What Should I Feed My Dog? Tips and Guidelines to Ensure a Healthy Diet.
Just like other dog owners, we at The Woof Club want to do our best for our four-legged friends. One of the most difficult topics we’ve wrestled with, has been that of, “what should I feed my dog?”
How can you eat that?
Dogs don’t necessarily make the best choices if left to their own devices. Research shows that smell (the stronger the better) and then texture (preferably soft), is more important than taste, when it comes to dogs choosing their dinner. Dogs have a much more sensitive sense of smell than we humans but have less taste buds than us. (1,700 compared to 9,000 in humans). A dog’s taste buds are concentrated around the tip of his tongue, so once the food is in his mouth, the taste really doesn’t matter! The dog’s sense of smell will tell him a lot more about what he is eating than his taste buds will. A dog s taste is limited to specific things; sweet, sour, bitter and salty, and they don’t have the variations of flavours that we do, which probably explains why a dog can happily snack on cow pat!
Commercial Dog Foods
There are so many options to choose from and the large dog food manufacturers spend a small fortune on advertising to convince us to choose their brand. Many of these advertisements are aimed at our emotions and are often short on facts – let’s face it, there is a huge amount of revenue at stake, for these guys. In 2020 the value of the European market alone is set to reach a staggering 27,216 million Euro.
What is an Animal Feed Grade Ingredient?
Basic commercial dog food is easy to feed and relatively cheap. It is made with animal feed grade ingredients, which are actually mind bogglingly disgusting. It comes dry in bags or wet in cans. Dry food contains 6–10% moisture by volume, as compared to 60–90% in canned food. These ingredients, already not fit for human consumption, are then baked at high temperatures and pressures and forced through an extruder or sealed into a can. This high temperature processing denatures some of the nutritional elements of the food and so essential vitamins and minerals are added into the mixture. These are less well absorbed by the dog and the high temperature processing reduces the nutritional values. The food, particularly the dried food, is so unpalatable that artificial colouring and flavouring are added just to get a dog to eat it. These supplements continue to degrade during the long time that the food is stored in the supply chain.
Value for Money or Not?
We tend to think that if something is expensive then it has to be good quality, right? Once we took what we had learned about dog health and nutrition and began to understand how to interpret the information on the label we realised that this is not necessarily true. We spent some time looking into the nutritional requirements of canines and the commercial dog foods we were feeding, and we completely changed our ideas and our pet’s diets.
Should I Cook my Dog’s Dinner Myself?
At the other end of the spectrum from the commercial dog food is home-made dog food. As the name suggests, you prepare your dog’s meals using human grade foods and following the nutritional guidelines for feeding canines. Having tried this ourselves we found that, unless you have the necessary educational background it is stressful to define a consistent balanced diet and on top of this it is very time consuming to prepare. We struggled along, preparing our own dog food but with 6 dogs in The Woof Club Pack it certainly wasn’t easy.
Our Recommendations
As we looked for reputable suppliers for our Subscription and Present Boxes we kept our eyes open for a way to feed our dogs that had the advantages of dried food ( quick to prepare and consistent in content), with the nutritional and health benefits of a home cooked dinner! And we are happy to say that we have found an exciting dog food manufacturer whose food we now use at home and that we would like to share with you. We have tried and tested a selection of their dog recipes and now feel comfortable to promote them in our online shop range.
Natura Diet from Dingo Natura
We recently started to sell a small selection of Natura Diet dog food from Dingo Natura. We have the grain free range for puppy and adults, plus the 7+, puppy and adult maintenance Iberico and Rice standard diet. Yes, it’s a dried dog food but that is where the similarity ends between this food and the majority of other commercial dog foods. Dingo Natura is a Spanish manufacturer whose values have not changed since its conception in 2001. They use 100% natural, GMO-free ingredients that are sourced from eco responsible suppliers. They use organic and locally sourced products and free range meats and fish from sustainable sources. The recipe ingredients are mixed, sealed and either simmered at low temperatures for a long time or steamed to keep in all the goodness.
Mihms from Dingo Natura
If you prefer to feed a wet food then the Mhims brand from the same manufacturer is perfect! Again it is a complete and fully natural food made from human grade ingredients, vaccum sealed and simmered in their own juices with no added water. They look and smell delicious! We include the Mhims Puppy food in our Puppy Welcome Boxes and have had really positive feedback from our customers.
How Can The Woof Club Help You?
We hope that we’ve provided you with an informative guide to what we think is best to feed your pet and why. We would love to hear your comments! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us by submitting a form online or sending us an email at woof@thewoofclub.ch .
Why not also check out our guide to what a good dog diet should contain
If you own a cat, we offer our recommendations for natural and healthy cat foods too! Read our guide to what can i feed my cat that is natural, healthy and fits into a simple feeding routine.