Food

One of the biggest challenges with homemade dog food is the inconsistency of nutrient content in raw ingredients. Ingredients such as meats, vegetables, and grains can vary widely in nutrient content depending on their growing conditions, seasonality, source, storage conditions, and processing methods.

Each and every one of the six people who adopted the puppies I fostered recently asked me the same question: How much should I feed him?" I was surprised the first time

We’re excited to now present information about every single one of the dry dog foods made by the companies on our “Approved Foods” list, including their complete ingredients lists. This feature is available only to our paid subscribers. Even more exciting: This is a searchable database. You can use filters to find foods that meet many specific needs for different dogs.

Our dogs are just as fond of ice cream, popsicles, and other frozen treats as we are. But frozen treats, including those sold for...

Have you ever noticed that dog owners tend to select one canine expert to follow in the area of dog nutrition and dog food and then another expert for training? And they’ll often adhere to their personal guru’s program no matter what? Is it our unconscious dog-like loyalty, or what? Many of our readers are already preparing their own dog food, and generally, they are following the guidelines of some canine nutrition expert. However, many more of our readers have not yet sorted out the differences between the raw dog food diets being promoted today.

Bigger bags of kibble cost less per pound, but how long does dog food last?

The vast majority of dog owners feed dry dog food to their dogs – and quite a few of them select and store the bags of food in a way that turns a wholesome food into a health hazard for their beloved companions. Are you handling your dog's food in a safe manner? Or do you regularly make the following mistakes?

When buying food for their dogs, owners depend on the product manufacturers to deliver a “complete and balanced” diet in those bags, cans, and frozen packages. Perhaps without even being aware of it, owners also understand that there are government agencies responsible for setting standards as to what constitutes a “complete and balanced diet” for dogs, and for making sure that pet food makers meet those standards.

Frequently, we hear things about dog food companies that would curl your hair. And rarely, if ever, can we print anything we hear, because much of it is unverifiable and perhaps even untrue – lies made up or part-truths distorted by unhappy consumers or unscrupulous competitors. We take this stuff with a grain of salt.

Many dogs are prescribed low-protein diets to alleviate kidney workload, help with gastrointestinal issues or kidney disease. However, protein is vital to a dog's health and there is dog food that is low in protein, and dog food with really low protein.

When WDJ first reviewed dog food, back in 1998, there was but a handful of companies making what we considered good foods. Seriously, I stretched to find five companies that had products that contained only good-quality ingredients - and more importantly, didn't contain unnamed animal fats and meat by-products. And just about every question I asked a pet food company was answered with, "I'm sorry that's proprietary information!"

If your dog won’t eat, you have a small window of time to evaluate the situation, The better you know your dog, the easier it is to decide if it is something serious or just a phase.