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| Offering Support and Training for your American Eskimo Dog |
| What is the best dog food to feed? Trying to figure out what to feed your dog can be quite challenging. There are so many choices, you don't know where to start. Just when you think you've got it figured out, you'll hear or read something that makes you think maybe you're not feeding your dog the best thing for him. And all the recalls we had last year makes the decision even harder. The bottom line is you need to find a food that works for you and your dog, whether it be a raw food diet, homemade diet, dry food or canned food. |
| And if you are wondering what I feed my dogs, they all eat Nature's Select dry dog food. It's a quality food that is only available by ordering thru a distributor. If you are in their area, the food will be delivered to your front door at no extra charge which is a real bonus to me. They have a full line of dog and cat food, treats and supplements. I also feed Nature's Variety raw food to my 15 yr old girl who's doing well except for a little arthritis. |
| If you decide on dry and/or canned foods, you need to know how to read the ingredient listing. A high quality food will have superior sources of protein which are whole, fresh meats or single-source meat meal (for example, chicken meal rather than poultry meal). The meat source should be one of the first two ingredients, or, better yet, would be two meat sources among the top three ingredients (say, chicken and chicken meal). Be aware that any meats that say whole, contain a lot of water. So if a list of ingredients begins with whole chicken, followed by three or more grains and no other meat proteins, it likely has way more grain than meat. Meat is the most natural source of protein for dogs, and contains the amino acids important to their health. Look for whole, unprocessed grains, vegetables and other foods. As a general rule, I recommend rice over corn or wheat. A quality food will also have added digestive enzymes and probiotics (such as lactobacillus). What you want to stay away from is meat by-products, animal fat, sweeteners, and artificial preservatives and colors. |
| Premium brand dog foods. Here are just a few of the dry dog foods that are on the Whole Dog Journal's list of top quality foods. Most of these foods can be found at Pet Supplies Plus who I think have the best selection at the lowest prices. BENCH & FIELD Canidae Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul Eagle Pack Evanger's Fromm's Nature's Variety Nutro Ultra |
| If you decide on a raw food diet for your dog, be sure to do the research on the food, whether you make your own or buy the prepared frozen food at the store. Wolf Creek Ranch, is an excellent website that can give you more information on where to find recipes or which of the frozen foods are good. There isn't much involved in knowing how to read the labels on the prepared diets as all the ingredients will be whole foods with no chemical additives. |
| Let's talk about those recalls. They certainly caused a lot of panic and scared some people away from buying any manufactured dog food. But it wasn't the premium brands that had the tainted ingredients, it was the lower quality foods manufactured at plants that buy from questionable sources. I firmly believe the reputable dog food companies have high standards and good testing of their products and the foods they produce are safe for our dogs. |
| How do you decide between raw food or cooked? I hear arguments for both sides. The pro for feeding your dog raw meat and vegetables is that they are more digestable and the dogs get more nutrition from them. The con is the possibility of you and/or your dog becoming ill from the bacteria and chemicals that are not killed off by cooking the food. Cost is another factor. The prepared frozen raw food is rather pricey. Everything I've read says it's much less expensive to make yourself, but you have to know what you are doing and add all the right vitamins and minerals. My opinion is unless your dog needs the extra boost a raw food diet might provide, there is no need to feed raw. |