When you plan meals for yourself or your family, generally you will focus on providing a nice variety of healthy, high-quality meals. This will be more enjoyable, and bring with it a variety of health benefits. However, when it comes to dogs, it is very common to feed them the same generic, low-quality food every day.
This is despite the fact that dogs get the same benefits from a healthy and varied diet as humans do. The dog food you buy is not just a way to keep your dog full until their next meal; it provides them with a lot of the essential nutrients they need to live a happy, active life. If these are not present, your dog’s quality of life will suffer.
The health benefits of high-quality dog food are clear. The first comes from feeding your pet the protein they need. Dog food is almost certainly going to be made from meat, however if you read the label of many low-quality brands you will see ‘meat byproducts’ listed instead.
These are the parts of animals deemed too unsavoury for human consumption, ground up into your dog’s food. The problem is, these are not just saved for dog food because they are unpleasant; they also don’t contain as many nutrients as high-grade meat.
Specifically, meat byproducts are much lower in protein and healthy fats, and higher in unhealthy fats. These are often then bulked out in poor-quality dog foods with wheat or another grain. This is not good for dogs either, as their digestive systems are not designed to handle high levels of carbohydrate.
The overall result of all this is that your dog will not have very healthy muscles or digestion, and they will often experience ‘energy spikes’ due to the carbohydrates where they have a lot of energy after eating, but then end up being sluggish for the rest of the day.
Instead, you need to feed your dog a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet with plenty of high-grade meat. This might seem like it will be difficult, but it is actually remarkably easy. Frozen dog food is readily available, and is often comprised of premium meat that will be excellent for your dog’s health.
You should be able to see the health benefits of this in your dog. For one thing, they should be more active rather than sluggish. The high levels of protein in a premium meal will give them a constant level of energy, rather than the hyperactivity followed by a crash that comes from a high-carbohydrate diet.
You should find that their digestion is healthier as well. This can be most keenly observed if your dog suffers from vomiting, constipation or diarrhea, both of which can commonly be caused by poor diet. High-quality dog food can clear these conditions up with little issue.
In the long run, your dog will usually have a much healthier old age if they have been fed a good diet throughout their life. Food that is high in protein, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats will help your pet avoid the problems with joints, eyesight and digestion that can plague certain breeds as they get older.
For premium brands, including high-quality frozen dog food, click here.
