4 Tips for Improving Your Dog's Diet
For many people, a dog is more than a pet; a dog is an important member of your family. As an important member of your family, you need to make sure you are paying attention to your pet's diet. If you want your pet to have a long and healthy life, you need to make sure you are providing your pet with a healthy diet.
Tip #1: Avoid Highly Processed Foods
Avoid feeding your dog highly processed dog foods. Dry dog foods that are full of preservatives and chemicals are not the best foods to feed your dog. Just like humans should avoid eating too many highly processed foods, the same rules apply to your dog. That means ditching the dry dog food that has a mile-long list of strange ingredients on the packaging.
Tip #2: Look for Dog Food Free of Fillers and Preservatives
The truth is, you shouldn't be feeding your dog food that has unnecessary fillers or preservatives in the food. Instead, consider feeding your dog natural and whole foods. If you see preservatives and fillers on the dog food, even if the dog food is advertised as natural or healthy, avoid purchasing that food for your dog.
Tip #3: Look for Dog Food with USDA Certification
You really shouldn't be feeding the dog food that you can't eat yourself. When you purchase dog food, consider purchasing natural dog food that contains the highest quality ingredients. Look for dog foods that have been approved, inspected, or certified by the USDA for human consumption. This term legally means all the ingredients in your dog's food are things you could eat as well. Avoid natural dog foods that say they have human-quality or human-grade ingredients in them; those are marketing terms, not legally binding terms.
Tip #4: Add Whole Foods to Your Dog's Diet
You don't want to just feed your dog table scraps. However, you can integrate certain whole cooked foods as part of a balanced approach to your dog's diet. Dogs can eat things such as cooked meat and fish. They can also enjoy whole foods such as carrots, green beans, bananas, apples, oatmeal, pumpkin, and even rice.
The whole foods you feed your dog should be lightly cooked, but they should not be seasoned with salt or other spices. There are also lots of whole foods that your dog can't eat, so before you start cooking for your dog, get a list of foods they can eat from your vet. Also, check with your vet about how much food you should be feeding your dog; you don't want to overfeed your dog, no matter how great the ingredients.