Dog Kibble and Commercial Dog Food

I'd like to kick myself in the butt for feeding only dog kibble to my dogs for so many years. I'm talking about the high profile commercial dog food and its manufacturers who spend millions coaxing us to buy their products via their television advertising. What a load of garbage.

The least I could have done was add real food to it. Please note I am not talking about the small dog food makers who make decent food because they love dogs and want to make a difference. Unfortunately you will not find any of their products in big stores. In hindsight, I know I would have saved thousands of dollars on vet bills and saved some of my dogs from horrible itching, lumps, bumps, tumors, side affects from drugs (given to alleviate the horrible itching etc.) and a shortened life span.

Even though it didn't make sense that a hard brown nugget was healthier than meat, vegetables and quality grains, they had me. I was afraid of ruining my dogs' health. I also thought it more convenient and much cheaper than making my own. And let's not forget habit.

Heaven knows it's so much easier to throw a bag of dog kibble in the grocery cart than shopping for them like the rest of us. Meat, rice, beans, veggies, bones and vitamins.

I am smarter now. Whenever that old commercial where the dog hears his owner pour dog kibble in his bowl and runs and slides across the kitchen floor saying, "Kibbles and Bits! Kibbles and Bits!" I replace those words in my head to say, "Candy and Cake! Candy and Cake!" since I can't make "Waste Products and Floor Sweepings" or "Synthetic Flavors and Corn Syrup" sound right.

For a free pamphlet about ingredients in dry and canned dog foods, you can download this free pamphlet from dog food project.com . It's quite an education.

For easy comparisons on over 1,600 dog foods, cat foods, and pet treats, subscribe to Petsumer Reports.

Here's a short page on dog food comparisons. It's why I think the biggest dog food manufacturers are untrustworthy. Plus I plug Petsumer Reports again so you buy it.

If you would rather have ingredient lists without explanation, read and print Dog Food Ingredients to Avoid. These are the most toxic things used in dog foods. For a list of the best possible ingredients in manufactured dog food, read and print The Best Commercial Dog Food Ingredients.

In Dog Kibble 101 I talk about label reading and compare two dry foods for you. This way, if you just can't break the kibble habit yet, you can choose more wisely.

If you don't need to read about kibble because you feed your little dog some form of individually packaged moist and meaty type food, think again. Here's a page devoted to the health hazards of moist dog food.

You can enhance your canine's kibble by adding some raw food to his diet in Raw and Kibble.

You may even be surprised that table scraps can be a healthy addition to the canine diet. (See, they got us again.)

Real meat, fresh vegetables and dog supplements can improve a dog diet tremendously.

If you want to change your dog kibble but don't know where to start, please read The Healthiest Dog Food Primer.

If you'd like to learn a simple process to change to a healthy dog diet, without spending hours trying to understand ingredients, start at STEP ONE at Healthy Dog Diet Guideline.

STEP TWO can be found at The Road to Nutritious Dog Food.

After witnessing the effects of dog nutrition, you will probably want to move on with STEP THREE at Making Your Own Dog Food - Raw and Home Cooked.

So many commercial dog foods out there are toxic food for dogs. Remember, a little effort on your part can go a long way. If you need a little more convincing, read my second article on dog food manufacturing.

Other interesting pages:

No Grain Dog Food
The pros and cons of this newly popular packaged food

~ ~ ~

Return from Dog Kibble and Commercial Dog Food to Home Page of
Three Little Pitties Dog Health

New! Comments