Dog Health Improved by Natural Food By John Dow At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Natural food for dogs is not artificial coloring dyes, not meat byproducts, sugar or corn syrup, and other common filler commercial dog food ingredients. Read the label of your favorite wet or canned dog food and see what ingredients are listed, and in what order. The items are listed by the amount contained in the food.

Moisture is usually number one at approximately 78% or more. So three quarters of what you are buying is water. Some type of animal by products is next, that could mean animal hair, gristle, hoofs, feathers, etc. Next up are the minuscule items like actual meat, vegetables, or rice. They also use artificial flavorings and sugar to make the food taste good.

You might also notice that many commercial brands make note that they adhere to the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials). This is an organization that is a private advisory board. Well, guess what? AFFCO has no enforcement authority, no input as to quality, and does no testing. In short, they are worthless and have no impact on the quality of the pet food industry at all.

The accepted ratio of protein, fat, and carbohydrates is minimum 23% for protein, 20% fat, and 40% or more carbohydrates. When you read your commercial can food labels, most are less than 7% crude protein (meat by products which produce little actual protein since it can't be properly digested – it just passes through), 7% fat, and maybe 9% carbohydrates.

There are two problems, the quality of the food and low levels of nutrition, plus all the toxins and contaminants. Some of the higher quality foods have removed all the by products and offer a much higher level of nutrients. But they still don't even come close the recommended levels of the basics. But they are much healthier and you can also provide some additional supplements (like raw meat, fish, and vegetables) to bring up the nutrients to an acceptable level.

Just like in humans, your dog is what he/she eats. The more natural food and fewer toxins, the more healthy your dog will be and the less time you will spend at the vet. I've seen many dogs who were listless, suffering from many small ailments, coat dull, and barely able to get around miraculously recover and act like a young dog again when their diets were changed to natural and healthy food.

A good comparison would be if you ate Twinkies, moon pies, and hot dogs every day for food. Yes, they taste good but there's little nutritional value in the way of protein, vitamins, and other necessary foods. You would start gaining weight and exhibiting the same common health problems that many dogs do with low nutrition foods.

Problems like allergies, skin disorders, mouth and gum problems, and bladder problems all can be eliminated by switching to all natural food ingredients with out additives. The difference is cost is considerable until you look at the over all health costs. One trip to the vet is going to be $75. If you feed your dog a can of $.50 dog food every day, to go natural can cost around $1.00 a can. That's only an extra $30 bucks a month for the good stuff and with no trips to the vet, will probably be cheaper in the long run.

Your dog will live longer and be much more healthy for a relatively small amount of money well spent. The quality of life for your pet will be increased dramatically. Dog health is directly related to their diet, just like us.

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