What your dog eats may be the difference between five to 10 years based on a report published by the American Journal of Veterinary Research. In this report, cancer was found to be a prevalent cause of non-accidental fatalities in canines. As a result, vitamins and nutrition are just as important for dogs as they are in humans.

Just as the human diet impacts one’s health, your dog’s food plays a key role in their life expectancy. Low-budget dog foods contain many indigestible ingredients and as a result, your beloved pet is not consuming the best nutrition. Despite what the label leads you to believe, the percentages of nutrients found in economy dog foods provide lower-grade proteins with fewer energy values.

As a result, any traces of nutritional elements are passed through a dog's digestive tract without absorption. In almost all cases, in order for a dog to obtain adequate nutrients, a dog would need to have supplemental vitamins added to their food, the most recommended vitamins are those made for the specific breed in which you own, products like these can be found online at places like DoggyVitamin.com or from quality pet stores. Premium quality dog food offers better absorption rates of quality nutrients, but supplementation will still be needed for optimum amounts. Humans can not get all of their vitamins from one type of food and neither can your dog.

If you notice a lack of energy, arthritis type symptoms, skin itching, etc, this may be a sign of a vitamin deficiency.

Dog Food Nutrition Tip: To ensure that your dog will get the best nutrients from the food you feed it, remember to review the ingredient details. Eggs, meat, fish or any kind of meal with fish or meat should be at least the first or second ingredient on the label.

Because meat, fish or eggs have a high biological value, they are associated with a high percentage of protein. Therefore, the dog food offers both usable amino acids and digestible sustenance.

Questions and Answers

I’m a first time dog owner. I have a chocolate lab. When it was a puppy, I fed it the food its veterinarian prescribed. As he approaches 12 months, I’d like to know what to look for in a dog food?

Alice – Tacoma, WA

Answer

If you want to maximize the life expectancy of your canine, healthy dog food is a good place to start. Primarily, review all the ingredients printed on the back of the dog food packaging. By law, Pet food labels are mandated and require a listing of ingredients according to weight.

Additionally, only consider dog foods that contain egg, fish, meat, or any meats with meal (fish meal or meat meal). The protein ingredient should not be buried at the bottom of the list. In fact, it should be one of the first or second ingredients. Your dog requires foods that are digestible, packed with protein and beneficial amino acids, meat, fish and egg are vital nutrients.

Next, you may want to compare the Guaranteed Analysis. The information can also be found on the back side of the bag. A chart will detail the percentages of each ingredient contained in the dog food. The Guaranteed Analysis does not account for the amount of moisture in dog food. Obviously, all dog foods are comprised of different moisture. For instance, canned canine food may contain as much as 80 percent of moisture; while, dry foods have only 6 percent.

You may want to read up on Dry Matter (DM) foods for your dog to learn which is best. However, your dog’s veterinarian will determine how much moisture is recommended for your pet. But whatever you do, transition the new dog food slowly by first mixing it in with your dog’s current food. In addition, you should always add a vitamin designed for your dogs specific breed such as those made by Pawstive Health. All dogs are clearly different and their nutritional needs can not be met by a one size fits all dog vitamin.