 |
| Photo by: Twenty20 |
When it comes to dog food, dog owners can choose between 3 options: kibbles, homemade food or mixed feeding.
Industrial dog food
This type of food is made up of so-called wet food such as pâté, dry food such as croquettes or semi-moist food such as soft croquettes. At present, 59% of dog owners use industrial food. Provided that you know how to choose your products, this type of food is practical, offers good guarantees in terms of composition and allows good nutrition for the dog.
Dry food for dogs (or dry food)
When talking about industrial dog food, dry kibbles are often the first illustration that comes to mind. It is a complete food in the form of crunchy bites that covers all the nutritional needs of the dog. They are characterized by their low moisture content (8 to 10%) and are made from various ingredients including animal by-products (excluding vegan kibbles) and a source of starch.
The kibbles are available in physiological ranges designed to cover the “normal” nutritional needs of dogs,
and dietetics for the nutritional management of the specific needs of dogs suffering from various diseases.
While the latter are only sold in veterinary practices (or specialized sites), the former are sold just about everywhere: online, in supermarkets or in pet stores, so that their quality is not always up to par! Between unbalanced compositions and misleading marketing promises, it is often difficult for dog owners to find their way around. In our articles, we help you to sort out the good kibbles and not to rely on crazy marketing promises!
Get the best Kibbles here best kibble
Wet food or (The pâtés)
 |
| Photo by : Twenty20 |
The pâtés is a food that contains 70 to 80% moisture and is presented in cans or soft pouches. Often more palatable than kibble, they are generally richer in meat ingredients and lower in available carbohydrates than kibble and, in these respects, are closer to a home-based diet. But again, this should not be a hard and fast rule, as there are different levels of quality among all the dog food products on the market.
As with kibble, you must be vigilant and learn to decipher the labels in order to make the best choice for your dog.
here you can find a variety of choices for your dog
Semi-moist dog food
Semi-moist dog food is a food halfway between kibbles and patties. They are also referred to as soft kibbles. These products contain 20-30% moisture and have the advantage of being more palatable than dry kibbles.
Homemade food
Homemade” food is also known as “household ration”. As its name suggests, it consists of preparing your dog’s meals yourself.
A distinction is made between homemade food for dogs:
· The classic or traditional household ration composed of a source of protein (meat, eggs, fish, etc.), vegetables, starchy food (rice in general), oil and food supplements for dogs that are a source of vitamins and minerals,
· The “BARF” power supply and its variants such as the prey model (or PMR). These are rations that aim to give the animal food that is as close as possible to its natural diet: raw meat, raw fleshy bones, vegetables, oils and a few other supplements in order to recreate a prey that the dog, left to itself, could have eaten in the wild.
The household ration, whatever its form, must always be balanced with the help of a veterinarian and adapted to the particular needs of the non-strict carnivore that is the dog. When it is well-balanced, home feeding is very qualitative. It is even what is best for the dog, from a nutritional and digestive point of view, but it is more restrictive to prepare and generally costs a little more than an industrial food.
Can a dog eat “like us”?
 |
| Photo by: Twenty20 |
Home-cooked” food does not mean giving his dog table scraps or even making him eat the same meals as the human members of the family. No, “a dog that eats like us” is likely to have an unbalanced diet and the nutritional deficiencies that go with it! Don’t forget that dogs are carnivores (who eat meat) with an omnivorous tendency and that humans are omnivores (who eat everything) and as such have a protein requirement 4 to 6 times higher than that of humans and a calcium requirement 10 times higher than ours!
The “mixed” diet
In reality, there are two types of mixed feeding:
Industrial mixed feeding where the owner chooses to mix different types of industrial food such as croquettes and pâté, either within the same meal or alternately,
Mixed industrial and home food. This type of feeding combines, for example, croquettes or pâté with the ingredients of a household ration.
How to choose your dog’s food?
The choice of a type of food for your dog depends on several criteria including:
Specific criteria to your pet such as its specific nutritional needs (which depend on its physiological stage, possible diseases, size, etc.) and its food preferences,
Criteria that belong to you such as, for example, the budget and the time you will be able to devote to it, your level of knowledge in canine nutrition, your sensitivity to the advantages and disadvantages of each type of dog food, etc.
Concerning these advantages and disadvantages, we help you to make your choice by presenting the pros and cons of each solution in the form of summary tables below.
The sweets
Advantages
- Brings moisture to the ration (70% to 80% water)
- Occupies more volume in the stomach than the kibble (about 4 times more) and satisfies more voracious dogs.
- Have a good palatability: interesting for “difficult” dogs
- Food of good sanitary quality (manufacturing process that kills microbes and parasites)
Disadvantages
- v Promotes the appearance of tartar because it is a soft food that the dog does not have to chew and that sticks to the teeth.
- v Can be kept shortly after opening and in the refrigerator.
- v Usually more expensive than kibble and larger quantities must be given than dry food (which is more difficult to store as well).
- v May contain additives and preservatives
This advantage becomes a disadvantage for the opponents of kibbles and patties who deplore the fact that industrial dog food manufacturing processes produce “sterile” food that is free of both bad and good bacteria that are useful for colonizing the animal’s intestine. These “good” bacteria are involved in the animal’s immunity and digestion.
Dry kibbles
Advantages
- Keep well and longer than pâté after opening,
- Easy distribution,
- Moderate cost,
- Prevent the appearance of tartar (but only if they are hard and big enough to be chewed by the dog),
- Food of good sanitary quality (manufacturing process that kills microbes and parasites)
Disadvantages
- Bring only very little water in the ration (8 to 10% water): make sure that the animal drinks enough.
- Swell in the stomach, do not have their final volume upon ingestion.
- May contain additives and preservatives
Home Food
Advantages
- Brings moisture to the ration (70% to 80% water)
- Occupies a larger volume in the stomach than the kibble and satisfies more voracious dogs and dogs with a natural tendency to be overweight such as the Labrador or Golden retriever.
- Good appetence: interesting for “difficult” dogs.
- Good digestibility
- Quality control of the ingredients, food with no (or almost no) additives
Disadvantages
- Prevents the appearance of tartar because it requires a chewing effort from the dog, especially when it contains raw meat and/or fleshy bones.
- More constraining to prepare (demand to anticipate supplies, to store fresh ingredients …)
- Presents a greater health risk than an industrial food if the rules of preparation hygiene are not respected (choice of fresh raw materials, …).
- Usually more expensive than an industrial food supply
Feeding your dog: how often and in what quantities?
 |
| Photo by: Twenty20 |
Portions adapted to your dog’s needs
In general, it is not recommended to let the dog have access to his food at will in order to control his intake and prevent him from becoming overweight.
A dog’s food should therefore meet its energy and nutritional needs. It is also advisable to weigh your dog’s food using a scale to avoid over or under-dosing.
These quantities should be determined precisely with the help of your veterinarian. They depend on both:
Your dog’s caloric needs, which in turn depend on many factors such as your pet’s physiological stage, its size, its physical activity, whether it is whole or spayed or whether it belongs to a breed “predisposed to being overweight”, the energy density of the food chosen, in other words the number of calories contained in a certain quantity of this food.
How many meals a day for my dog?
The stomach of an adult dog with no particular health problems is very elastic and allows him to have only one meal a day.
However, it is however advisable to divide his daily ration into 2 to 3 meals per day.
- In animals with high energy needs such as puppies during their growth period, pregnant and nursing females and sporting dogs,
- When dogs are fed “wet”, with swill or a household ration.
- In animals suffering from gastrointestinal disorders. Splitting meals will ensure easier digestion,
- In dogs that are particularly voracious or have reduced caloric intake as part of a weight loss diet to prevent them from feeling too hungry.