Recommended Dog Foods

There are three choices of how to feed a dog--- on commercial foods (kibble, canned or a combination thereof), preparing, a cooked diet and maintaining a raw diet. There are various opinions on what is best for a dog, and after researching the different types of dog foods, the owner should pick the best for the dog. When researching dog foods, the owner must take into consideration various health issues and the genetics of the dog.

Commercial dog foods often have ingredients that should not be fed to dogs, especially if the dog has health problems. Some dogs are allergic to or show an intolerance to ingredients such as corn or flax seed oil that is in most commercial dog foods. On the other side of the spectrum, a raw-fed dog may have an intolerance to a certain protein (such as chicken). If your dog is showing signs of an illness and no one (not even the vet) can figure it out, try changing foods.

Dogs were fed raw and cooked foods long before commercial kibbles and canned food became available, circa 1860. For years, only Spratt's and Milk Bone biscuits were available. Eventually horse meat came on the market, but was not widely accepted. In 1925, Clarence Gaines came out with a dry dog food formula he called Gaines Dog Meal.

Homemade cooked ground chicken and fish dog food - by Cheryl BowmanCommercial dog food comes in canned or dry, also known as kibble. Depending on the quality, it may contain mostly vegetable matter (carbohydrates) and preservatives, with little actual meat, or in the case of some high-end kibbles, can contain mostly meat. Canned food follows the same premises. A cooked diet is a diet you cook yourself for the dog and may contain only meat or meat and vegetables, but this food does not have preservatives and supplements unless you add specific supplements yourself. A raw diet consists of mainly raw meat. Some people feed strictly meat and bones, some may feed a mixture of 80 percent or more meat and bones with some vegetable, and some people feed what is known as prey model. Prey model uses whole animals---the entire animal, including the head and organs, is fed to the dog.

Raw and cooked diets are briefly explained under the subheading of types and are easily identifiable. If you choose to feed kibble, there are certain things you should be on the lookout for, if you want your dog to have the best possible diet. Choose a kibble with meat as the first few ingredients. Try to avoid kibbles that contain an inordinate amount of corn or corn product in the first five ingredients. Ingredients such as chicken, beef, pork or lamb in some form or another should be in the first three ingredients, at a minimum.

Beef heart and kidney ready to be packaged into Rambo-sized servings - by Cheryl BowmanOne of the best features (besides knowing what is going in your dog's mouth) of feeding a diet of raw meaty bones, muscle meat and organs is that you will have fewer bills associated with your dog. Most dogs will not need yearly teeth cleaning. The dogs' hair smells much nicer, saving you from having to give the dog a bath every other week. A raw or cooked diet is also often recommended for dogs with certain diseases (i.e. a cooked diet is often recommended for some dogs with Cushing's disease; a raw diet is often recommended for dogs with joint problems).

When making your decision on choosing a dog food, take your dog's health into consideration above anything else. If the dog's health does not preclude him from eating any kind of diet, look at what you think would be the healthiest way to feed your dog, and which way you can best afford. If you want nothing but the best, but can't afford a high-end kibble, you may want to consider feeding a raw or cooked diet.

Never feed your dog cooked bones. Raw bones are fine, even raw chicken bones, as they do not splinter the way cooked bones do. Run fast from any dog food with artificial coloring and flavoring or dog food containing "meat meal." Meat meal means that the meat is unidentified, and there is no telling where it came from. A specific meal, such as lamb meal, is okay, as that tells you that the all the meat in that particular ingredient came from lamb.