Enter a keyword below to search for articles and products.
When it comes to dog food, good nutrition is as important to your dog's health as it is to your own. But his nutritional needs are quite different from yours! In general, while a human diet should be high-fiber and low in fat, a dog needs more fat (for energy and a healthy skin and coat) and less fiber (for good intestinal health).
Even if you prefer a vegetarian diet, designing a high-quality dog diet without animal protein is difficult. IAMS™ Company research supports that meatless meals do not provide optimal nutrition for dogs. Dogs are best fed as carnivores because they have simple stomachs and short intestines that are ideal for digesting animal protein and animal fat. Dogs also need carbohydrates for energy.
With thousands of different pet foods available, how do you pick the one that's right for your dog?
Start by identifying the dog's life stage and lifestyle. Puppies, nursing mothers, and mature pets are examples of life stages. And each one has different nutritional requirements. All dog foods must state which life stage they are recommended for.
Nutritional needs also vary depending on lifestyle. A dog whose primary activity is guarding the couch doesn’t need as much energy as one who guards a flock of sheep. Another factor to consider is breed size: small, medium, or large.
Finally, consider any special medical condition your dog might have, such as food allergies, that might require your veterinarian to recommend a special diet.
Once you've determined your dog's life stage and lifestyle needs, you need to decide whether to feed dry or canned food. Most dogs do well eating only dry food. Dry foods, such as IAMS ProActive Health™ Adult MiniChunks, promote oral hygiene for healthy teeth and gums through abrasive chewing action. Some dogs, especially finicky eaters, enjoy wet food because of its smooth, wet texture.
It's important to remember that, while dry food can be left in a bowl all day, wet food should be thrown away after 30 minutes if not consumed. So, dry food is the best choice for busy people who are not normally home during the day.
Once you know your pet’s nutritional needs and your pet's preference, you are ready to go shopping.
Ingredients are listed in descending order according to weight. Because dogs thrive on animal-based diets, it's best to pick a food in which the first ingredient is an animal-based protein source, such as chicken, lamb, fish or egg. Unlike a single vegetable-based protein source, such as soybean meal or corn-gluten meal, these ingredients contain a full complement of essential amino acids.
Scientific studies show that using a combination of carbohydrates in the diet, such as corn meal or barley and grain sorghum, offers optimal carbohydrate digestibility and helps maintain energy levels.
Scientific studies also show that beet pulp, the material remaining after sugar is extracted from sugar beets, is an excellent fiber source and promotes a healthy digestive tract.
For a glossy coat and healthy skin, your pet needs fat in the diet. Good fat sources include chicken fat and fish oil.
Dog-food labels provide limited information about the nutritional value of the food because labeling regulations do not allow manufacturers to describe the quality of ingredients on the package.
A reputable pet food manufacturer will be able to explain to you their specific methods for evaluating and assuring the quality of ingredients used in their products.
When choosing food, the price on the bag, while important, is usually not the best consideration. A low price might indicate inexpensive ingredients, or ingredients that change as market prices fluctuate.
Also, many lower-priced products have higher daily portions to provide the same amount of nutrition found in a high-quality diet. To get a better representation of value, it is the cost per feeding, not the total cost, that counts.
To figure cost per feeding, divide the total cost by the number of days the product lasts. For example, a 20-lb bag of food costs $18.99 and lasts 30 days. The cost to feed is $0.63 per day. A 20-lb bag of food that costs $15.99 and lasts 20 days costs $0.80 per day. So, when costs are analyzed properly, high-quality pet foods compare quite favorably to other brands while offering outstanding nutrition.
Here are some signs of health to look for in your dog:
Fiber is important to your dog's health, providing bulk to move food through his intestinal tract. Some types of fiber can be fermented (broken down by bacteria) in the intestinal tract. This process creates short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), which are a key energy source for the cells lining the intestinal tract.
Most people are aware of fiber and its role in their diet. The beneficial effects of higher fiber levels in humans influence the way many people think about their own food—and their pets’ food. As a result, some pet-food manufacturers began to think like human nutritionists and make high-fiber diets for dogs. But high-fiber diets and the shorter digestive tracts of dogs don't always mix well. High fiber levels in dogs can cause digestive problems and interfere with proper nutrient absorption. Unlike humans, dogs are carnivorous, meaning their nutritional needs are better satisfied with meat rather than with plant materials.
For more than 60 years, pet nutritionists at IAMS™ have been studying diets to better meet the special nutritional needs of dogs. IAMS research shows that the optimal crude-fiber level for healthy dogs ranges from 1.4 to 3.5%. At these levels, nutrient digestibility is maximized.
An important characteristic of fiber is its fermentability, or how well it can be broken down by the bacteria that normally reside in the dog's intestine. This breakdown of dietary fiber produces SCFAs that provide energy to the cells lining the intestines. Different types of fiber vary in fermentability.
Fiber sources used in pet foods include cellulose, which is poorly fermentable; beet pulp, which is moderately fermentable; and gums and pectin, which can be highly fermentable.
Research has shown that moderate levels of moderately fermentable fiber, such as beet pulp, provide the benefits of energy for the intestinal lining and bulk without the negative effects of excessive stool or gas.
High levels of poorly fermentable fiber are used in some weight-reduction pet foods to dilute the calories in a serving. IAMS research found that this is not a good practice because high fiber levels can decrease the digestibility of other nutrients in the food and, therefore, can reduce the nutritional quality of the diet. You might also see more poop piles in the yard because of the indigestible fiber.
The key thing to remember about dietary fiber is that your dog's needs are not the same as yours. A moderate level of moderately fermentable fiber, such as beet pulp, provides proven nutritional benefits for dogs. Diets containing high levels of poorly fermentable fiber to dilute calorie content do not provide these nutritional benefits.
All IAMS products, including IAMS™ ProActive Health™ Adult MiniChunks, are formulated with optimal levels of moderately fermentable fiber to promote a healthy intestinal tract and enhance the well-being of your dog.
