The diet of any living being should be adjusted to a few simple parameters:
- Cover the nutritional needs of that individual, as belonging to an animal species with specific requirements.
- Ensure that the food eaten is composed of a balanced and varied mixture of suitable ingredients and of the best quality.
- Ensure that the ingredients are composed of the required nutrients , also of high quality, for the correct functioning of the animal’s organism.
- Allow the simple conservation of the food and its comfortable administration .
- Ensure that the price of the daily ration is adapted to our possibilities without for that reason going to the detriment of the needs of the animal.
If we consider it carefully, achieving a full in obtaining the previously mentioned parameters can be either quite simple (commercial foods), or a real ordeal (new food trends).
commercial food
At present, it is practically impossible to find foods in specialized stores or veterinary clinics that can cause relevant health problems for the animal that ingests them.
Legislation on food safety not only affects human nutrition, but is also of great importance in animal nutrition, which ensures that our life partners are eating, at least, what is strictly necessary for the proper development of their vital functions.
Commercial foods are subjected to a multitude of tests, assessments, analytics… From the ingredients used, to the final food.
That is why one of the safest ways to feed our dog is choosing, accompanied by professional advice, a food that meets the points listed at the beginning of this article.
Fortunately, the extensive offer of brands, presentations, nutrients, absence or presence of certain ingredients, assures us a more than adequate offer of food in a very wide range of prices.
It is evident that what is desirable is to provide our best friend with that food recommended by the professional that adjusts to our economic reality.
elaborate foods
Some time ago, among others, the option arose of preparing diets at home, with fresh, natural ingredients… (as if the ingredients of commercial foods were rancid, prefabricated…) with a greater contribution, at least supposedly, of affection , from the love of effort and vigilance in the preparation, foods that are supposedly closer to the original needs of the animal, or foods that are more in line with our philosophy of life… ours, not that of a non-rational carnivore.
Dogs are carnivores, not strict carnivores (can feed on other ingredients/nutrients) but carnivores.
This does not mean that, as some diets recommend, dogs should be fed mainly, solely, exclusively, primarily meat, fish, viscera…
What it means is that the animal’s diet must have as main nutrient, NUTRIENT, not ingredient, PROTEIN.
A protein, better of animal origin, although there are foods with a perfectly balanced and adequate supply of vegetable protein, and in the percentage indicated by the age, condition and activity of the animal that is going to ingest it.
The Barf diets, the Paleo diets, the vegan diets, are options that in one way or another appear in the interaction of the human with the familiar canine, but they are diets that, unless they are prepared by professionals (they would no longer be food prepared at home and yes commercial diets) can open the door to a huge number of risks for the following reasons:
- The meat does not have carbohydrates.
- Meat is low in calcium and vitamins A and D.
- Fish has the same deficiencies as meat.
- The liver, and other viscera, can cause a serious addiction that will lead to hypervitaminosis A , with vomiting, loss of appetite, dermatological problems (hair loss), joint pain…
- The contribution of raw meat, fish or viscera can be the origin of serious parasitic pathologies that can also be transmitted to humans.
When we think about feeding our good friend, let’s be clear that he is a living being different from us, with his specific needs , and that if we want to show him our love by way of the belly, let’s offer him a daily portion of the best commercial food that the professional recommends us and suits our economy.
