When you are looking for high quality dog foods, and in particular dry dog foods, you need to be really diligent about looking at the ingredients that are included in the food. In fact hypoallergenic dog food solves many problems when you are looking for a very good quality food.
The next item that should get your full attention is the preservatives or lack of preservatives that are used. The manufacturing process for dry dog food in particular requires baking at high temperatures.
When this takes place many of the preservatives used can under go a change in their chemical makeup. Generally this is not for the better. There are studies that claim when high heat is applied to the preservatives they can become very harmful to a dog’s liver and kidneys.
The best dog foods do not use corn, wheat, soy, dairy, or bone meal. These are all considered filler items that are used to bulk up the food. They are also designed to make the dog feel full and yet they lack vital nutrients and vitamins.
Fillers are mostly carbohydrates and dogs in a natural wild state would not eat very many carbohydrates and their digestive systems are not designed to handle large amounts of carbohydrates. The end result of consuming these can be the development of food allergies and other illnesses.
The best dry foods will have little or no fillers. Their main ingredients will be salmon, organic chicken, lamb or venison. Brown rice and fruits will be used as the carbohydrates. They will also have very little in the way of chemical preservatives. The natural preservatives are vitamin A and vitamin E. Foods preserved with these however have a much shorter shelf life and can become spoiled much sooner that foods that use artificial preservatives. For the best results buy the less preserved food and shop more often for it. It maybe inconvenient but it will vastly improve the quality of your dog’s food. And check out the hypoallergenic dog food isle.
There you have it, look carefully at the ingredients, the preservatives and the protein sources that are used in the dry dog food and then make your choice. There are many good brands on the market and many misleading labels.