquire at least a few weeks supply of the same dog food whilst you consider which food you are going to feed your dog. When changing a dog’s diet, you should gradually add some of the ‘new’ food at feeding times to the bowl of old food, slowly increasing the quantity of the new dog food added to the bowl (and respectively decreasing the old dog food) over say a two to four week period, until you reach the stage when you are feeding the new dog food by itself – it’s best to spread this out over about two to four weeks because it gives your dog’s digestive system a chance to get used to the new dog food. So what are the differences in dog food? Dry dog food is dog food that has been baked or cooked and then ‘dried’ into small cubes or shapes. One of the major benefits of dry food is that it helps keep your dogs teeth in good condition as the chewing action helps remove plaque. Dry dog food is normally ‘complete’ meaning it contains all the recommended daily vitamins and minerals for a dog’s daily diet. There are many kinds of dry dog food that you can buy, including organic dog food, holistic dog food and natural dog food. You even get a variety of dry dog foods specially created for different kinds of dogs. There’s dry puppy dog food, junior dog food, adult dog food, senior dog food, even dog food for lactating bitches or those recovering from surgery. Mixer Dog food Mixer, is ‘dry’ dog food, but generally, it is not a ‘complete’ food and is intended to be ‘mixed’ with tinned dog food or other foods. Its original use was that it added ‘bulk’ to the food at feeding times and was therefore used to help with dogs that ate excessively and needed to cut their calorie intake. However these days dog mixers are not so widely used, as other foods, particularly as ‘complete’ dry dog foods come in various packages aimed at different kinds of dogs (including overweight dogs). Tinned Tinned dog food is nearly always a complete dog food, and is normally food that has been cooked, with gravy or jelly added to it – so it’s very much a ‘wet’ dog food. However as with any tinned food, it is a good idea to keep an eye out for artificial colours, flavours or preservatives and exercise your own judgement when buying. BARF (raw) Diet The BARF diet is generally raw meat fed with liquidised vegetables. It is quite a recent phenomenon so adequate research should be done into it, paying particular attention to the dangers of handling raw meat especially in a household with young children, and the dangers surrounding eating food which may contain bacteria that is normally killed by regular cooking. Some people prefer to cook the meat themselves before feeding. Frozen supplies Frozen dog food is normally packets of dog food you can buy that have either been cooked and frozen (such as chicken) or just frozen (chopped meat, or tripe). These need to be defrosted thoroughly before feeding. Tripe is the stomach of ruminating animals such as cows and sheep (be warned…. it smells awful!!) Some people defrost the ‘raw’ food and feed it. Don’t forget to adequately research raw food if you are going to consider it, bearing in mind nowadays farmed animals are given routine antibiotics etc (which cooking normally helps destroy). And the best? So which is the best dog food? It normally comes down to personal choice - what the owner decides to feed their dogs. Some people like the convenience of feeding dry food as it’s less messy - no tins to open each day, and generally speaking, the dry foods available these days are pretty good quality, whether it’s organic, holistic or additive free natural dry food. Additionally, dry dog food comes in many varieties for different kinds of dogs so it’s easy to see why dry dog food is now one of the most popular forms of dog food purchased today. Some people feed tinned food because it’s easier to transport and more widely available, or its just what they’re used to. Barf food fans like the fact that Barf is ‘natural’ and it can work out cheaper compared to some of the better quality dry foods. Choosing your dog’s food will be one of the most important decisions you make for him, and he’ll appreciate you taking the time to find the best one for him, the one he’ll thrive on, and which will help him live a happy, and healthy life.
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