Your health and your dog's health are both significantly impacted by what goes in your mouths. This probably has more of an impact on overall health than any other factor since proper nutrition allows the body to fight off or eliminate many diseases and disorders. Unfortunately, as a society, we are still very ignorant when it comes to being aware of what is actually in the food we are consuming. We are even more ignorant when it comes to what our dogs are eating.
When choosing the food we will feed our dog it is important not only to see that their are specific nutritionally rich ingredients, it is also important to avoid ingredients that are harmful to our dog's health and well being.
Dog Food
The most obvious ingredients that can be harmful in dog food are chemical preservatives such as BHA, BHT, propyl gallate, and ethoxyquin. Unfortunately, in a dog food comparison, you will still find these chemicals in many dog foods. These are cancer causing toxins that can be very harmful to your dog over time.
Sweeteners are another harmful additive. There is no good reason to add sweeteners to dog food. They add no nutritive value and can cause, or aggravate, other health problems in your dog.
Other dog food ingredients that seem appropriate on the surface may also be harmful to your dog's welfare. Check to ingredient label carefully when comparing different dog foods and be aware that the names of ingredients are often misleading.
For instance, meat by-products may seem like a reasonable ingredient, but often includes parts that have been condemned. It also may include parts that are difficult to digest such as feet, heads, ligaments and feathers. Meat meal is another misleading term that refers to meal from bones, etc. that are difficult to digest and provide very limited nutritional value.
Animal fat is another term that seems reasonable but is really just a generic term referring to fats that may have come from restaurant grease, renderings, beef tallow or oils that are deemed too rancid for human consumption. If fat is included the source should be named, such as beef fat, chicken fat, etc.
Fragmented foods, such as wheat bran, corn products, etc. should also be avoided as they are difficult to digest and often provide an unbalanced source of limited nutrients. These types of ingredients are typically a waste product from another food manufacturing process that the dog food manufacturer can buy at low cost.
As you can see there are a lot of considerations when comparing dog foods, not only to make sure it has good nutritional ingredients but also to make sure it does not have harmful ingredients. Remember, your dog's health depends on it.
Dog Food Comparison - Ingredients to Avoid Dog Food
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