Dog Nutrition.

A recent survey study in the U.S. found that 59 percent of dogs receive table scraps in addition to their regular diet. This supplementation amounted to 21 percent of the total daily caloric intake. The point of the study was to evaluate owner feeding patterns and pet obesity. For the past three weeks I have manned a booth at a major pet expo and at other minor pet events. I had an opportunity to chat with people about the feeding habits of their dogs. These conversations suggested that the research survey above may have underestimated the amount of human food being added to the average canine diet. Almost all of the over 200 people we talked with added meats, vegetables, and carbohydrates ...

With so many brands of pet food for pet owners to choose from, commercial dog food makers pursue customers using crafted marketing strategies. By capitalizing on widespread perceptions, or misconceptions, owners have about pet nutritional needs, these companies have created a myriad of life-stage, lifestyle, and breed specific products to capture the market share. This proliferation of "specially formulated" foods only further solidifies a more widespread belief in the need for such products. Some of these nutritional strategies are supported by scientific data confirming their value. Most are not. The notion that geriatric pets need special nutrition is a case in point. Older pets have the ...

How much do you know about the ingredients your dog food contains? Would you still feed it to your dog if you knew some of the ingredients consisted of expired meat, diseased meat and even dead dogs and cats from animal shelters? That's exactly what's going into some commercial pet foods, according to a recent article on Slate.com. SHOCKING INGREDIENTS THAT MAY BE FOUND IN SOME PET FOOD: We already know that pet food contains a lot of animal products that we probably wouldn't eat ourselves, including meat that the ...