Feeding their dogs is not something most people even think about most of the time. It becomes an ingrained habit that comes with pet ownership. People may unknowingly overlook some crucial areas of a dog’s diet. Here are just a few aspects you can focus on to provide balanced nutrition to your dog.
Understanding Vitamins and Minerals
The balance between vitamins and minerals is more important even than their amounts. Many nutrients have synergistic relationships in the body. Moreover, dogs can produce some of their own vitamins. This plays a role in how the balance in their diets affects them. It is crucial to remember that both added supplements and commercial dog foods can impact your pet’s nutritional balance. According to MBi Nutraceuticals, this is because vitamins are organic and break down when exposed to heat, air, or acid. Minerals are inorganic and do not break down, so they easily transfer into the food dogs eat. Many dogs will eat anything they can get in their mouths, so they rely on their owners to supply their nutritional needs. Dog food manufacturers have to be conscientious about their processing methods, or they can turn out products with inappropriately high mineral to vitamin ratios. Although raw diets seem like the perfect answer for dogs, they require additional work. You must supplement raw diets with the help of a nutritionist or veterinarian as they usually lack appropriate levels of vitamins A and D, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and other minerals.
Importance of Fats and Proteins
Appropriate levels of fats and proteins are essential for dogs to thrive. Whether you believe dogs are carnivores or omnivores, studies suggest they have a natural preference for a dietary protein of 44 percent and fat of 50 percent or higher. Dogs can only obtain the ten essential amino acids they need from their diets. Like people, dogs need proteins to build muscle, hair, and skin, and to supply hormones and enzymes for normal body processes. According to Seven Hills Veterinary Hospital, a dog’s body uses up to 30 percent of a dog’s daily protein intake for maintaining healthy fur. Fatty acids such as Omega-3 and -6s are also vital for chemical functions in the body. Although dogs have adapted to the high-carbohydrate diets of modern civilization, they derive most of their energy from fats. You can find sources and percentages of fats and proteins on your dog food label.
Choosing Wholesome Ingredients
Wholesome ingredients are preferably whole foods that you can readily see as the first few ingredients on a dog food label. Ideally, you should be able to immediately recognize them as healthy and biologically appropriate for your dog. Wholesome ingredients, like chicken meal or bison, provide enzymes to help digestion, biological activity to aid vitamin and mineral absorption, antioxidants to protect cellular health, and well-balanced nutrition that isolated supplements cannot provide. But keep in mind that nutrients are more bioavailable in whole foods than in processed and unidentified byproducts. Finally, remember that the ingredients that look good to you may not necessarily be the greatest choice for your dog, or not present in the right ratios. Taurine DCM recommends looking for AAFCO certification on the label as a quick way to check if the formula is safe for long-term feeding.
Unless you feed your dog a raw diet with medical guidance, your first step to providing your pet with a balanced diet will be to learn how to read dog food labels and correlate that information with what your dog requires. You may have to consult outside resources like your veterinarian or nutritional guides to understand the roles of vitamins and minerals, fats and proteins, and wholesome foods, in balancing your dog’s diet. By doing these things, you can make sure that your dog will have a healthy life.