Your Dog’s Diet: 3 Things You Need To Remember

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Diet is everything to us humans, but sometimes we can almost neglect the importance of our canine friends' diets. And this is hardly surprising when you take a trip down the dog food aisle. There are numerous options when it comes to your dog's diet and therefore it can benefit us all to understand the fundamentals of a great dog diet.

The Contributing Factors

Every dog is unique, and therefore you must bear in mind the following:

• Their size. The size of your pup will impact the food you purchase. Smaller breeds will require smaller portions that are proportionate to their mouths and tummies, but larger dogs are going to need more sustenance in the form of high protein dog food and larger portions. 
• Age. Dog food is formulated in part to support different parts of your dog's life. For example, puppies need more fatty acids to support their development, whereas other dogs will benefit from glucosamine and antioxidants to support their joints and fight inflammation. 
• Health concerns. If your parent is struggling with a disease or cannot maintain their weight, you will need to find the right diet to support these problems.

Understanding the Ingredients List

We put our trust in providers to always bring good foods to our pets, but sometimes, products can be more than unhealthy! When you look at the ingredients panels, you've got to ensure the proteins are listed, but also look for by-products or fillers which are not nutritious in the slightest and will not guarantee a complete diet. There are a few ingredients that are big no-nos, including:

• Propylene Glycol. This is the main ingredient of antifreeze. 
• Butylated Hydroxy and Butylated Hydroxyanisole. These are synthetic preservatives that may potentially produce tumors. 
• Artificial colorings. We have artificial colorings in human food, and a lot of it is a marketing scheme to make the food more pleasing to us. Artificial colorings are pointless for your pet because they do not care about the color of their food.

Removing The Wrong Habits

One of the biggest problems we all have as pet owners is falling into bad habits and thinking we can get away with them. Your dog will love to eat whatever you give them and this is because your dog doesn't know any better. Therefore, it's our responsibility as pet owners to ensure they have the right habits. 

There are some particularly bad habits that we all know we shouldn't fall for when it comes to our diet, and therefore we must remember that a dog's diet is similar to humans in a number of ways. So make sure you remember the following: 

• Do not give them table scraps. Table scraps from our foods are usually seasoned or unsuitable for our pets. 
• Don't give them junk treats. It's far better for you to ensure that you are establishing those solid habits at the outset by reducing junk. 
• Do not overfeed. Naturally, this will make them gain weight. And while you may be walking them every day, the fact is that you need to stick to routines and habits that will benefit them in the long run.