Adult Dog Feeding
In adulthood, as well as in the weaning phase, the right nutrition of the dog cannot disregard the correct evaluation of his state of health and lifestyle.
In fact, subjects that live mainly in a temperate climate, confined within the domestic walls, have - for obvious reasons - lower nutritional requirements than dogs that spend most of their time in the courtyards outside their homes.
The examination of the daily energy and nutrient requirements will be addressed in the second part of the article. Here we will limit ourselves to giving some simple suggestions on the correct habits to adopt in terms of canine feeding.
Industrial power supply
Those who choose industrial nutrition consider important advantages such as practicality, ease of use and storage, low cost, convenience in the case of travel or travel, speed of meal preparation and the possibility of using foods formulated according to the nutritional needs of their dog (breed, state of health, lifestyle etc.).
From a nutritional point of view, pet food (English name for dog and cat food) can be divided into:
- complete food, able to satisfy the entire daily nutritional requirement;
- complementary food, which provides a limited range of nutrients to satisfy only a part of the animal's needs;
- dietetic food, important in the diet therapy of pathological affections of different nature (diabetes, obesity, cholecystopathies etc.), for which a correct diet represents an effective support in the treatment of the pathological situation itself.
Croquettes or Bocconcini?
From a practical point of view, however, dog food is traditionally divided into:
- dry food, if its moisture content is less than 10-12%; this category includes croquettes, puffed rice and other mixes of cereals to supplement meat;
- wet food, if the moisture content is between 68 and 78%; this category includes products based on pieces of bite or meat patè, classically presented in metal tins;
- semi-moist food, if the moisture content is between 15 and 30%.
The low humidity of dry dog food reduces costs and problems of transport, packaging and storage, with a considerable saving for the consumer (up to 70% and more compared to morsels).
The croquettes are even more hygienic and their quality, once opened, does not change; thanks to chewing - with continuous massage of the gums and teeth, and cleaning of the same by rubbing - they are also better for the health of the dog's teeth. However, if these are already in a bad state, the animal obviously tends to prefer softer food.
The palatability of the croquettes is certainly not comparable to that of the meat morsels, which are increasingly being given as a simple "sop", a sort of extra delicacy to put on top of the croquettes from time to time.
Especially in the use of more voluminous products, such as puffed rice and cereals, it must be remembered that the nutritional intake is always a function of weight and not of volume; therefore, to dose industrial foods it is a good rule to help yourself with the balance.
Homemade croquettes
The advantage of preparing kibble for dogs at home is that of being able to carefully choose the ingredients and the relative proportions, to satisfy the nutritional needs of our four-legged friends.
So don't miss the video recipe: Dog Croquettes with Meat and Vegetables
Croquettes for Dogs with Meat and Vegetables
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Before moving on to the analysis of solid home-style food, we list the most important factors to consider when buying a pet food for dogs.
Price
This element is certainly influenced by the qualitative characteristics of the raw materials used, but also by the costs incurred for transport and possible importation, search for an optimal nutritional formula and coverage of the marketing area (advertising, colors and forms of packaging and feed).
As with products intended for human consumption, high prices are not always synonymous with quality, and vice versa.
Quantity per portion
It represents the effective yield, that is the quantity of food indicated by the producer as necessary to cover the nutritional needs of the dog with each meal.
This is a relevant parameter in choosing a dog feed, to be taken into absolute consideration whenever the prices of two products are compared.
For example, a hypothetical product A (net weight 1 kg, cost 5 euros), which indicates a dose per portion of 250 grams, is less convenient than a product B (net weight 1 kg, cost 7 euros), which indicates a dose for portion of only 150 grams.
Quality of raw materials and analytical standards
As said, the only way to evaluate the quality of an industrial dog food is to read the label with the analytical levels and the ingredients of the product with patience and attention.
WE LEARN TO READ THE LABEL
In fact, if the facade is pure marketing, the information on the back represents the identity card of the product. Unfortunately, reading and compressing the label can be difficult, especially for non-experts. So let's have a brief list of the most important quality identification criteria for a product.
- Please note that the individual raw materials are listed in descending order in the list of ingredients. This means that the first ingredient of the list is predominant compared to the second, which in turn is compared to the third and so on. Given that cereals cost much less than meat, a food that includes this ingredient at the top of the list should cost much less than a richer one with meat. Note however the widespread tendency to "break up" the cereal into its parts (bran, starch, flour, gluten, etc.), so as to spread the quantities on more ingredients and then leave the first place to the meat.
- What meat? In general it is preferable that the wording "meat of ..." rather than "meat and derivatives" is clearly indicated on the label.
Furthermore, animal proteins are more digestible and nutritious than vegetable proteins, such as wheat or soy. These last protein sources, however, complete the nutritional profile of the food by providing the right doses of essential fatty acids. Over the past few years, fish protein products such as salmon, which are important sources of essential fatty acids from the omega-3 series, have become increasingly common.
- Another trick (in addition to the splitting (or division) of the cereals), adopted to make the meat appear first in the ingredients, is to indicate it under the word "fresh meat". The latter, unlike the dehydrated one, is in fact very rich in water; for obvious reasons, this feature significantly affects the weight of the ingredient compared to that of vegetable flours.
- The following directives, which regulate the wordings printed on the label, can still protect the consumer in choosing the most suitable product for his dog's needs:
- "Lamb-flavored food" or "lamb aroma" = less than 4% meat;
- "Lamb food" or "with lamb" or "contains lamb" = meat contained not less than 4%;
- "Food rich in lamb" or "extra lamb" = meat contained from 14 to 25% lamb;
- "Lamb" = meat contained more than 26% lamb;
- "All lamb" = contained meat 100% lamb.
- If the caloric intake per 100 grams is not present on the label, this can be easily calculated using the following mathematical formula (protein grams x 3.5) + (carbohydrate grams x 3.5) + (fat grams x 8.5).
- The carbohydrate content, not always present on the label, can be calculated by subtracting from 100 the quantities of fats, proteins, fibers and ashes (or the individual minerals listed by quantity).
- The digestibility and the biological value of a protein source are all the greater the higher the proportion of muscle contained, while they decrease as the concentration of tendons, cartilage, bones and collagen increase (all scraps of the human food industry generally absorbed by that of products for dogs).
