As a dog owner, you want to make sure your best friend is getting all the nutrition they need to maintain optimum health. However, there are dozens of types of dog food on the market, and trying to figure out which is truly the best for your pet can be overwhelming. How can you choose the “right” one?
What Goes Into Making The Best Dry Dog Food?
When it comes to finding the best dog food for your pup, there isn’t a one size fits all solution—each dog has unique dietary needs and preferences. There are also factors that affect you, such as storage needs, convenience, and cost, that you will need to consider. While thinking about these things, you will want to focus on three points concerning food quality to make your final decision: finding a trustworthy brand that uses high quality, natural ingredients, and is scientifically proven to deliver health benefits to your dog’s health.
Brand Trust
To determine if a brand is trustworthy or not, consider the fact that there is no legal requirement for pet foods to be veterinary or nutritionist formulated or approved. A company that believes in the quality and safety of its product will always go above and beyond the basics when it comes to ensuring that their product is of the highest quality nutrition with an unsurpassed commitment to food safety. Great ways to determine each company’s commitment in these areas include:
- How long have they been crafting pet nutrition?
- Do they have in house veterinarians, food scientists and animal nutritionists?
- Do they do additional feeding studies and scientific research to demonstrate the safety and health benefits of their food?
- Do they share nutritional details of their food including nutrient profiles?
- Do they have a consumer services team of experts ready to help answer your additional questions?
- Are they veterinarian recommended?
Natural Ingredients
Natural ingredients are essential-you don’t want to feed your furry friend a bunch of junk food! When reviewing the ingredient label, you want to see high quality ingredients, ingredients you can recognize and want to feed your pet while avoiding any fillers, by-products or artificial ingredients. A high-quality protein should be the first ingredient in your dog’s food, such as chicken, beef, lamb, or fish. Quality dog cuisine will have ingredients listed prominently on the bag. You should be able to easily see what is in your pet’s meals!
Backed By Science
The recipe that makes up your dog’s food should be backed by nutritional science and shown to have proven outcomes that benefit your canine companion. Only a few companies undertake robust scientifical research on all their diets so determining which brands are and aren’t scientifically proven can be challenging. High quality brands, such as Wellness, will demonstrate to pet parents the scientifically proven benefits through their communications that their recipes deliver 5 signs of Wellbeing: healthy skin and coat, optimum energy, healthy teeth and bones, healthy digestion, and immune health.
Best Dry Dog Food Options For Puppies
If you are shopping for a puppy, you need to ensure that the brand you select for them will be properly supporting their growth and development to prepare them for a long healthy life. Puppy foods have more nutrients, including fat and calories, per kilogram than adult dry dog food to account for their rapid growth so selecting the right nutrition is essential for your pup’s success. The best puppy food brands will be nutrient-dense, with antioxidants and vitamins to support their developing immune systems. They will contain DHA, an essential fatty acid that is key for brain development. Prebiotics and probiotics will keep your puppy’s gut healthy and their digestion flowing smoothly. Small kibbles will be more puppy-friendly, but keep in mind that requirements for puppy food vary depending on breed size. Your chihuahua puppy, for example, should be provided with food for toy breed puppies, while a Newfoundland pup will benefit from puppy food targeted for large breed puppies. These variations allow for the appropriate nutrient density, kibble size, energy needs and unique mineral requirements to make sure each puppy receives the food they need for proper growth and development.
Best Dry Dog Food For Senior Dogs
As your beloved pet ages, you want them to maintain their optimal health for as long as possible. You can help them do that with customized food that is formulated for senior pets. As with large breed dogs, joint support additions for mobility can often be one aspect of this. Another consideration is immune support, an area that usually declines with age. Additives such as L-carnitine can support a lean body condition and fatty acids help a healthy skin and shiny coat. As your pet becomes more sedentary as they age, they may also benefit from some calorie management (or simply a reduced portion), but very old dogs may require additional caloric intake to maintain their physique, as weight tends to decline with advanced age.
Best Dry Foods For Large and Small Dogs
Small Breeds
Just like puppies, adults, and seniors, large and small breeds have different dietary needs. Small breed dogs generally have a higher metabolic rate, expending energy at a faster rate than larger dogs. This means they require additional nutrient supplementation from their food in the form of varying proportions of carbohydrates, fats, and calories compared to typical or large-breed dog food. Like puppies, the kibble size for small dogs is more suited to their needs, also helping with portioning and weight management.
Large Breeds
On the other hand, large-breed dogs have unique needs as well. They need food capable of sustaining their larger bones and muscles and heavier bodies over the long term. Although large breeds are bigger in stature, they have lower energy needs per kilogram than small dogs. However, they require other things from their foods. For example, you will want to choose a kibble size that is compatible with their jaw size so they aren’t simply inhaling their food. Another consideration is joint support, such as glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate to help protect joints from wear and tear over the long term. Coupled with calorie control for weight management, these joint nutrients are an excellent tool to keep your large breed dog active and mobile for many years.
Best Dry Food For Allergies and Sensitive Stomachs
If your pup has food allergies or a sensitive tummy, there are still healthy food options available for them. Wellness CORE & Wellness Complete Health offer grain-free recipes specifically designed for puppies, small breeds, and large breed dogs, delivering focused nutrition to avoid common pet allergens.
Maintaining A Healthy Weight
Maintaining an appropriate body condition is an essential part of your dog’s overall health. Obesity can damage their joints, cause digestive issues, and even lower their life expectancy. Of course, food plays an essential role in weight control. A dog that needs to lose weight must consume fewer calories than they burn, so you will need to look for a food designed for weight management or reduce portions. Protein supports healthy muscle growth to promote your dog’s activity, and joint support from food can help overweight dogs establish and continue a healthy movement routine.
Tailored Pet Food
One of the best ways to ensure your dog’s health—no matter the size or age—is by using Wellness Pet Food. Wellness is a scientifically proven brand, made with natural ingredients that are veterinarian recommended. Each recipe is carefully crafted by a team of experts to meet the dietary needs of each dog regardless of their age, life stage or unique health needs. With Wellness, you will discover the 5 signs of Wellbeing for health benefits that you will see, and your pet will feel. Share a life of wellbeing together with Wellness.