As a responsible pet owner, you should be careful about what you feed your pets because their health depends on it. Pets require specific nutrients and vitamins to remain healthy. Feeding your pets with properly balanced diets helps prevent them from getting sick while improving their overall quality of life.
While deciding on the right food for your pets may be challenging, consulting your vet for an accurate evaluation of the pet’s dietary wants can be an excellent option. When buying pet food, consider your pet’s age, nutritional requirements, the ingredients, pet’s weight, and more. This article outlines five things you should know about your pet’s food.
Pet food ingredients
Pet food isn’t just about the brand selling it, but more of what it contains. While some foods are made from 100% natural ingredients, others contain chemicals and preservatives that animals shouldn’t ingest. Before settling on any specific food, go through the ingredients and consider the nutritional value they’re offering to avoid feeding your pet something unhealthy, or that could get them sick. Your goal should be to find brands that meet your pet’s nutritional requirements.
Some healthiest ingredients to look for in pet food are meat, quality carbs, healthy fats, probiotics, prebiotics, and calcium. You’ll also find foods containing food coloring, but your main question should be, is food coloring safe for dogs? You can ask your vet or read online resources.
Food freshness
When looking for a suitable diet for your pet, consider its freshness. Fresh food is full of life and has natural enzymes, amino acids, probiotics, minerals, and vitamins in the most natural state possible, making them easy to digest and assimilate. The freshest food will have the most bioavailable nutrients. This means the antioxidants in the listed fruits and vegetables will be digestible and intact in raw food than in canned food or dry kibble. Even if you decide to give your dog dry kibble, you can add fresher foods like fresh or frozen raw food, healthy table scraps, and more.
Rotation feeding
Rotation feeding is about variety which is crucial in your pet’s diet. It’s a holistic, nutritional philosophy offering pets a dietary alternative by varying food proteins and food forms. This ensures your companion enjoys and experiences various textures and flavors. Rotation feeding gives you a complete approach to nutrient intake, increases water consumption, reduces the risk of intolerances and allergies, and adds excitement to mealtimes.
Pet food feeding guidelines
There are many pet feeding guidelines, and the best way to choose one that suits your pet’s needs is to consult your vet or research. To determine how much food to feed your pet, consider their age, activity level, weight, and health condition. Based on these factors, your vet can help find the best for your pet and the suitable amount to feed them. You can also find feeding guidelines on the food bag label.
Keep treats within your pet’s nutritional guidelines
You should give treats to your cats and dogs sparingly. The best approach to help you with this is to rely on your pet’s daily calorie allotment to determine the number of treats your pet should get. Consider choosing healthy treats to avoid exceeding the caloric target.
Endnote
Food is vital for your pet’s health and happiness. Familiarize yourself with the things you should know about your pet’s food to take charge of their diet.
