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Nutrition/Feeding
In scientific studies, dogs fed a raw diet or quality kibble lived years longer than dogs fed a popular pet store brand of commercial pet food. The variety of these brands does not matter, as they are all the same thing with the ingredients in a different order.
The cheap food is laden with chemicals and animal by-products. Stay away from pet foods that have any by-products or chemicals with such long or disgusting names that they need their own acronym or that contain wheat, soy, beef, corn, or animal fat, or meat meal or meat and bone meal.
Number one, all “animal fat” or “poultry fat” will damage the pancreas and is a leading cause of diabetes in animals. However, purified chicken fat is fine.
Number two, wheat, soy, and beef cause allergies in several dogs, and corn is hollow, high calorie filler with no nutrition to a canine, and when feeding something like corn to a dog’s system, all those calories add up on the scale and cause obesity. The first ingredient on the list of ingredients usually is about 70% of the food. And if corn is the first ingredient, then 70% of the bag is corn! In the wild, dogs don’t search out a corn field and set to eating 70% of their meals. Corn is not for dogs! The corn takes the place of more nutritious ingredients, therefore requiring that you feed 2 or 3 times as much cheap food as you would a good food. Rice or potatoes are much better starches since those calories are available to a dog’s system, and since the corn’s calories are not available to give energy, it is stored as fat. The dog gets fat and seemingly lazy, but really he is getting almost no energy in the form of available starches in his food.
The only reason you would feed your pet some low-quality food is the low price, however, seeing as you have to feed him so much for him to receive adequate nutrition, it is more expensive in the long run to buy the cheap food, plus cheap foods will eventually kill your dog!
Number three, the reason they call it “meat meal” “meat and bone meal” “poultry fat” or “animal fat” is that they don’t want to tell you what kind of animal the meat meal, meat and bone meal, animal fat, or poultry fat comes from. Several very popular pet food brands take euthanized dogs and cats and make them into meat and bone meal! And, when they euthanize dogs and cats, the shot they give them is an overdose of anesthetics. The anesthetics survive the processing and get into your beloved pet’s food. Not only that, but they do not even bother to remove the nylon collars, brass or steel identification tags, or the plastic bags these dead animals are put in. They will do the same thing with ROAD KILL! Poultry meal or poultry fat is often the meat from diseased, cancerous, or spoiled chicken or turkey. And the few times that they specify the type of meat or fat being used, it is almost always meat that is diseased, cancerous, spoiled, or for some other reason is deemed “unfit for human consumption”. And diseased, cancerous, rotted meat that is not edible to humans does not become nutritious for dogs. Brands such as Taste of the Wild use only human grade ingredients and their preservatives are different sources of vitamin E and C, not chemicals. Because you have to feed twice as much cheap food as you would a quality food, the $10 you save on generic food is not worth it. The cost aside, you would also have to scoop twice as much, and also, you need to know that feeding cheap food can shorten your dog's life by YEARS!!!
To judge a food, don't just look at the pretty picture on the front. Find the ingredient list and search it for these ingredients: Corn (or corn gluten meal, or any other phrase using corn.), meat meal, meat and bone meal, animal fat, poultry fat, poultry meal, beef, soy, wheat, by-products of chicken, beef, or any other type of meat.
We feed Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream formula kibble. It is grain free, byproduct free, and is made entirely from human quality ingredients, including salmon, which is excellent for dogs with allergies, and is also great for the skin and coat. It is for all life stages, but we prefer to feed a quality puppy food until the age of 1 year, because it has higher levels of protien, fat, and carbs to promote growth. We use Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover's Soul puppy food. It is also byproduct free and is made entirely from human quality ingredients. It is not grain free, but it uses excellent grains such as millet and oatmeal, which are fine. Also, if you have an adult dog who is underweight, this puppy food is an excellent choice. The extra protien, fat, and carbs in puppy food will help get your dog to a proper weight. Be careful not to end up with a fat dog! If your dog tends to lose weight again when switched back to the Taste of the Wild, you may want to go to Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul adult dog kibble, because it is not grain free and has a higher level of carbs to keep your dog at a healthy weight. Also, they have lite dog food for overweight dogs and a senior formula. Visit their website here.
Now that you know what to feed your dog, here is how much and how often.
For a puppy: After you bring home your new puppy, offer them as much food as thay want, 3 times a day. Measure how much is eaten for a few days, and that is the approximate amount to feed. To make sure the amount is correct, do a weekly "rib check". Run your hands over your puppy's ribs and see how she feels. If the ribs stick out and bump along under your fingers, she is too thin. Offer her some more food. If you can barely feel the ribs and they are buried under a deep layer of fat, your puppy is too fat. Slightly decrease the amount of food offered.
For an adult: Continue the weekly rib check, adjusting food amounts as necessary. Most adult Westies require about 1/2 cup of kibble 2 x a day, but this is just a guideline. Some may need two daily meals of up to 3/4 cup of kibble, and some may even need the amount decreased slightly.
If you have a particularly picky pup who will only eat canned food, make your own. When you buy canned food, you are paying for a pretty label and a whole lot of water. Put some of your puppy's kibble in a blender or food processor and mix it until it is a fine powder. Put the powder in a jar. When you need to feed the puppy, remove some powder from the jar and mix it with enough water to make it the consistency of canned food. Dogs can't tell the difference, and it is a lot cheaper. |
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