Dog Food

Last week, while I was having a meeting with my mentor, Mrs. Stoklosa, she gave me the idea of learning about ingredients in dog food. She told me that she was planning on changing her dog's diet to all human food, because there are many dog food brands that are not as healthy for dogs as you may think. Well I have heard about dog food not being too healthy for dogs, but I never really looked into it. So this week I thought I would do some research on it, and what I found was that the dog food we buy at the grocery store isn't always as good for our dogs as we think.
There are two types of dog food, kibble and wet dog food. Wet dog food is the more natural of  the two, consisting of fresher ingredients which are then steralized and packaged. Dry dog food is made of a mixture of  animal by products (scraps left over in slaughter houses) and fillers, such as corn and grains, then dried through a process, sort of like baking. It is then sprayed with essential nutrients and fats before being packaged and shipped off to be sold. Although the wet food would seem to be the healthier choice, price plays a factor on what type or brand of food would be healthier for a dog. In most cases the more expensive the dog food the better quality it will be...but in reality, nothing beats a homemade meal.
There are many animal by products put into dog food, that are deamed unsuitable for human consumption, and there are many dog food brands that contain high volumes of protein and sodium, along with fillers that are unable to be digested by dogs and have no real nutritional value, but just give your pet a feeling of being full.
The best choice of food for your dog is real human food, but in order to give your dog this type of diet, you should first make sure you have done research. There are many types of food that are healthy for dogs to eat, such as mangos, watermelon, oatmeal, and beef. But there are also many foods that are very unhealthy and possibly life-threatening for dogs such as grapes, chocolate, coffee, and bread. Now I know most people are going to continue to give their dogs store bought dog food, but it is important to look at the ingredients of your dog's food and know exactly what your dog is eating.

To learn more about switching your dog to an all human diet and what types of food are healthy or not for your dog, check out these sites:
http://www.thedogbowl.com/PPF/category_ID/54/dogbowl.asp
http://www.moderndogmagazine.com/articles/10-people-foods-dogs/1896
http://dogtime.com/giving-people-food-to-dogs.html