Natural Dog Food Diet

Are you feeding a natural dog food diet to your dog? This page looks at the important points to remember when feeding a natural diet for dogs.

Does your dog have various health problems such as allergies, skin irritations, and digestive problems? Are you feeding him kibbles bought at a supermarket? If so, then chances are, his health problems are partly the result of his poor diet.

It has firmly been established that there is a close relationship between a natural dog food diet and optimal dog health. Natural, high-quality dog food is essential in maintaining the health of our dogs.

It is not that difficult to provide your dog with a natural diet. Basically, you can do it either by making your own dog food (either a BARF diet or a cooked diet), or you can choose a natural, high-quality commercial dog food.

Either way, you have to make sure that your natural dog food diet includes all the essential ingredients, vitamins and minerals that your dog needs, and that the ingredients should be fresh and of a high quality. It means that if you choose to use a prepared food, it is important to know what you are feeding. Learning to read dog food labels will help you decide if the food is a good, wholesome diet for your dog.

Keys to a Natural Dog Food Diet

No matter what type of natural dog food diet you feed to your dog, there are two key words to remember: "freshness" and "rotation".

Freshness
Fresh food is more easily digestible and assimulated because it contains natural enzymes, probiotics, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, many of which are destroyed if heated. Therefore, the less heat-processed the food, the more likely it is that the nutrients will be preserved in their natural state by the time you feed it to your dog, and the more digestible those nutrients will be.
It follows that if we feed our dog a homemade natural diet, especially a BARF diet, our dog will get the most out of his food. However, not all dog parents can have the time to prepare homemade diets for dogs, so in terms of freshness, the next desirable types of diet are frozen raw food diets and freeze-dried and dehydrated foods.
Canned foods and dry kibble are both cooked under high heat. Therefore, they are at the bottom of the "freshness scale".
Rotation
In addition to freshness, rotating different food sources to bring in variety is important in your dog's diet. A more diverse diet is far more likely to provide complete nutrition over time. Consuming the same food repeatedly over long periods of time can contribute to the development of food sensitivities and allergies.
No matter what type of diet your dog is being fed, rotate his diet regularly.

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Natural Dog Food Diet - Optimizing Freshness and Rotation

Ideally, all dogs should be fed a homemade natural dog food diet using the freshest ingredients. However, many dog parents do not have the time and resources to carefully formulate and make their dog's food. So if you cannot meet the ideal, just get as close as you can with what you can afford.

Here are some ways to increase the freshness of your dog's diet:

Get some frozen raw foods which come in a formula of raw meat, grains, and fresh vegetables designed to provide complete nutrition, and rotate feeding your dog on these frozen foods and his regular diet. High-quality frozen raw foods include Stella and Chewy's Frozen Raw Food For Dogs, and Bravo! Raw Food Diets for Dogs and Cats.
Adding freeze-dried or dehydrated foods is another way to enhance the freshness and variety in your dog's diet. This can be for one meal a day or every other day. Alternatively, you can top dress dry kibble with freeze-dried food. This adds more bioavailable nutrients, amino acids and enzymes that kibble lacks. High-quality freeze-dried or dehydrated foods include Only Natural Pet Freeze-Dried Dog Food, Stella and Chewy's Freeze-Dried Raw Dinners for Dogs, and Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Dog Food.
Canned food is also a great way to supplement kibble for added variety and nutrition. It is also tastier and more appealing to picky eaters. Use as much variety in your dog's canned food diet as they will accept. Do not feed your dog a food that contains ingredients you would not eat yourself. Organic foods offer the best of the canned options as they do not contain pesticide residues and other toxins. High-quality canned foods include Newman's Own Organics Canned Dog Food, Nature's Variety Canned Dog Food, and Wellness Grain-Free CORE Canned Dog Food.
If you include dry kibble in the diet, rotate the kibble you use every month or every other month (gradually transition over a week or more). As mentioned above, mix a variety of different high quality canned foods, freeze-dried food, lightly steamed vegetables and fresh fruits, etc. into their food. Always remember, however, that to prevent weight gain you must use proportionately less of the kibble when adding other food sources to the kibble.
Finally, not all kibbles are the same. If you choose to feed kibble as part of your dog's diet, consider the source carefully. Become a label reader - the ingredients are not always what you might think. In evaluating a brand of dog kibble, you should look for a variety of points, including the quality of the protein source, the amount of grain by-products, and any artificial ingredients such as preservatives, colors, or flavors among other things.
Generally speaking, a good-quality kibble will list at least one specified whole-meat (such as chicken, lamb, turkey) and/or meat meal (such as chicken meal, turkey meal, beef meal, etc), but avoid any products containing "meat meal" of an unspecified source or any meals containing by-products (e.g. "animal by-products"). In addition, a high quality kibble will list one or more sources of WHOLE, unprocessed grains (e.g. rice) in the main ingredients.
Some examples of high-quality kibbles include Orijen Adult Grain-Free Dry Dog Food, Newman's Own Organics Adult Dog Dry Food, and Natural Balance Ultra Premium Dry Dog Food.