The Truth About Healthy Pet Foods

Most pet owners are in constant search for healthy pet foods. More than that, they want to try and find the healthiest possible pet food they can feed their pets. Sadly, however, this can be a big challenge. Most of the pet foods we give our dogs are so full or preservatives and additives that you can't be sure if it's really still healthy. Actually, you're pretty sure it's unhealthy. Commercial pet foods these days are like what a can of SPAM is to humans: tastes good, but full of junk!

Ideally, your dog should have a diet of 75% meat, 20% vegetables, and 5% other foods. This is more or less what is prescribed in the healthy dog food pyramid. A diet with these proportions is well balanced. Unfortunately, most pet foods do not provide these proper percentages in their mixtures. Many of them contain more wheat and grains than meat, and their vitamin components are added supplements instead of being natural vitamins derived from the food.

In order to see whether or not what you are feeding your dog would belong to the realm of healthy pet foods, you will have to read the ingredients list and check out the nutrition facts to see how much of each vitamin, protein, amino acid, or carbohydrate is really found in the food. Remember that most pet food packaging will not tell you the percentages, rather they will give you amounts per serving. So you will have to do some calculating yourself.

What's more is that you will have to check the ingredients of these supposedly healthy pet foods to make sure that quality ingredients are being used. Never feed your pet anything that uses by-products. Also, never feed your pet anything that lists “chicken meal” as a first ingredient and then followed by grains, wheat, and by-products. This means that though there is chicken meal in the food (which is good), there are probably more fillers, and the company is just hoping you focus on the chicken meal.

In truth, the best of the healthy pet foods is a natural raw dog food diet. This is the type of diet your dog would have received in the wild, and it is genetically tailored to what they need. With this diet, you will know exactly what goes into your dog's mouth because you've prepared it for them. You won't have to wonder what this ingredient does, or what that chemical component may have an effect on because there will be no mystery ingredients or unnatural chemicals in your dog's diet. Just pure healthy food that will make them happy!

Many pet owners do not want to switch to a raw feeding diet because they are afraid of the amount of work that goes into raw feeding. Luckily, however, the raw feeding community has responded. There are now ready to buy raw food products that you can give your dog. These are different from commercial dog foods because they are preserved naturally, either through freezing or specialized dehydration. What's more is that many of these companies deliver right to your own home!

So now you have no excuses. Say yes to healthy pet foods and yes to raw feeding! You will never regret it when you see how healthy and happy your dog has become.