Dog Nutrition: A Brief Guide to the Best Foods

What are the best foods for my dog? How much should he eat? Kibble or wet food? Can I prepare homemade meals for him? If you have a dog, you have certainly come across these questions. Maybe even a few more. In this article, we answer these very questions.

Let's start by saying that depending on age, breed, size and other conditions – pregnancy and breastfeeding, dermatitis, particular food intolerances – dogs require a different type of diet .

Here are some tips to ensure your furry friends have delicious, healthy, complete and balanced meals.

A balanced diet should contain approximately:

• 50% protein – derived from meat, fish, eggs


• 50% vegetables and carbohydrates – such as double-cooked pasta or rice

Of course, these are general principles because there is no best dog food in general, but only a type of diet that adapts to the nutritional needs of the growth phase in which the animal is.

For this reason, dog nutrition varies, sometimes significantly, depending on whether they are puppies, adults, seniors, neutered, pregnant or breastfeeding, intolerant or allergic to certain foods, and so on.

For example, puppies from 0 to 12 months need dog biscuits. that contain many prebiotics FOS, chondroitin, glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane to develop healthy and strong joints; adults , on the other hand, need linseed oil or salmon to keep their coat shiny and foods with few cereals; senior dogs after 8 years of age , on the other hand, require fiber and light and easily assimilated foods that promote intestinal activity and counteract weight gain.

For dogs with intolerances or who need to follow a gluten-free diet, an excellent solution could be our salmon dog biscuits , light but still very nutritious.

In general, however, we can say that the best diet for dogs is meat -based – as sweet and cuddly as they are, in fact, our furry friend is a descendant of the wolf and, as such, is predominantly carnivorous!

Finally, if you own a breeding farm, you should take a look at our 20 kg dog biscuits , of excellent quality and, of course, all meat-based.

As a general rule, before buying food for our four-legged friends, let's make sure to always check all the values ​​reported on the product label . It gives us useful information to understand if the diet that our dogs are following is really the best for them .

According to EC regulation 767/2009, valid for every country of the European Union , on the label we find, for example, the nutritional table which indicates the values ​​of:

Crude protein – in adult food should be at least 22%-24%, in puppy food 27%-30%

• crude fats – cannot be less than 5.5%


• crude fibres – very important for dog nutrition, their value must be between 2.5% and 5%


• raw ash – i.e. mineral salts such as calcium and phosphorus
• 
  humidity – that is, the amount of water, typically around 9%

And what about the doses? These also vary based on the size, age and physical development of the dog but, once again, reading the food label will help us. In fact, it also provides information on the metabolizable energy ME – that is, the nutritional value – and the and Kilocalories per Kg , that is, the value of the metabolizable energy.

When choosing the best food for our dogs, it is important to prefer quality, healthy and balanced foods , such as Aldog® kibble which:

They are among the best natural dog biscuits , in fact they do not contain preservatives or colourings

• come from a controlled Italian supply chain
• They contain a lot of meat and few cereals
• They are specific for the different stages of growth of the animal
• They are easy to digest because the flaked cereals are double cooked
• They have different sizes – mini, medium, maxi
  They are gluten-free , so they can also be consumed by dogs with celiac disease or intolerance to this protein.
• They are cruelty-free , not tested on animals

The kibbles are a complete food

To conclude: the best diet for dogs is undoubtedly the complete one, that is, the one that does not require supplements . Aldog® kibbles, for example, are healthy, complete and balanced, specifically studied by canine nutrition experts .

Complementary foods , on the other hand, lack something, for example fibre, fat or minerals, which is often the case in wet foods.