Wednesday, October 21, 2009

5 Additives That Could Be Poisoning Your Dog - Dog Health Food Is A Great Alternative

 


5 Additives That Could Be Poisoning Your Dog – Dog Health Food Is A Great Alternative

Dog health food isn't just a luxury anymore if we want our
best friends to be as healthy as possible. It's not just
human food that is full of additives and fillers. Often
the leftover food that has little or no nutritional value
is being put into our dogs food. Here's 5 of the top
things to avoid in the food that you're giving to your dog.

1. Generic Fats And Proteins

If we want our dogs to eat well, why would we even consider
giving them food with "animal meat' as a primary
ingredient? Would you buy `animal meat' from the
supermarket and serve it to the rest of your family? I hope
not!

Generic meat can hide all manner of substandard animal
parts that you wouldn't knowingly give your dog. So to
keep using the cheapest parts they label them with a very
vague term like animal meat. This could always be a nice
cut of meat, but let's face it, if there was beef in the
food, they'd be labeling that way, not `animal'.

While it's true that dogs in the wild would eat just about
all the parts of an animal. Not too many wild animals
would have concentrated growth hormones and pesticides in
their organs. We've all heard of things like roadkill and
pet bodies being put into our dog's food, but we're never
quite sure. There's a whole bunch of nasty things that can
be put in under the term `animal' so it's probably the most
important thing to avoid in your dog's food

2. Corn Or Wheat Gluten Meal

These are cheap by-products of the human food industry that
have been put into dog food. These forms of protein are
incomplete for a dog so they aren't put in there for the
dog's dietary needs, just because it's a cheap way to fill
out dog food. This is also a handy little rule of thumb to
judge the quality of the rest of the food. Either of these
ingredients is a pretty good indicator that the food is
going to be poor quality overall. There's also a higher
chance that there's cheap but toxic preservatives and
additives in there too.

Rice and soy protein concentrate are slightly higher
quality but still have the problem in that they're
incomplete proteins. For a dog's nutritional needs there
is a vast difference between a pant protein and a meat
protein

3. Meat By-Product Or Digest

These are usually parts of the animals that are considered
unfit for human consumption. Why would we want to feed to
our dogs something that we wouldn't even consider? Quite
apart from that, usually those parts aren't eaten because
they are places that toxins concentrate within the body.

Some by-products may be listed as fit for human
consumption, but unless this is specifically stated it's
pretty safe to assume that it's no good.

4. Ethoxyquin

This is a cheap and commonly used preservative that extends
the shelf life of the dog food by stopping the fat from
going rancid. However this particular preservative has
been banned for human consumption and has also been linked
to many pet health problems.

There have been many cases of dogs developing skin and coat
problems from having foods containing Ethoxyquin added to
their diet. Conversely it has been noted that within days
or weeks of stopping the consumption of foods containing
Ethoxyquin, serious long-term health problems have cleared
up. And this is just the most researched effect of
Ethoxyquin, with plenty more possible nasty side effects.

5. Too Many Grains

While some grains are actually a good source of minerals
for dogs, often there's far too much of them to be healthy.
Grains can fill out the bulk of the food without meeting
the nutritional needs of your dog.

Grains and grain by products are often the waste from the
production of human food and although there is a certain
amount of protein in grains and cereals, it really isn't
the same as animal proteins. Meat is the type of protein
that dogs will get the most nourishment out of. Grains on
the other hand are not something that dogs would be eating
the wild and so their body has a hard time digesting it
properly. This leads to them overeating because they're
not getting enough nutrients but at the same time getting
too much in the way of carbohydrates that they can't deal
with. This often leads to dogs getting obese.

With all the sneaky labeling on commercial food, knowing
about dog health food is really a key component to giving
your dog the very best. Giving them the best possible
nutrition is vital and will add years to their life and
they'll be much more healthy and have more energy. It's up
to us to get educated and give our dogs what they really
need for the best nourishment.

About the Author:

Did you know that not being aware of what goes into your
dog's food could be making them sick and could even rob
years from your best friend's life. To find out exactly
what goes into dog food and how to make your own delicious
dog health food, subscribe to our newsletter, chock full of
great tips to make your dog's life a long and healthy one.
Click here http://www.dog-health-food.com

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