A Dog's Daily Diet
When endeavouring to define dog nutrition, it is essential to have an understanding of the quality of dog food as it is marketed today. While dogs have existed for thousands of years, kibble, or dried pellets, has only been around as long as our manufacturing processes, and in fact, only first made it on the scenes in the late 1800's. The entrepreneurial spirit of a young James Spratt came up with the first recipe for cheap, easy-to-serve dog biscuits consisting of wheat and vegetables - including beet root - bound together using beef blood, thus giving birth to the pet food industry.
It has only been in recent times that dog owners have come to the hard realization that their dog's nutrition is one that requires particular care and monitoring, and that what's on the label of a bag of kibble may not be sufficient in understanding exactly what Fido is ingesting. Case in point: The was a recall of Canadian pet foods that had been manufactured in China which did result in numerous unwell animals and some deaths. The cause was later found to be from melamine found in the wheat gluten.
These unfortunate experiences tell us that we must not only be aware of what our dogs are eating, but keep an alert eye on what they are eliminating as well as the potential symptoms of how improper nutrition will manifest illnesses and skin conditions. Dogs are subject to allergies like their owners. These allergies can manifest in conditions like intense itching, ear infections, ortis externa and pruritis, they may also lead to increased bowl movements, vomiting and diarrhoea. allergies can also develope simply from prolonged exposure to certain types of proteins, occuring from feeding the same food without variety periods. Wheat has become a substantial in most dogs diets, but some do not tolerate it as well as others.
Some would argue: Dogs have been with us for as long as we have, so what is wrong with continuing to ffed them our table scraps? When commercial d foods ogare made up of fillers, additives, and other non-essentials, and the poor quality of meats rarely contain any meat content at all, what is an owner to do to provide sufficient nutrients for their dog? Disputes arise over a raw food diet, with those who quite rightly believe it mimics a natural routine. This creates its own natural difficulty in the fact that the raw product has a very limited shelf life and can also lead to cross contamination.
One needs to realise that a domesticated canine, does still have teeth to shred meat, they have become less carnivorous and more omnivorous. Omnivorous is being they require water, protein, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, vitamins and fibre. Equally, a dogs diet benefits from nutritional supplements, such as herbs, providing useful dietary support for healthy skin and shiny coats. Avoid generic brands, this will eliminate the risk of potentially feeding your dog meat from diseased and decaing animals. While it may be more costly to buy the products that are clearly produced from better quality ingredients, it is a far better choice than risking the content of meat from less desirable sources
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If your dog is overweight you should ideally aim for a gradual weight loss of around 1-2% of body weight per week, as it is not healthy for him to lose weight too quickly. The main ways of facilitating weight loss are by reducing calorie intake and increasing exercise http://www.chudleys.com
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