Dog Treats Can Have Ingredients Harmful to Your Dog
When it comes to your dog's well-being, nutrition is of the utmost importance. Feeding your pet properly can mean the difference between a long, healthy life, and a sickly, miserable existence. And since our dogs can't select what they eat, their health ultimately rests on us, their owners who choose for them.
So what exactly is the stuff that comes in cans and plastic bags made of? What are we feeding our pets in their dog food and dog treats. To be a conscientious owner, you have to know how to read those ingredient labels. These labels list the ingredients by weight: from heaviest (which is what the food is mostly made of), to the lightest.
If some of the first ingredients listed are meat by-products or grain by-products, avoid it if you can. Grain by-products in pet foods and dog treats will introduce a lot of carbohydrates in your dog's diet- as much as 70 percent of your dog food can be composed of carbohydrates, when a dog's natural diet should have less than 30 percent. The reasoning behind using these ingredients so much has more to do with the dog food manufacturer's profit margins than any actual concern for pet nutrition. These byproducts are cheap, and they act as extenders for the dog food- thus, the manufacturers get to produce more food, at a fraction of the cost. But it's your dog who pays for it in the end: digestive trouble, and obesity, and all the obesity-related health problems that come with it.
Animal by-products aren't much of an improvement. While they do contribute protein in the diet, this meat is basically parts that are thrown away because they're unfit for human consumption: lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, blood, bone, and stomach and intestines. To make things worse, there is little to no regulation for the sources of this meat: it could be from a meat processing plant, but it could also be roadkill, or 4-D (dead, diseased, disabled, dying) livestock.
So read those labels carefully, and get to know what your dog is really eating. There are many premium dog food brands out there that primarily whole foods like meat from chicken or lamb, which are the best sources of nutrition for your dog. Wellness dog food and dog treats are a good example of brands whose ingredients will help your companion along for a healthy, happy life.
Getting your dog some premium dog food may cost more, but will pay off because many of the cheaper brands have ingredients that are harmful for your pet. These brands have grain and animal byproducts, which have little to no nutritive value and can in fact cause health problems like obesity and maldigestion. Look for dog treats brands like Wellness dog food, who use only the healthiest ingredients like deboned lamb or chicken meat, so that your dog stays healthy.
Published June 6th, 2009
Filed in Family
