Along with dog training, socialization, exercise and mental stimulation; a pet’s nutrition is important for optimum health. And, it can be very confusing as to what one should and should not feed their dog. One has to educate themselves about pet food ingredients, read dog food labels, and weed through the marketing and celebrity endorsements.
One example of a marketing ploy used by many pet food brands is to advertise a different version of their food just for puppies. Puppies need increased calories for their growing bodies, not some magic puppy ingredient. The same is true for senior dogs who require a lower calorie serving. Life Abundance pet food does not engage in this marketing ploy of developing a food promoted as a puppy or senior food. Instead, their dog food is made for all stages of a dog’s life. For puppies, one should feed 25% more in it’s serving compared to an active adult food serving.
I have fed my dogs Life Abundance dog food formulated by Dr. Bicks, DVM for many years. And, I attribute their long healthy lives (Simone and Willow are 15.5 years old and Draco will be 14 next month, all Belgian Malinois with an average life span of 10-12 years according to the American Kennel Club) in part to the quality and freshness of this food. I’ll write more about the benefits of Life Abundance in a future post entitled, “What to Feed Your Dog.” However, if you wish to learn more and/or order Life Abundance for your dog, go to my website and click on Dog Store.
Since this post is about “What Not to Feed Your Dog”, Life Abundance gives some insight on their website:
- “Your dog eats the same food every day. The brand you feed is your dog’s main source of nutrition and vital to a long and healthy life. As a caring pet parent, it is important to see through clever marketing ploys when choosing a food worthy of your best friend.
- Although you may think all pet food manufacturers have your pet’s best interests in mind, this is not always the case. Some manufacturers use ingredients that you would never knowingly feed your dog. In fact, you may be shocked to learn what some brands of dog food really contain.
- Life’s Abundance Premium Health Food is veterinarian-formulated with safe and wholesome ingredients, including a blend of vitamins and minerals, high-quality proteins, whole grains, an antioxidant system, nutritious vegetables and fruits, omega fatty acids, calcium and phosophorus for healthy teeth and strong bones and dietary fiber to help maintain a healthy digestive tract. Life’s Abundance contains no artificial flavors or colors. And there’s no corn, corn gluten, wheat or wheat gluten.”
Dr. Karen Becker DVM, is a proactive and integrative wellness veterinarian. She and Dr. Mercola, maintain a very informative and educational website called MercolaHealthyPets.com. They are interested in identifying and removing health obstacles even before disease occurs. In the below video, Dr. Becker articulates what one should not feed their dog. She makes the confusing pet food industry labels easy to understand.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdDPi-1Yjy0]
