How to choose dog food?

There are many varieties of dog food on the market, but the more choices there are, the more difficult it becomes. Maybe many dog ​​owners are confused about what kind of dog food their dogs should eat. For most pet owners, safety, health and deliciousness are the criteria for choosing dog food.

1. Pay attention to the arrangement of dog food ingredients

Many dog ​​foods come in different flavors, such as “beef flavor”, “chicken flavor”, etc. Ingredients in professional pet foods are listed in descending order of weight. If chicken ranks first in the label list, it means that chicken is the main ingredient in the dog food and its content is higher than other ingredients. Therefore, when purchasing, be sure to pay attention to the ratio of each ingredient in the ingredient list. If a certain type of dog food says "chicken flavor", but chicken is not listed first in the ingredient ratio on the back of the package, then it is It turns out that the chicken content of this dog food is not too high.

Dogs with sensitive skin can choose dog food with a high chicken content, such as chicken and rice flavor. Generally, dog food with this flavor is less irritating and will not cause allergies; while muscular dogs can choose dog food with a high beef content. Build strength.

2. Meat ingredients can be identified

Meat is the main ingredient in dog food. Although each brand of dog food is marked as containing meat ingredients, there are still differences.

To distinguish the "purity" of dog food, you can do a small experiment: first prepare several brands of dog food, several bowls filled with water, and a microwave oven; then, soak the dog food in the bowls and put them in the water. Heat it in the microwave for two minutes; after heating, open the microwave door and you can feel that some dog food emits a meaty aroma. People with a good sense of smell can also smell whether it is beef or chicken, but some dog food has a meaty smell. Not pure, even a little pungent.

Through this small experiment, you can accurately choose the food that your dog likes.

Food pays attention to color, aroma and taste, and the same goes for dog food. Usually, dog food comes in green, yellow, red and other colors. Some of these colors are natural pigments, and some are artificial pigments. Try to choose dog food that does not contain pigments. Natural pigments are not a bad idea. As for whether the pigments contained in dog food are natural, you only need to observe the color of the dog's stool.

3. Identify dog ​​food in English

The raw material item should contain at least one kind of fresh meat, preferably of human consumption grade. Pay special attention when reading this content. For example, chicken means chicken and chickenmeal means chicken powder. Some dealers willMeat meal is intentionally mistranslated as meat to confuse the qualities of the two. Meat meal is dried animal tissue after oil extraction, which is essentially different from fresh meat.

Try not to choose dog food with vague raw material descriptions, because it means that the raw material varieties are unstable or the source is unknown. According to the standards of the American Feed Management Association, the highest grades are Meat (pure meat) and Poultry (poultry meat), followed by MeatMeal (meat meal) and PoultryMeal (poultry meal).

When selecting, the first ingredient must be MeatMeal (meat meal) or PoultryMeal (poultry meal) or above, rather than grains, because the protein provided by meat is much higher than the protein of grains. If the dog food contains meat by-products (By-products), do not consider it, it may be scraps.

IV. Pay attention to bulk dog food

Many people choose bulk dog food because it is cheap. But there are some tips for buying bulk dog food.

First of all, it is not advisable to buy too much bulk dog food at one time. Consider that dog food also needs to be fresh so that your dog can eat healthily. Because bulk dog food is not packaged, its production date cannot be confirmed. In addition, dog food is often exposed to air during the sale process, which will accelerate its deterioration. Therefore, it is recommended to buy small amounts and multiple times, and pay attention to the smell and gloss of the dog food when purchasing.

Second, pay attention to the container. Many small stores just use bags or big buckets to store dog food. Such containers are poorly sealed and not hygienic enough. If you choose a professional bulk container with a high-strength sealing effect, the freshness of the bulk dog food will be better.

Key points to add:

1. High-end dog food has full particles, darker and uniform color, and feels oily from the inside out. Most low-end dog food has uneven particles, lighter and uneven color due to production processes, raw materials, etc., making it appear dry. In order to make the dog food look better, some manufacturers apply a layer of oil and pigment on the surface of the dog food.

2. After opening the bag of high-quality dog ​​food, you can smell the natural fragrance, which will make the person smell it. However, low-end dog food usually uses chemical additives, so it will have a pungent smell after opening the bag, such as strong flavor.