5 tips for choosing the right nutrition
The foundation for your pet's health lies in what you find in their food bowl. Healthy and high-quality nutrition provides a good basis for the health of your loyal four-legged friend. But what exactly is healthy nutrition? Below you will find 5 tips for the search for healthy food.
1. Natural dog and cat food
Go natural. Natural food is free from artificial fragrances, colors, and flavorings. These artificial fragrances, colors, and flavorings can sometimes cause skin and coat problems in your dog or cat.
Moreover, adding these artificial fragrances or colors adds no nutritional value. These substances are only added to make the food more appealing to the owner.
Click here to get acquainted with natural food for your dog
Click here to get acquainted with natural food for your cat
2. No, or as few as possible, allergenic ingredients
This includes products like wheat gluten, soy, or pork.
Soy in particular is an ingredient you’d rather not see in dog and cat kibble. Soy contains various substances that can negatively affect the absorption of minerals like magnesium and iron. It is also rich in purines, which negatively influence the acidity of urine; this increases the chance of bladder sludge or stones.
Wheat gluten, soy, and pork are often linked to allergic reactions in dogs or cats. This is one of the reasons why you should avoid these ingredients in pet food.
3. No animal by-products
If you find the ingredient “animal by-products” in the composition, choose another food—one where the actual protein source is specified, such as venison, chicken, or lamb.
Animal by-products are parts of an animal left after slaughter when the meat for human consumption has been removed. This can include feet, skin, organs, or feathers. These ingredients are of lower quality than the meat itself (except for the organs).
Another disadvantage of animal by-products is that you don’t know which animal protein sources are included; it could be chicken, beef, lamb, etc., but you don’t know exactly from which animal the products come.
4. Low grain or grain-free
At Prima Diervoeding, we believe that dog and cat food should contain little or no grains. Grains can cause food intolerance or allergies in your dog or cat. By avoiding this ingredient in food, you eliminate the chance of a grain-related food allergy or intolerance.
Another reason to avoid grain-rich food is related to the amino acids it contains. Dogs and cats obtain essential amino acids (those they must get from food because their bodies cannot produce them) from their diet. Animal protein sources contain more essential amino acids than plant proteins, in this case, grains.
5. Meat as the 1st ingredient
Ingredients in the composition are listed in decreasing quantity. This means the first ingredient listed has the largest share in the food, and the last ingredient naturally has the smallest share.
In tip 4, we already mentioned that animal protein sources, meat, contain more essential amino acids than plant protein sources. For this reason, we prefer to see meat as the 1st ingredient in dog food.
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