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The Importance of High Quality Dog Food

Our “A” litter was born 6/1/2013. By now all of the pups feeding dog people food should be in the 40-50lb range and eating 4-6 cups of high quality puppy food each day.

It can be heartbreaking to see a dog eating anything other than a high quality dog food. Too often people treat their pets as people and think they are doing them a favor by feeding them people food. This leads to brittle bones, digestive problems, pancreatitis and more. Vets typically understand this but don’t always stress this enough.

Eating poorly affects some breeds more than others. In large breeds poor nutrition will lead to a variety of problems such as hip displaysia. German Shepherds can get pancreatitis easily from a poor diet.

Puppies need good nutrition. The first 24months of a dog’s life are vital while they’re developing. Dogs need a variety of minerals and vitamins to properly develop both physically and mentally.

Some people feed their dog table scraps often and they think the dog is fine. It seems happy, is eager to eat its food, and this makes the human owner happy and feel like they’re doing the dog a favor. Then when their dog dies prematurely, they chalk it up as a coincidence. It is not.

Most dogs will do anything for their owner. They are head over heals in love with the owner and see them as part of the pack. When you purchase or adopt a dog it becomes your responsibility to care for the animal. If you’re going to feed it table scraps every day, you can, but understand this is a form of animal abuse. Imagine if you were a toddler and someone withheld from your diet all the essential amino acids, calcium, minerals, vitamins, etc that you needed to develop mentally and physically, and then at age 45 you had bad hips and organ failure. Who would be to blame for this?

If you do want to “spice up” your dog’s food on occasion, please read up on the subject. 2 or 3 times each month, I may add something to their food to make it more interesting, but only if it is grain free, low in fat, and mixed in with their supper. I’ve personally used a tiny bit of cooked chicken (no fat) in their food once in a while. When we cook salmon, I’ll save oil, or skin, or even some salmon for their food. If they are having some digestive issues, I’ll supplement their food with a spoonful of pumpkin. While a girl is pregnant or nursing, we may use small doses of egg, cottage cheese or yogurt as a probiotic, but only as directed by the vets at NCSU. One treat we give them from time to time is peanut butter, and if you rub it on their nose and let them try to lick it off it is hilarious.

If you “spoil” your dog (that is a terrible term for it) with people food, they may not want to eat their dog food. Not eating enough will be bad for them.

  • The best thing you can do for your dog is feed them a quality dog food. A good one will easily run $1.50 – $2/lb. These contain a well balanced diet.
  • The next best thing would be cheap dog food- they have very bad ingredients and are significantly cheaper but are not as bas as people food.
  • The worst thing you can do is feed them so much people food they lose interest in their dog food. You will have problems with your dog, I personally guarantee it.

I hope nobody finds this a rant by a dog fanatic. I’ve tried to word everything as pleasantly as possible, but it is a very serious matter. If you care for your dog, please feed them properly.

If you have specific questions about nutrition, please email me. I will answer what I can or point you in a good direction to continue your research.

Thank you,
Len
Hektor Haus

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