Premium Dog Food – Choices to Chew Over
Quality of Dog Foods
Feeding our beloved furry friends is becoming more and more confusing nowadays. Supermarket shelves are stocked high and wide with a colossal range of big brand dog food products. Every one offers a particular nutritional benefit, leaving us consumers lost at sea when it comes to picking the best for our pets.
In the past couple of decades the quality of dog food has dramatically increased. This is largely due to the influx of premium dog food, which contains a higher standard of ingredients, using quality meat which offers a more nutritious, healthy and balanced diet for our dogs.
Choosing to provide your dog with a premium option provides them with immeasurable health benefits. The diverse selections of brands available promote specific aspects of pet health, ranging from strengthening joints to improving muscle endurance.
A particularly good brand that offers a broad range is one of the UK’s biggest Premium dog food companies Purina Pro Plan. Their products provide a fantastic variety of foods, both in its flavours and its specific benefits for individual dogs such as helping sensitive teeth. Their products are developed with veterinarians and nutritionists in order to provide the best benefits and cater for every dog’s individual need. Recent studies have also found that Purina Pro Plan is the market leaders in palatability.
However, broad range does not necessarily make the best products. A popular brand of premium dog food with a neat selection is Arden Grange, an independent, family run company. All of their high grade ingredients are sourced from sustainable local farms, avoiding any artificial preservatives, and providing nutrition such as omega-3 and vitamin D. They are a popular choice among customers due to their independent nature and conscious animal rights ethics.
A more affordable option available in the Premium market is the well known brand Bakers dog food. Despite its pricing it still offers fresh, tasty, meaty ingredients as part of a healthy, balanced diet. Their range is split into specific age groups, so you can accurately choose the food your dog needs.
There is a great selection available out there, but making a decision about which brand you choose all depends on what benefits you want your dog to get, and more importantly, what your dog needs.
The Seriousness of Dog Obesity
Dog Obesity
Excess weight can significantly shorten a dog’s life expectancy compared to a dog with a healthy weight. This will have a negative impact on your dog’s happiness, wellbeing and overall quality of life.
According to the makers of the high-quality nutritional Burns dog food, the easiest way to tell whether a dog is healthy or overweight is to inspect the ribcage. If the ribs can be felt easily and clearly, then the dog is healthy. If the rib cage is not clear, then the dog has excessive amount of fat stored and is obese.
A lot of dog owners do not realise how easy it is for pampered pets to put on weight as there can be many contributing factors. The most obvious (like with people) are not enough exercise, overeating and too many treats or snacks. However, dogs can also be prone to weight gain after being neutered as it alters their metabolism and also, the less active dogs are in their older age, the fewer calories they need. Certain breeds, including cocker spaniels and Labrador retrievers are actually more susceptible to weight gain than other types of dog.
Sometimes though, weight gain is associated with certain medical conditions that require particular treatment.
It is a sad statistic – up to 50% of all pets in the UK are overweight or obese, and is likely that most will suffer with health problems unrelated to age or breed, but purely because they are too heavy.
If you are reading this, there is a very high chance that your pet is over-weight. One of the first things you need to do is find the right diet to get your pet on track. Hill’s prescription diet weight management products are renowned throughout Europe and come highly recommended from vets.
Royal Canin dog food may also be recommended by your veterinarian or it could be a food that you begin to feed your dog yourself although it should be fed under advice from your veterinary practice. Royal Canin obesity management and satiety support diets are highly palatable, complete diets for adult dogs which are for use during weight reduction. They ensure that lean tissue is preserved during weight loss, protein requirements are met despite restricted calorie intake and there is beneficially increased satiety.
