Which is better: natural or dry dog ​​food?

There are ongoing debates among veterinarians and breeders about what to feed dogs, whether to give preference to natural or dry food. To answer this question, you should carefully understand the advantages and disadvantages of each type, and also clearly understand how one type of food differs from another.

Dry food is a finished product that does not require additional preparation.

Depending on the type of composition, several types of feed are distinguished.

These feeds have appeared relatively recently and do not yet have clear definitions. Manufacturers declare that natural ingredients are used as raw materials for their products. Their quality is so high that, if desired, it can be used in human nutrition. The basis of holistic is animal protein - beef, pork, rabbit, turkey and cold cuts. Chicken meat is generally not used. There are fish food options. The meat content reaches 80% of the composition.

The presence of flavors, dyes in the composition is excluded; vitamin E can be used as a preservative. The feed is additionally enriched with vitamins and minerals, is highly nutritious and balanced. Naturally, such feed has a high cost.The difficulty is also the fact that it is not always possible to find it in the public domain.

Foods of this class are not much inferior in quality to holistics and before the appearance of the latter were considered the best. They are also high in animal protein, but often combined with high quality offal. The variety of meat base options provides a wide range of feed flavors. To increase the nutritional value of the feed, rice, wheat, corn are added to it. The last 2 ingredients are considered allergenic.

In terms of their balance, super-premium feeds are inferior to holistics (often there is a "skew" towards the fat content). Manufacturers are not prohibited from using preservatives and flavors, but these are only permitted additives in appropriate quantities.

These are feeds in which the content of animal protein does not meet the standards, and usually it is chicken and cheap offal. Protein deficiency is filled with soy, wheat, corn.

Manufacturers add bone meal, chicken legs, scallops and feathers to the composition, flavors can be added to mask the ingredients, preservatives can be added to increase the shelf life.

This food is not recommended for feeding dogs. The basis of the product is vegetable protein - soy, corn. Complementing it with bone meal, recycled legs, beaks, feathers and cheap trimmings. There are no vitamins and minerals, vegetables. But in large quantities - flavor enhancers, flavors and other "chemicals".

The main advantage of natural nutrition is its environmental friendliness. The owner knows exactly what to feed his pet, can evaluate the quality of the products. However, it is important to distinguish between the term "natural food" and the concept "feed the dog by what I cook myself / feed from my table." Since a dog is a predator, meat should be the basis of its diet. It is raw meat that makes up 70% of the diet. Preference should be given to beef, lamb, rabbit, turkey. It is not recommended to give pork, as it has a high content of parasites. Chicken often causes allergies (itching).

You can reduce the amount of meat and replace it with fish twice a week. Only sea fish is suitable, it must be boiled.

Carbohydrates, such as cereals, provide your pet with energy. Rice and buckwheat porridge are preferred, but rice, due to its high starchiness, is not suitable for dogs prone to weight gain. Give your dog oatmeal every 1–1.5 weeks. But feeding with semolina, corn, barley porridge, barley should be discarded. This is not only "empty" food that does not give satiety, but also highly allergenic. Porridge can be combined with meat or kefir. The dog should receive fermented milk products daily. It can be low-fat (but not completely fat-free) kefir, fermented baked milk, yogurt.

Several times a week, you can give half a raw potato or one potato, boiled in a jacket or baked in the oven. To obtain healthy fats, you can give a small amount of fatty meat (combined with leaner pieces, porridge, vegetables), dairy products, fish oil. Once a week, the dog is recommended a raw egg or whites from a couple of boiled eggs.

Several times a week it is recommended to feed the dog raw mosles. This is not a complete meal, but rather a toy and a dental trainer. You do not need to wait for the dog to completely gnaw and absorb the bones, it is enough to let him train.

The presence of sweets, soybeans, sausages and similar products, salted, smoked, fried foods in the diet is unacceptable. Potatoes (as the basis of the diet), soup, pasta will not benefit the dog and will not give a feeling of fullness. Bread can also be considered useless food for a dog, and soft buns and loaves can cause choking, flatulence and even intestinal obstruction. An acceptable option is rye bread croutons.

Before talking about the advantages and disadvantages of "drying" and "naturalka", it is logical to decide on the criteria for comparing and evaluating feed.

It is important for the health of the pet, its visual appeal, that the food is balanced. This term means the correspondence of the daily caloric content of food to the age, weight, breed of the animal, as well as the optimal ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in food. From the point of view of balance, high quality ready-made dry food wins. Usually super-premium and holistic feeds meet this criterion, rarely - premium "drying".

Cheaper and lower quality feeds (most super premium and all economical options) do not give your pet a long-lasting feeling of fullness. Therefore, the dog either walks half-starved, or overeats.

If we compare the economics of ready-made feed with natural food, then the latter should be preferred. In this case, the owner at least will not feed the dog with obviously unsuitable products, he will save him from flavor enhancers, preservatives and flavors. However, the natural woman must meet the requirements described above, be given taking into account the age, state of health, weight of the animal. It is very difficult to calculate the exact rate of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The following criterion follows from this.

Naturally, a natural type of diet requires a significant investment of time from the dog owner. It is necessary to calculate the required daily calorie intake and balance of the BJU, to compose a varied and useful menu for the pet. When feeding with natural food, you should also take care of the vitamin and mineral complex. Before each feeding, food has to be cooked, the easier option is to cook in the morning for the whole day (I seem to cook, pre-freeze the meat, peel and cut vegetables).

The only point is that some premium varieties are not always easy to find in the public domain. - you have to order from distributors or online stores. In addition, the finished feed is well stored for up to six months, while it does not deteriorate, all the useful ingredients of the composition are preserved. It is important that the actual storage conditions are consistent with those required by the manufacturer.

On natural food, dogs are much more likely to develop allergic reactions, stool disorders. At the same time, identifying an allergen product can be quite difficult. In addition, the slightest errors in nutrition are fraught with a sharp deterioration in the well-being or appearance of the four-footed pet. When feeding "drying", negative reactions are also possible, but modern manufacturers include in their line of food for dogs with sensitive digestion, for pets with certain diseases.Nearly every trusted brand has hypoallergenic options.

Besides, the jaw system and teeth require solid food, it strengthens the jaw, removes tartar... If you choose the wrong food (granules of the inappropriate size or canned food as the main food), then the condition of the dog's teeth may deteriorate. However, the same can be expected if the owner does not give the dog raw meat, tendons, and does not acquire special bones.

For those pets that are on dry food, no additional formulations are required. A quality food contains all the necessary vitamin and mineral supplements. Hypoallergenic and medicinal food, as well as products for puppies, can be additionally enriched with probiotics. However, this applies only to the elite class feed. Cheap and low-quality analogues do not have such an addition to the composition. If the dog eats natural food, then it is imperative to supplement its diet with suitable vitamins and minerals, and include fresh herbs in the menu.

With the obvious advantages of "drying", one must not forget that the feed is obtained artificially, by sublimation.

No matter how high-quality or advertised the food, the owner of the dog cannot be sure of the quality of the composition and its compliance with what is stated on the package. He does not see the quality of the feedstock. In one form or another, the feed contains at least preservatives, as a maximum taste enhancers, flavorings, and dyes.

By the way, all this "chemistry" is addictive, so it can be difficult to transfer a dog from feed to natural food or from one species to another (This is especially the fault of producers of economy class feed). When buying ready-made food, the dog owner always runs the risk of running into a fake. This can cause serious poisoning of the pet, up to the appearance of internal bleeding and death of the animal.

Most experts say that combining dry and natural feed is unacceptable. First of all, this is due to harm to digestion, with the impossibility of correctly calculating the required amount of feed, talking about a balanced diet.

Naturally, the content of the new product must be gradually increased, while strictly monitoring the condition of the animal. The transition to natural food usually takes 2-3 weeks. It will be possible to switch to "drying" faster - in just 7-10 days.

When choosing a particular type of food, you should evaluate the convenience of each of them specifically for the owner according to the above criteria. It is important to understand that the combination of natural and ready-made feed is harmful to the health of the pet, and the transition from one diet to another is stress for the dog's body, a waste of time and effort for the owner. As for the financial costs, they are about the same. Of course, provided that the dog receives either high-quality dry food, or no less high-quality and balanced natural food.

There is no consensus among experts on this matter. Experienced breeders often prefer natural food, because they have the ability to control the quality of food, regulate the volume of a particular product.They argue that when planning the menu in advance and purchasing all the necessary ingredients several days in advance, it takes a little time to prepare natural food.

The best way to feed your dog, see below.