Dog Treats can be Bad For Your Dog In Many Ways

When it comes to your dog's well-being, nutrition is of the utmost importance. Feeding your pet properly can mean the difference between a long, healthy life, and a sickly, miserable existence. And since our dogs can't select what they eat, their health ultimately rests on us, their owners who choose for them.

So what exactly is the stuff that comes in cans and plastic bags made of? What are we feeding our pets in their dog food and dog treats. To be a conscientious owner, you have to know how to read those ingredient labels. These labels list the ingredients by weight: from heaviest (which is what the food is mostly made of), to the lightest.

If some of the first ingredients listed are meat by-products or grain by-products, avoid it if you can. Grain by-products in pet foods and dog treats will introduce a lot of carbohydrates in your dog's diet- as much as 70 percent of your dog food can be composed of carbohydrates, when a dog's natural diet should have less than 30 percent. The reasoning behind using these ingredients so much has more to do with the dog food manufacturer's profit margins than any actual concern for pet nutrition. These byproducts are cheap, and they act as extenders for the dog food- thus, the manufacturers get to produce more food, at a fraction of the cost. But it's your dog who pays for it in the end: digestive trouble, and obesity, and all the obesity-related health problems that come with it.

Animal by-products aren't much of an improvement. While they do contribute protein in the diet, this meat is basically parts that are thrown away because they're unfit for human consumption: lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, blood, bone, and stomach and intestines. To make things worse, there is little to no regulation for the sources of this meat: it could be from a meat processing plant, but it could also be roadkill, or 4-D (dead, diseased, disabled, dying) livestock.

So it pays to read those ingredient labels, and to understand what those ingredients mean. If you invest in buying a premium dog food, like the Wellness dog food brand, you can be assured that your dog is eating right. Dog food and dog treats from brands like these are made of primarily whole foods like deboned chicken and lamb meat, and other nutritious ingredients, so that your dog can live a long, happy and sickness-free life.

Feeding your pet some premium dog food can help you avoid the ingredients that many cheaper brands use as extender. The animal and grain byproducts which these manufacturers use in their food may be a better deal, but it's your dog that ultimately pays the price, with obesity problems and bad digestion. Wellness dog food, along with other brands, can give you the option of buying dog food and dog treats that are made of human-grade ingredients, a suitable diet for a happy, healthy canine companion.

-Melinda Smith