No doubt, your dog is healthy, happy, and fulfilled! You take care of him and make sure that he is active every day and has a healthy and sufficient diet. This lifestyle is the key to a healthy animal that will live a long and happy life. However, it can sometimes be difficult to know which food to choose for your pooch, given the many contradictions present on the internet.
Like human nutrition, what is recommended for dogs also differs according to nutritionists or veterinarians. Although we are not veterinarians ourselves, we will make sure to help you learn more about the most suitable diet for your dog.
Feeding with kibble food
The most common diet in animals is obviously to opt for kibble. Although this is perceived as the easiest and most affordable food and not necessarily the healthiest, it is nevertheless a real misconception. Indeed, kibble has many virtues for your animal, and it is possible to buy good quality if you take the time to learn about the different existing varieties.
Why give kibble food to your dog?
Opting for a kibble-based diet is a safe bet. Indeed, these are designed to allow you to give all the necessary nutrients to your hairball. It is therefore the easy choice, of course, but it also guarantees that the vitamins and nutrients that your dog needs every day are present in his bowl. You still have to choose them carefully.
Which croquettes to choose?
There are many brands and varieties of kibble on the market today. Choosing the first price will not necessarily be the best option if you want your animal to be in good shape, but it is useless to pay a fortune if you do not know what is good for him.
Know in particular that several criteria can be important and that the choice is entirely your own. You can, for example, opt for organic croquettes if you are used to eating organic and have ecological convictions. Grain-free kibble also exists, which allows your dog to have a feeling of satiety by eating in smaller quantities. Grain-free kibble is also said to have more nutrients.
In any case, it is better to opt for premium dog food, which is of better quality. If French manufacturing is also a criterion that matters to you, be aware that there are brands that offer premium quality and are made in France.
Everything you need to know about the BARF diet
However, a diet based on premium, organic, or grain-free kibble is not the only way to feed your dog healthily. Indeed, there is a canine diet called BARF, which is particularly famous because of the virtues it brings to dogs.
Presentation of the BARF diet
The term BARF comes from English, and more precisely from the acronym “Biologically Appropriate Raw Food”, literally “Biologically Appropriate Raw Food”. The principle is therefore to feed your animal with completely natural and unprocessed food. It is a diet that is suitable for dogs as well as cats and ferrets.
The objective is to get closer to the food of an animal that lives in its natural state, in particular by hunting its prey and foraging for its food. The bowl, therefore, consists of raw meat and bones and offal, but also raw and possibly pureed vegetables.
How is the BARF diet good for dogs?
If the BARF diet is so popular today, it is probably because it is very popular with animals. Your dog will love being able to feed himself with real tasty meat and vegetables. Of course, the most gluttonous also delight in their croquettes, but if you had the choice between a piece of beef and cereals flavored with beef, what would your choice be?
On the other hand, this diet is still to be taken with a grain of salt. Indeed, if you opt for raw meat, you must make sure that the cold chain has not been broken and that it is very fresh. If you don’t, you run the risk of getting the opposite effect from what you were hoping for and therefore risk making your dog sick. In addition, this diet is more complex than giving kibble to your dog, since you must prepare his bowls carefully to distribute the meat and vegetables evenly. It is also a more expensive plan.
Household food, not to be confused with the BARF diet
Finally, you can opt for household food, which is in a way a compromise between the two options mentioned above. Here, it’s all about preparing your dog’s meals yourself, just like you would on the BARF diet. However, processed and cooked products may be present in the bowl, and your doggie can therefore eat in a fairly similar way to you, but beware, some foods that are good for us are toxic for the dog!
