Essential Factors to consider when choosing Your Dog’s Food – Especially if it has Health Issues
As a pet owner (or human, as dog lovers like to call themselves nowadays), you are in the best position to choose the right kind of food that your beloved pooch needs. After all, you know them best – their temperament and attitude, their characteristics, and the overall condition of their health. This is even truer if your dog has been or is being treated for particular conditions, such as an allergy, metabolic disorder, or other condition.
If your pet has any health issues, then you should be even more careful about the food you give them. It has already been shown that the kind of diet you give your dog does make a big impact on their health and wellness – the proper diet and nutrition makes dogs healthier and happier, and can even affect their ability and capacity to combat certain ailments or diseases.
What you can do
First of all, you should ask your veterinarian if there is any diet they can prescribe for your dog, especially if it has certain health issues. Ask the veterinarian for a good, high quality type of diet – not a generic one that may work well with most dogs, but not with your pooch. Dog food specialists such as Essential Foods in Sweden (find out more about their special products at essentialfoods.se) have even produced what can be referred to as Behavioural Optimising Foods, which have been very useful for dogs which need to have their blood glucose levels under control.
The point, though, is to choose dog food made only with the best and freshest ingredients, with a healthy balance of meat and protein, calories, fats, and carbohydrates.
A guide to the best diets for some health conditions
Intolerance or allergies to food
If your pet is lucky enough not to be allergic to anything, then all is well and good. But there are certain breeds that have shown a susceptibility to allergies in food, such as Dalmatians, Labrador Retrievers, Cocker Spaniels, Lhasa Apsos, and more. When your dog has shown an intolerance or allergy to a specific type of food, make a note of this. You should also make a list of the foods that your dog can eat and show this to the veterinarian. When choosing dog food, refer to your list and make sure that none of the ingredients in the dog food is included in it.
Metabolic conditions or disorders
There are also some dog breeds that may be susceptible to metabolic conditions, which are greatly affected by their diets. For instance, one of the terrier breeds, the West Highland Terrier, has been shown to be prone to have a buildup of copper in their liver, so this terrier should have a diet which should not have high copper levels. On the other hand, other breeds such as the Siberian Husky have a tendency to have a metabolic condition related to a lack of zinc, so they may also require a diet that is rich in zinc.
Ask your veterinarian about any conditions that your dog’s breed may be prone to. Once you have found this out, call your dog food manufacturer and ask them specifically if their products contain ingredients that may not benefit your breed of dog.
Any type of cancer
If your beloved pet is being treated for cancer, then it will need a diet that is low in carbohydrates and high in fat. This is because the cancer cells make use of carbohydrates to produce energy and cannot generally make use of fat – so with a diet that’s rich in fat and low in carbs, you can essentially starve the cells and keep them from multiplying.