Dog Treats can be Bad For Your Dog In Many Ways
Proper nutrition is the most important thing that you can give your pet. Because our dogs depend on us to feed them, it becomes our responsibility as owners to provide for them the food that they'll need to live happy, disease-free lives.
So what exactly is the stuff that comes in cans and plastic bags made of? What are we feeding our pets in their dog food and dog treats. To be a conscientious owner, you have to know how to read those ingredient labels. These labels list the ingredients by weight: from heaviest (which is what the food is mostly made of), to the lightest.
Meat and grain by-products are some of the lest-desirable ingredients you may find in your dog food. If you dog food or dog treats list these as main ingredients, find another brand. A lot of grain and grain-related ingredients may increase the amount of carbohydrates in your dog's food, buy up to seventy percent, while your average dog really only needs less than thirty percent carbohydrates. Many cheap pet food manufacturers like to use wheat by products like corn and wheat because they act as extenders- letting them make more food from inexpensive ingredients. Excessive carbohydrate intake, though, may cause health problems for your dog: maldigestion, and obesity, along with all the health problems that being overweight brings.
Animal by-products aren't much of an improvement. While they do contribute protein in the diet, this meat is basically parts that are thrown away because they're unfit for human consumption: lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, blood, bone, and stomach and intestines. To make things worse, there is little to no regulation for the sources of this meat: it could be from a meat processing plant, but it could also be roadkill, or 4-D (dead, diseased, disabled, dying) livestock.
So it pays to read those ingredient labels, and to understand what those ingredients mean. If you invest in buying a premium dog food, like the Wellness dog food brand, you can be assured that your dog is eating right. Dog food and dog treats from brands like these are made of primarily whole foods like deboned chicken and lamb meat, and other nutritious ingredients, so that your dog can live a long, happy and sickness-free life.
Getting your dog some premium dog food may cost more, but will pay off because many of the cheaper brands have ingredients that are harmful for your pet. These brands have grain and animal byproducts, which have little to no nutritive value and can in fact cause health problems like obesity and maldigestion. Look for dog treats brands like Wellness dog food, who use only the healthiest ingredients like deboned lamb or chicken meat, so that your dog stays healthy.
Published June 6th, 2009
Filed in Family