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Choosing Dog Food:Look At The Back Of The Box, Not Just The Front |
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Written by Jolie Mitchel
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Thursday, 01 May 2008 |
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Sometimes I envy my dog. While I'm busy juggling the day's unending problems, he's enjoying a good nap or exploring this, that, or the other thing. What he isn't telling me is that I might spend a little more time taking his needs into account, including making sure he's getting proper nutrition.
by JolieMitchel
Sometimes I envy my dog. While I'm busy juggling the day's unending problems, he's enjoying a good nap or exploring this, that, or the other thing. What he isn't telling me is that I might spend a little more time taking his needs into account, including making sure he's getting proper nutrition.
The bottom line is we want our pets to be around, and more so healthy and happy. Their health and well-being will leave as much time for fetch and tail chasing as possible. So It really suites us all to do all we can. That being the case we need to occasionally ask, "How does your dog food brand compare?" in addition to "why do you like chewing my socks so much?"
Maybe you're one of those folks who enjoy researching the nutritional comparisons between brands of food. Most of us aren't and it takes a kick start to get us into doing what really is a very important task. Determining as best we can which brand is better for you pet as compared to other brands. The pet food manufacturers will certainly put their best face forward, actually a happy pet's face, on their labels to entice you to buy their brand. Best you look at the back of the box though and see what's actually inside.
Most pet food labels contain a wealth of information, some of it required by law. But it's up to us to take the time to figure out the importance of the various ingredients in terms of our pet's well-being. You'll want to take into account such factors as your pet's weight and age and perhaps even it's breed in comparing between brands. A petite dog may have trouble chewing or digesting food intended for a very large dog.
It should be mentioned at this point that a good dog, is in much need of two other things to be successful at his job: Love and Play. Be sure that as your doing all this information gathering you don't forget to go toss the ball a few times and express the gratitude you have to this friend who walks you around in life.
It's very rewarding to just sit back at times and watch your dog attend to it's very important daily chores. Scratching, sniffing, digging, barking and a host of other activities. Dogs even seem happier when they know you're watching them even though they may be ignoring you or at least pretending to. Just spending a little time watching your pet is reward enough for the effort you take in maintaining it's health and well-being.
So by now you have probably figured out some of the criteria for what your little fiend needs. So, How does your dog food compare? Where was it made and what does it have in it? Is it best suited for your pets weight and age? Are there any symptoms of dog food allergies that you're aware of?
So now when you walk down the dog food aisle, past all the boxes with each box showing a happier dog than the previous box, you'll have a pretty good idea of which brand is a good one for your best friend. Don't forget some treats from time to time. Like table scraps, don't overdo it with treats, just give your dog a couple from time to time as a "treat". By the way, table scraps aren't a very good idea, both in terms of nutrition and in terms of ending up with a chronic beggar at the dinner table. Treats don't cause this problem and are generally healthy.
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