What should I look for if I am trying to find the HEALTHIEST dog food?

Question

What ingredents/ nutrients should I look for. What ingredents are 'bad'?

Answer 1

You're going to get a LOT of different answers.

As far as I'm concerned, corn and by-products are bad.

Corn is almost entirely non-digestible, so basically it's just a "filler". That's why the feeding recommendations are so different. A cheap (corn-filled) food will suggest a certain dog eat 1c per day when a corn-free food might suggest 1/2 cup or so for the same size dog.

Byproducts are basically non-specific meat sources. This could be hooves, tendons, skin, diseased meat, etc. Especially scary to me is the term "animal byproducts". If they can't even isolate what kind of animal it CAME from, I certainly dont' want my pet eating it.

I purchase only those foods that are corn & byproduct free and also made of "human-grade" ingredients. This does not mean that you should eat the food, but it does mean that the meat (and other ingredients) they used in the food were of high enough quality to be used for human consumption at the time they were added to the food. Luckily, I have a pet store in my area that ONLY carries these types of foods. Depending on where you live, it can be hard to find them, but most are available online. Look into foods like Canidae, Wellness, and Wysong. There's a ton more too, but I can't think of them all.

Feel free to email me if you have questions.

Answer 2

Try to get some of the foods without these ingredience:
Anticaking agents
Antimicrobial agents
Antioxidants
Coloring agents
Curing agents
Drying agents
Emulsifiers
Firming agents
Flavor enhancers
Flavoring agents
Flour treating agents
Formulation aids
Humectants
Leavening agents
Lubricants
Nonnutritive sweeteners
Nutritive sweeteners
Oxidizing and reducing agents
pH control agents
Processing aids
Sequestrants
Solvents, vehicles
Stabilizers, thickeners
Surface active agents
Surface finishing agents
Synergists
Texturizers

While the law requires studies of direct toxicity of these additives and preservatives, they have not been tested for their potential synergistic effects on each other once ingested. Some authors have suggested that dangerous interactions occur among some of the common synthetic preservatives.4 Natural preservatives do not provide as long a shelf life as chemical preservatives, but they are safe.

Answer 3

You should try to find food without too many perservatives or unhealthy and unnatural things like that. Anything sugary like glucose, sucrose, dextrose, maltose are all stuff that are bad to put in dog food. Poultry-by product meal is alos a very nasty ingredient to find in dog food.

"Poultry-by-product meal consists of ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcasses of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines, exclusive of feathers

Corn four is the fine-size hard flinty portions of ground corn containing little or none of the bran or germ.

Corn bran is the outer coating of the corn kernel, with little or none of the starchy part of the germ.

Corn gluten meal is the dried residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm.

Wheat is a constituent found in many pet foods. Again the AAFCO gives descriptive terms for wheat products.

Wheat flour consists principally of wheat flour together with fine particles of wheat bran, wheat germ, and the offal from the "tail of the mill." Tail of the mill is nothing more then the sweepings of leftovers after everything has been processed from the week.

Wheat germ meal consists chiefly of wheat germ together with some bran and middlings or shorts.

Wheat middlings and shorts are also categorized as the fine particles of wheat germ, bran, flour and offal from the "tail of the mill."

Answer 4

meat as the first ingrediants. NOT corn and meat by-products or meal.
check out the ingrediants in innova for instance. These ingrediants are good for your dog the all natural human grade ingrediants are the best. canidae, solid gold, california natural, dick van pattens formula, innova are a few really good dog foods to choose from.

Innova
(All human grade) Turkey
Chicken
Chicken Meal
Ground Brown Rice
Whole Steamed Potatoes

Answer 5

Steer away from supermarket brands...Purina Dog Chow, Pedigree, Alpo, Science Diet, IAMS/Eukanuba,Beneful, etc They contain cheap fillers.

Corn, wheat, soy & beet pulp are ingredients you want to avoid.They aren't easily digested, they don't offer much by way of nutrition for the dog, they are common allergens..corn and soy have been implicated in studies to cause unexplained seizures in dogs, soy causes excess gas and beet pulp adds nothing except unnecassary sugars. Dogs are meat eaters, carnivores, they are designed to extract nutrition from meats not grains...just a quick look at their anatomy..jaws, teeth and their digestive system..shorter intestinal tract, stronger stomach acids..will tell a person that. It takes up to 3 times more of a grain based food for a dog to get proper nutrition then it does of a good quality meat based food.
When looking for a good food look for one that has at least 2 meat sources as the first 2 ingredients.

Answer 6

I am a proud owner of a 6 mth old female Toy Poodle, and a 10 mth old Male American Pit Bull Terrier. Both of my dogs are now on Lundquist foods, and it is by far the best food I have ever seen for dogs. My dad kept telling me about it, and I wouldn't try it because i was like every one else here......Iams, Hill's Science Diet, Eukanaba, and any other high priced dog food follower. I believed that the best recommendations for dog food came from my vet, but whoa was I wrong. My pit started to lose a little hair on his tail, so my dad was like just try the food. He agreed to pay for it, and so I said fine I'll try it. Well we ordered the food and I kid you not.....my dogs love it. I placed a kibble in the bottom of the bowl and buried it with their previous food..well, they knocked the bowls over trying to get the Lundquist food, and since then.....no farting, no shedding, the hair on the tail has grown back( with no vet visit) and they are seemingly happier dogs. they have more energy for our daily walks, and they are tens times more attentive to me. I have no problems keeping them interested in their food either. If you have any questions you can go to the website below, get the number to the manufacturer himself, and call him. He has no problem telling you what is wrong with your dog and why. He is very informative about other foods as well. As far as what you should look for all i can say is this: look for foods that are low in soy and high in proteins......I like real meat instead of meat by products, but again i strongly urge you to contact the Lundquist company for the best of the best

Answer 7

Protein content and sources. Cheap food is too high in carbs (grains) and has the animal pestering you for food and farting.

Sources - cheap food uses skin, beaks and bones - inferior parts of the animal. Good food uses actual meat - organ and muscle.

Nutro is the best for dogs and cats. Has the highest protein and best sources.

Answer 8

Here is a link to the most comphensive article I've seen on dog food, nutrition and comparison.

http://www.thedivadog.com/dog-bowls.aspx

Scary how none of this is regulated.

Answer 9

Meat good: should be first, second and third. Preferably real meat as opposed to "meals" like chicken meal, etc.

Bad: fillers like brown rice, lots of corn- anything vegetable based as top ingredients.

Answer 10

Look for dog food that will make your dog strong and dog food that doesnt have any fat in it. I'm not quit sure the ingreedeants though.