Dry dog food has been recommended as the best diet for dogs, however this is quite untrue. While dry dog food can be included in your dog’s diet in a limited way, most products are very high in simple carbohydrates, relatively low in protein and of inferior nutritional quality. Furthermore, it is very bad for dogs to eat food that doesn’t contain natural moisture.
The heavy use of commercially prepared dry dog food by dog owners is a leading cause of rising incidence of canine diabetes and associated pancreatitis. Doing a search on “dry dog food” on the Internet will lead to a lot of websites and articles encouraging the use of this product, yet the purpose behind these articles is to sell dry dog food.
So how reliable is this information really? The only safe and healthy dry dog food is likely to also be organic and contain high levels of protein and include complex carbohydrates in the form of whole grains. It will also contain dried vegetables and be very low in sodium and not have chemical additives. Even so, organic dry dog food should still be used sparingly. It should not be all that you feed your dog.
To maintain good health, dogs need a largely natural diet. The best diet is a raw diet that also incorporates healthy scraps from the family and raw dog bones. If this isn’t possible, feeding your dog commercially prepared organic food from a reputable company can provide most of your dog’s nutritional needs. Organic dry dog food can be added to this diet or given your dog as a treat, but should not be the only thing you feed your dog.
We have become a very convenience oriented society. We are busy and often stressed by the demands of earning a living and raising children. It is so much easier to pour food out of a box or open a can (and even then we’d rather have ring-pull cans) and we can fall into the trap of living on autopilot and feeding our animals and our families food that is of poor nutritional value and that can actually be a health hazard.
Let’s switch back to manual control and pay attention to what we are doing. Our family – both four legged and two legged members – will look and feel better and even if they don’t thank us, we’ll know who they have to thank.
