Many people buy food for their pets based on price. Yes, cheaper food fits better within our budgets, but you truly care about your family pet, why buy something that may be harmful to their health? Cheap, conventional dog food can contain a lot of hard to metabolize fillers that can cause your dog to gain weight. They contain residues from pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and other chemicals from the manufacturing process which are ingested by your pet. Would you feed your dog chemicals from under your sink? Of course your answer is no- so why, then, do you feed him food which has these sorts of chemicals inside them?
While cheap dog food will contain some vitamins and minerals necessary for the health of your pet, these are typically in very minute amounts that aren’t enough on their own to provide proper nutrition for your dog. Conventional food has a lot of added in synthetic vitamins and minerals because the manufacturing process eliminates many of the natural ones inside the ingredients. Your dog will have trouble digesting the synthetic chemicals which can cause it to gain weight. The organic dog food’s natural minerals, antioxidants and vitamins are much easier for your dog to metabolize and much better for him.
You need to be careful to see that you are purchasing the real thing when you are buying organic dog food. You need to check to see if the food is certified by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in order to be positive that you are getting what you are shopping for. If the dog food claims to be organic based on the word of any other organization besides the USDA, then you cannot be certain you are getting organic food.
Even though organic is the way to go, not all organic foods were created equal. As such, you need to be aware of what is inside of the food before you purchase it. You can be sure that the organic food will not have any uncertain ingredients or byproducts, but they can include a high percentage of ingredients that aren’t necessary for the general health of your pet. A good example would be a food that contains a primary ingredient (or one of the first three listed on the can) or corn, rice or variety of flour. Your dog will have a hard time digesting these things as they didn’t evolve with them in their diet.
You should be sure that the first ingredients in your dog’s food are a source of animal protein. If the listed ingredients are ‘chicken meal’ or ‘animal protein’, you cannot trace the origin of these- meaning you may not have the highest grade ingredients inside this food. With organic dog food, you do not have to worry about finding things like this, as the USDA ensures that only high grade, traceable ingredients are used. They ensure that your dog is getting natural proteins, fruits and vegetables so that he can live a long, healthy life.
Want to find out more about homemade dog food, then visit Kristaria Dawson’s site on how to choose the best dog food recipe for your needs.
