At its most basic concept, food is a means of getting essential nutrients into the body. But what if the food you are feeding your dog fails to provide all the nutrients your dog needs?
Feeding a complete and balanced diet is known to promote wellness in dogs but a number of highly publicized pet food recalls, as well as the use of preservatives, chemicals, and other unhealthy ingredients, have raised questions about the use of commercial pet foods to meet this end. Home-prepared diets have grown in popularity over the last few years due to these reasons. For some pet owners, it is in response to concerns about the production of commercial diets, for others feeding home-prepared foods reinforces the human-animal bond.
However, feeding a homemade diet cannot provide all the nutrients your dog needs on its own. This would be advisable only under one circumstance that should be formulated by a veterinarian or by a pet nutritionist. To balance any diet whether homemade or commercial, supplements are often needed to ensure that the meals are balanced, particularly when it comes to vitamins and minerals. Preparing a diet that contains all the 37 essential nutrients without adding any supplementation is an uphill task or in other words, often next to impossible, and adding these supplements just by you at home is unadvisable. Follow all veterinary advice to be sure that you’re providing the appropriate amounts of nutrients and that the diet is balanced. Your veterinarian can also give guidance on the types of dog supplements you will need and recommended brands.
Not being able to provide a balanced diet to your pet can result in serious health problems later in life, especially during their golden years. Poor nutrition can lead to many serious disorders in dogs, including obesity, emaciation, rickets, allergies, and fur loss.
There are several diseases and conditions that can be impacted by nutritional imbalances. A few of the more common diseases can include:
- Congestive heart failure - Excessive sodium in the diet can severely increase your dog’s chances of developing or exacerbating congestive heart failure
- Growth disorders - Dogs who receive too much or too little calcium during their formative stages may develop abnormal rates of bone growth and joint disease.
- Kidney disease - Kidney disease can be exacerbated by a number of nutritional imbalances, including excessive amounts of sodium, potassium, or phosphorus, excessive protein, and deficient hydration.
- Obesity - Obesity can be caused by either eating too much overall or by eating food that is improperly balanced for your dog’s circumstances (e.g. too high in fats and carbohydrates and too low in protein).
- Pancreatitis - This condition characterized by an inflamed pancreas is often triggered by excessive fats in the diet
- Reduced immunity – if the pet is not getting all the essential nutrients from the diet, it will have a negative impact on your dog’s immunity and level of energy.
Unbalanced Commercial dog food
Many companies have entered the market with different types of pet food in the last few years. Some of these pet foods are similar to an unbalanced homemade diet that definitely does not contain all the essential nutrients your dog needs especially all the vitamins and minerals as many do not use any type of supplement in their diets. These practices are being followed by many companies in India as well, as there is no authority like AAFCO (in the US) to regulate the practices of pet food companies in India. You can check if the pet food is balanced or not by looking at its label and the ingredients list. The product you opt for should have the label “Follow or exceed AAFCO/FEDIAF nutritional guidelines for dogs” or “complete & balanced” on the packaging. You will also find the added vitamins and minerals in the ingredient list of the balanced dog food and if you find no added vitamins and mineral then there is a 99% possibility that the product is not complete & balanced, do not follow any nutritional guidelines, and standards and is somewhat similar to an unbalanced homemade diet. Even if the company says it’s complete & balanced, the proof is in the ingredient list, and on the label, you can also ask for the nutritional profile of the recipes that contain 37 essential nutrients from the manufacturers and if the company fails to provide that, you know your answer. Adding just 3-4 ingredients in a recipe without additional supplementation can never provide all the essential nutrients to your dog.
Freshwoof is complete and balanced dog food, that contains all the essential nutrients your dog needs. With Freshwoof you don’t have to worry about the nutritional aspects of the food at all. Freshwoof has been lab-tested to provide all the essential nutrients a dog needs, following American, Indian, and European nutritional guidelines for adult dogs. And just like a homemade food Freshwoof is made with real human grade ingredients without any nasties like artificial preservatives, harmful chemicals, by-products, and artificial colors and flavors. Just healthy and complete dog food made in love and FDA-certified facility.
