Dog Diet
When we talk about diet, a lot of folks have the misconception that the word “diet” means an unpleasant regimen or to restrict the intake of a certain class of food such as in slimming. This perception is “imprint” on us as advertisements of low calories food, less sugar etc. Diet is the consumption of certain kind of food that an animal or a human habitually eats and for the well-being. It also constitute utilizing the food intake and nourishing the body.
As for pet food, you will always see the labelling of AAFCO which means the Association of American Feed Control Officials. This office regulates the labelling of every pet food so that it conforms to the requirements. The feeding directions specify the amount of food recommended base on the weight of the animal. These are helpful as a guideline to start with, but nutritional needs vary from category of dog breeds to another type of dog breeds as their metabolism and activity levels are not the same. Therefore it is advisable to consult an expert or your vet on this.
Survey shows that most of the owners feed their dogs with dry food as their daily intake. We need to understand that canines are meat eating animals. However with year of domestication, it has adapted itself to what we term omnivorous. This means that they are eating meat as well as plant foods as their source of nutrition. Having said that, “dead” food (process food) do not contain much nutritional values as processing negates the nutrition in the food. That is why you always see the label with enhance vitamins, calcium and all sorts of things to add nutritional value to the food.
Therefore there are a lot of dog enthusiast turning to natural raw food, raw meat to feed their dogs. They affirmed that their dogs are much healthier as the intake has more nutritional value. As has aforesaid, dogs are instinctively carnivorous. People has the notion that feeding raw meat will bring about worms in the intestines as raw meat may have bacteria contamination. Study has shown that it is not the case as dogs have more active digestive system and more acidic to digest the food as soon as the food enter the stomach. Unlike humans, the food stays in the stomach much more longer which tend to “incubate” and encourage bacteria manifestation thereby causing stomach upset or worst still food poisoning.
This also relates to the perception that raw food is susceptible to Salmonella and E.coli contamination. The argument from this raw-food school of thought is that it is not true. If dogs are susceptible to these bacteria, the dogs would have long ago infected with it as you can see them licking their anus with no negative consequences as stool carries E. coli bacteria. It also relates back to the dog’s stomach being more acidic and destroying the bacteria before any bad effect can take place. However there is still a small percentage of risk involved.
Results have shown that the benefits of raw diet are healthier coat and skin, better control of body weight, improved digestion and firmer stool.
Having said that, it is always safe to take things moderately. There will always be pro and cons on raw diet due to a certain amount of factors and risks.