How to Choose the Best Food for Your Pet
Guest Writer: Dixie Somers
Choosing an appropriate food for your pet can be an overwhelming decision. Pet supermarket shelves are filled with a variety of brands, flavors, types and formulas. While you might think that your pet is happy to eat anything, a little more consideration should be put into choosing the food they eat every day. How to choose the best food for your pet can be simplified if you keep a few important factors in mind:
How to choose the best food for your pet
Species Factors
Commercial pet food manufacturers formulate their foods specifically for different species of animals. As a responsible pet owner who is interested in providing the right nutrition for your pet, you should avoid using cat food for dog food, rabbit food for cat food or any other type of crossover feeding. Each species has specific nutritional requirements that may not be met by other types of food. You could do serious damage to your pet’s health by feeding it a food formulated for other species of animal. If necessary, budget your pet food requirements more carefully and look for bargains online or in larger containers.
Size and Age Factors
Young, developing animals require greater nutrition and more frequent feedings than older animals. In addition, finding the correct size of kibble is important so that the animal can consume the food easily. Choosing wet or dry food is a personal taste and can depend on the needs of the animal. Make sure you keep these age and size factors at the forefront of your food decisions.
Special Nutritional Needs
Some animals develop food allergies that can cause vomiting, diarrhea, skin rashes or other health problems. For these animals, you may have to try a number of foods that are known to be less allergenic. The change in ingredients can often provide relief for allergic animals. Animals with kidney problems or other medical conditions may require special formulas of food to provide nutritional support for their condition.
Be Cautious With Homemade Foods
Making your own pet food can ensure the quality of the ingredients your pet is receiving, but owners must take special care to understand the nutritional needs of each species of pet. Foods that may look and sound good to humans don’t necessarily have the right amount of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals that the animal needs. Without these critical components, you may be putting your pet at risk for bone problems, heart disease or kidney problems. Pet owners should do thorough research on pet nutrition and speak to their veterinarians about an appropriate formula for their pet.
Pets depend on their owners to make the right choices for their needs. When choosing pet food, it is important to remember that high-quality ingredients in a food that is appropriate for your specific type of pet will provide the right nutrition to keep him or her healthy throughout their life.
The information for this article was provided by the veterinarians in Cincinnati, OH at the Animal Care Center of Forest Park.
How to Choose the Best Food for Your Pet
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GUEST AUTHOR BIO: This article was written by Dixie Somers, a freelance writer who loves to write for women’s interests and the home niches. She lives in Arizona with her husband, three beautiful daughters and a spunky Jack Russell Terrier who makes life interesting.
OTHER ARTICLES BY DIXIE:
- 4 Things First Time Dog Owners Need
- Animal Allergies : 5 Helpful Things Pet Owners Should Know
- Tips on Breed Choices When Getting a New Puppy
- Pregnant Cat? 5 Ways to Make Her Feel More Comfortable
5 Ways to Keep Your Dog off the Couch. #dogTraining Click To Tweet
A QUESTION FOR YOU: Do you allow your dogs to get up on the furniture? If not, how did you train them not to?
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So do choose which food get your pets. I have feeding my dogs Iroy dog food seem like it a lot better then Beneful both my dog has skin irritate. So I am try Iroy dog food seem they are not digging as much now like they where before.
I have learned quite a bit about proper nutrition for my furdoggy through crossposting and advocating on facebook and my company, shown above.
There are a lot of pros and cons on home food.
Thanks for your comment, Ann. I’ll be checking out your site. 🙂
I do , love all God creation, and Thanks for getting back at my comment,,,, and I surely will be visiting again 🙂
Awesome, Dorothy. Peace
I was glad to stumble upon this article because I am always thinking did I buy the right food for my pet or the pets that I baby sit for and yes sometimes I do make homemade treats for the pets but I do check a vet to make sure its ok for them ..
It sounds like you really care the the pets that are in your care. Thank you for taking the time to read this post, and I do hope you’ll come back again. 🙂