What kind of food should you feed your 2 year old Puggle?

Answer 1

Feed your adult dog the best dog food you can afford. To find out what's in a dog food, you'll need to read the ingredient panel on whichever food you're considering, that alone will help you judge good from bad.

Look for the first source of fat or oil that appears in the ingredient list. This can either be from an animal or vegetable source, anything listed before that first source of fat, (including the fat itself), are the main ingredients of the food. Any other items are present in much smaller amounts to add flavor, function as preservatives, help with the manufacturing process or provide dietary benefits (such as probiotics, vitamins and minerals).

Protein, in the form of quality meat ingredients, is the most important part of a dog's diet. The very best dog foods have a named source of protein (such as chicken, beef, or turkey) as the first ingredient listed. Specifically named meats, and " meat meals" such as: chicken and chicken meal, turkey and turkey meal, lamb and lamb meal, etc. are okay too.

Contrary to what many people believe, meat sources in "meal" form (as long as they are from a specified animal, such as chicken meal, lamb meal, etc.) are not inferior to whole, fresh meats. Meals consist of meat and skin, with or without the bones, they do not contain feathers/hair, heads, feet, horns, entrails etc. and have the proper calcium/phosphorus ratio required for a balanced diet. Meat meals have had most of the moisture removed, but meats in their original, "wet" form contain up to 75% water. Preferably a food contains quality meat meal as well as some fresh meat.

You'll want to avoid:

• All generic meat ingredients that do not indicate a species (such as "meat" or meat byproducts, meat byproduct meal, meat meal, meat & bone meal, blood meal, fish, fish meal, poultry, poultry byproducts, poultry meal, poultry byproduct meal, liver, liver meal, glandular meal etc.)

Byproduct meals, even if a species is identified (chicken/beef/turkey/lamb byproduct meal etc.), since highly questionable ingredients may be used in these rendered products.

• Any food that contains corn (ground or otherwise) as a first ingredient, especially if corn gluten meal is also a main ingredient and no concentrated source of identified meat protein (e.g. chicken meal, lamb meal etc.) is present.

• Corn gluten or soybean meal as main ingredients.

Dogs need a certain amount of fats and oils in their diet, mostly for skin and coat health, but also for proper brain development and other critical processes in the body - and in this regard some are more valuable than others. As food ingredients they should be specifically named and of high nutritional value. Beef tallow and lard make foods highly attractive to dogs and are not harmful, but they are high in saturated fat and low in valuable fatty acids. Just as with the meat, you want to look for specifically named fats and oils such as chicken fat, herring oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, flax oil etc. You want to avoid a food that has non-specific sources such as animal fat, poultry fat, vegetable oil, generic fish oil, or Mineral oil.

Carbohydrates may originate from grains (rice, wheat, barley, oats, etc.) or alternative sources like potatoes, oat meal, sweet potatoes, tapioca or peas. The claim that all carbohydrates in commercial dog food are nothing but fillers and can not be digested by dogs is incorrect - properly cooked (as in extruded and baked dry foods as well as canned foods) they are highly digestible and valuable sources of energy.

Look for a dog food containing whole ground grains such as rice, oats, barley, millet etc., potatoes, sweet potatoes, or peas. Corn often gets an undeserved bad reputation. While it is not acceptable as a main source of protein in a dog food, as a source of carbohydrates it is no better and no worse than other grains in terms of nutritional value and digestibility (assuming your dog isn't allergic to corn). You want to avoid foods containing fragments like potato product, middlings/mids or mill run of any kind, as well as unspecified grain sources like cereal food fines, or distiller's grain fermentation solubles.

High quality foods do not need any added flavorings, but natural ones are harmless and may even add a little nutritional value. You'll want to avoid any highly rendered products (e.g. digests of any kind), ingredients of unknown origin ("meat broth"), glandular meal, artificial flavorings, and Onion of any form is toxic to dogs and thus has no place in dog food!

Quality dog foods are preserved naturally, look for a food preserved with "Mixed Tocopherols" (Vitamin E), Rosemary, Sage, or Clove Extract, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Ascorbic Acid and other forms of Vitamin C. Avoid artificial preservatives: BHA (Butylated Hydroxysanisole), BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene), Ethoxyquin, TBHQ (Tertiary Butylhydroquinone), Sodium Metabisulphite.

Sweeteners have no place in food products that are consumed daily! They are generally only added to poor quality foods to make them more attractive, since otherwise dogs would simply refuse to eat them. Many dogs get addicted to sweeteners, which can cause or aggravate health problems, including ear infections and Diabetes. An exception would be Blackstrap Molasses. It's not very sweet, a source of many trace minerals and not the same as Cane Molasses. It is harmless as a supplement in small amounts. While any sweeteners should be avoided in food that a dog eats on a daily basis, small amounts of unrefined sugar, such as honey or molasses, are okay in dog treats. You'd want to avoid dog foods containing cane molasses, corn syrup in any form, sugar, sorbitol, sucrose, fructose, glucose, ammoniated glycyrrhizin, propylene glycol.

Dyes and food coloring are another unnecessary ingredient in dog food, since dogs do not care about the color of their food. While natural substances like caramel coloring are harmless, they are still unnecessary and generally only serve to make a food look more appealing and uniform to the human eye. You'll want to avoid to avoid: Blue 2, Red 40, Yellow 5 and 6, other "numbered" dyes.

I hope I've been a help.

Check with a well established trainer (not anyone that pushes/sells a particular brand) for what's readily available in your area. Many well known brands are ridiculously priced and are not better than some of those lesser known and excellent foods available in one area are not available in another. Read the labels. Also consider travel. If you do so frequently or for extended periods, either be prepared to carry enough for the entire trip or know you can buy the same food at your destination -- if you change a dog's diet, it needs to be done in a certain fashion or you'll have side effects that neither you nor the dog will like.

How much to feed depends on your dog's weight, activity level, and the food you select. Working dogs or those doing agility training need more food than pets with a more sedate life style. Know your dog's ideal weight zone. If they start putting on weight, they're not getting enough exercise or you're feeding too much. If they're dropping below the norm, you're not feeding enough. If weight loss persists, see your Vet.