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What is the best dog food, Barf Diet, Dried Dog Food, Wet Dog Food,
Semi - moist, canned food, fish, vegetarian, cereal, scraps ?
See What’s in dog food for some alarming research on dog food
BARF DIET
The Barf Diet (Biologically Approved Raw Food) is much favoured being a natural food for dogs as it contains only raw natural materials. Colloquially known as Bones And Raw Food it is made up from raw meat, raw bones fruit and vegetables, very much the diet dogs ancestors ate in their natural environment. Most pet foods contain a long list of additives, preservatives and grain products. The BARF diet should contain fresh whole raw food rich in vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids derived mostly from human edible ingredients. Meat and offal can be sourced from your local butcher or sold pre-packed from most pet shops. It is usually labelled as Mince, Tripe, Free-flow Tripe (minced tripe), Chicken, Lamb, Beef etcetera.
During the fifties and early sixties there were far fewer choices of pet food. A good many dog owners would often feed their dog with scraps from the butcher and the left overs from the family meals. I believe this diet was far healthier for dogs than the processed dog food offered today.
natural raw dog food
FOOD CHOICES
Commercial dog foods come in a variety of forms. The most common types are dry, semi-moist, and canned. The moisture content of these foods ranges from 6 to 10 % for dry, 15 to 30% for semi-moist, and 75% for canned.
Most canned food has relatively more fat and protein and fewer carbohydrates than does dry and semi-moist food, and generally contains much higher levels of animal products.
Pet food labels must list the percentage of protein, fat, fibre, and water in the food. When reading labels, it is important to remember that what may appear to be a big difference in the amount of a nutrient— for example, 8% protein in a canned dog food vs. 27% protein in a dry dog food—reflects the fact that there is more water in the canned food.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND FEEDING DOGS PROCESSED FOOD
Processed meat contains Nitrites or Nitrates which can increase the chances of cancer by 20% Source www.cancer.org
left over scraps
DRY DOG FOOD
How dog food is made...
It may come as a surprise to you that the vast majority of complete dog foods never see the inside of an oven. They are made using a process known as extrusion. This process cooks the food using friction. The raw dough is forced at high pressure through a long barrel and then chopped into pieces at the end using a rotating knife. The main benefit of this process is that it is very fast and allows manufacturers to make large quantities of food very quickly. You will be able to identify an extruded food by its regular ‘kibble’ shape and by its greasy texture.
Betty Miller is one of the few pet food bakeries in the world that actually bake a complete dog food in an oven. Their process is simple. They mix natural ingredients together into dough, cut it into shapes, bake for 15-20min and leave to cool. Their food has natural smell, taste and texture. They do not need to fat coat the product to make it palatable to your dog. Its naturally very appetising, and uses only simple healthy ingredients.
Go to Links Page for important information on processed dog food.
Why baking is better than extruding
Both processes are different methods of achieving the same thing; a tasty cooked complete food for your dog to eat. The cooking processes differ greatly in their results. Baking is a much slower process typically taking 15-20min whereas extruding takes 2-3min. This speed is critical in terms of how the cooked food will taste. The high temperatures and friction cooking needed to extrude dog food remove much of the taste from the product. Manufacturers know this, and to make up for it they spray the products in an extremely tasty oily coating, which is why these types of product are very greasy to touch .
This is in contrast to baking which slow cooks the ingredients together – after all would you prefer oven roasted chicken to micro-waved chicken? It’s the same with oven baking dog food – natural taste and natural aromas from the cooking process so there is no need to coat an oven baked dog food in fats to make it feed. A dog will be able to smell and taste the actual ingredients within the product itself.
I recommend and stock Betty Miller and Naturediet dog food
SEMI-MOIST DOG FOOD
I recommend Naturediet as the best of the semi-moist dog foods. Made from 60% meat, vegetables and rice to meet a dogs dietary needs. Available in Lamb, Chicken, Rabbit &Turkey, Fish and Sensitive-Salmon. The range includes Adult -Senior-Puppy/Junior.
Naturediet Complete Dog Food
I feed my dogs Nature-Diet, Raw Chicken (human grade), Sardines (supermarket own brand) . I also add organic vegetables from my garden. My dogs also enjoy apples*, plums and banana. Extra biscuits or treats are from the Betty Miller range. My dogs are healthy, active and very happy. I know I am providing the best natural goodness to meet their needs and requirements. * apple pips are toxic to dogs
Understanding dog food labels: The 95% rule means that any product that consists of primarily of meat, such as beef, chicken or lamb, should have a name that identifies the meat. This usually applies to wet dog food.
The Dinner rule is used for both wet and dry dog food and it is always seen with some form of "dinner" in the product name. So a "Beef Dinner
for dogs" usually means that over 25% but less than 95% of the ingredients is beef.
With rule: When you see the word "with" in the product name, you know that the "with" represents 3% of the total ingredients. So "Rice with Lamb" means that there is only 3% lamb in the total food and the main ingredient is going to be rice.
"Flavour" rule: The last rule is when you see the word flavour in a product name. This means that there is only enough of the meat to add flavour to the food but it doesn't offer any nutrients. In fact, many times, flavour is added by using by-products and meals.
Grapes, raisins - all vine fruits
Alcoholic beverages
Chocolate
Yeast breads
Macadamia nuts
Pear pips
Kernels of plums
Peaches Almonds Cherry Apricots
Apple core pips (contain cyanogenic glycosides resulting in cyanide poisoning)
Potato peelings and green looking potatoes
Rhubarb leaves
Mouldy/spoiled foods
Yeast dough
Coffee grounds, beans & tea (caffeine)
Hops (used in home brewing)
Tomato leaves & stems (green parts)
Broccoli (in large amounts)
Raisins and grapes
Mistletoe
Tobacco Cigars Cigarettes
Avocado
Salt
Baking Soda
Baking Powder Nutmeg
Sugar-free foods (sugar-free foods containing Xylitol have been found to cause liver failure in some dogs) or sugary foods
Beer/wine/alcohol of any kind (alcohol of any kind could lead to coma or even be fatal).
Green parts of tomatoes
Citrus oil extracts
Human vitamin supplements containing iron
Marijuana
Mushrooms (most types)
Only 3 grams of Xylitol (found in sugar free chewing gum) is enough to kill a 65lb dog and QUICKLY!
Please pass this warning on to everyone you know who has dogs. It may just save a life. When one considers that a person may be stung by a bee or pricked by a rose thorn and may suffer only discomfort, yet another could suffer seriously and may even die!
Dogs are natural scavengers, dispose of waste wisely