Total Dog Magazine

Category: Diet

Our dog nutrition guides contain tips and advice from trusted dog nutritional experts, canine diet professionals and animal health practitioners. Always consult your vet if you have specific problems with your dog.

  • Proper Dog Food Is The Key To A Healthy Pet

    Your diet plays a critical role in determining your total health. The same is the case with your pet. So , it only appears reasonable if you pay rather more attention while choosing dog food for your pet. These are some straightforward tips and proposals that will help you select the right dog food for your pet.

    Checking the ingredient list is the first step in selecting the right dog food. Before you purchase any dog food, ensure that you go through the list of ingredients fastidiously. Check if the product includes any ingredients that would be harmful for your dog’s health. Also, if the product includes meat spinoff, chicken derivative, birds derivative meat and bone meal in the first 5 ingredients, then you need to desist from the product.

    Besides ingredients ; another thing to be observed out for is the nutritional value of dog food. It’s essential the product must have adequate quantity of all the essenatial nutrients. In addition to checking the nutritional value; it is suggested that you should always check the share of calories as present in a dog food. If a specific dog food is noted to be running high on the calorie content; it’s better to refrain from buying such dog food.

    The dog food needs to be better to the nutritive duty of your dog. This criterion of selection is imperative because different races of dogs have sundry requirements of nourishment. It’s been noted the smaller dogs are more in need of carbohydrates. On the other hand the dogs which are huge in size need more of minerals and vitamins quantity. So first update yourself about the nutritive wants of you dogs. Only then purchase a dog food which is able to meet the required nutritional requirement.

    Another important thing in this context is additives. Nearly always dog food which is ready to be loaded in preservatives which may not be good for your pet’s health. While choosing dog food; keep a watch on the preservatives as be loaded in a particular food product. Some of the preservatives that may prove detrimental to the fitness of your pet are BHA, ethoxyquin and BHT. These the chemicals as present in a selected food have the potentiality of triggering in a condition of cancer in the canines. You should generally go in for dog foods which have preservatives in the shape of Vitamin C and Vitamin A.

    Look for APHIS paperwork. Dog foods that are warranted by APHIS are a safer bet than the ones that come without certification. APHIS authorized dog foods make use of human grade ingredients. So, with these foods, you can be absolutely guaranteed that they won’t harm your dog. Besides, you may also consult your pet about the food brands that would work fine for your pet.

    Choosing dog food with extra care and caution is essential. While the wrong dog food could deter the general fitness of your child, the right food can play a big role in keeping your pet healthy. So, watch out when selecting dog food.

  • Canine Nutrition – How Important is Water in Your Dog’s Diet?

    Your dog’s body is made up of 70{d4f4ff813a06e2c77cbb9c6effe011ebffe2f8986e44983e90e08c54deb62f63} water. He can live even if he loses all the fat and half of the protein in his body. However, he will die if his body loses even just 1/10 of his water.

    In order to survive, a full-grown dog requires at the very least, two millilitres (mls) of water for every pound he weighs every single day (keeping in mind that there are 30 millilitres of water per 1 ounce). The two millilitres are just enough for the dog to produce urine in his body. Without enough water necessary for urine production, your dog, any dog, will not be able to live.

    When given an unlimited amount of water, your dog will drink much more than the required two millimetres. This is especially true when you always keep a fresh bowl of water. Giving your dog just the least amount of water every day may be enough for him to survive, but not for long. Deficiency in water harms the body and gradually terminates its functions. He will eventually turn weak, get sick, and die. This is a problem for older dogs or dogs in hot conditions, because some won’t consume enough water and will get heat stroke.

    Hot conditions and your dog’s water intake

    It’s important to know about the type of water your dog needs in hot conditions. For example, in hot weather give your dog cool, not cold water. Another issue is overdrinking, you need to have a balance with giving them enough without allowing them to drink too much and be at risk of health problems.

    One way to prevent this is to invest in something like a raised dog bowl where your dog can eat from too. By placing the bowl off the ground you not only help your dog to stoop less and ease any neck issues that may arise in older age, but you change the dynamic for the dog of how they eat and drink, while being able to monitor how much water is available to get the balance right.

    The importance of giving your dog more water than the least amount needed is used in several ways:

    1. Water is used to help digest and absorb nutrients.

    2. It is used to burn fuel, which is turned into energy.

    3. Water is responsible for maintaining a normal body temperature.

    4. Drinking enough water replaces the fluids that are lost in the body during secretions.

    5. Water is also responsible for mixing different types of chemicals in the body as they dissolve and transform into different chemical reactions.

    6. Water carries nutrients to the cells and also transfers toxic waste products from the cells to the organs for proper elimination. With the absence of water, these organs will not be able to get rid of toxins from the body.

    7. Last but not least, water is needed to regulate the blood’s acid level.

    As you can see, water is almost always required for every function that takes place in the dog’s body. And because of its versatility and the degree to which it is used, water is considered to be the most important nutrient that is required on all breeds of dogs.