Demystifying Dog Food!

According to a recent survey conducted by a popular pet brand, more than half of the pet owners felt that their pet’s nutritional needs are more confusing than their own!

With this blog, we will try to demystify dog food, so that as a pet owner, you make a right and informed choice!

In order to understand this a little better, we need to look at the lineage and the origins of the present domestic dog. A DNA test of the modern dogs reveals that dogs belong to the family of Gray Wolves, and the now extinct Taymyr wolf.

Now that we have established that dogs are the descendants of wolves, let us look at the typical diet of wolves or wild dogs. Wolves or wild dogs hunt for small prey, birds or at times rodents like wild rats. This is where they get their main source of proteins from. They will eat the droppings of other animals to make up for their needs around minerals and vitamins!

Dogs are primarily carnivorous animals unlike the common myth that dogs are omnivorous! A quick look at your dogs teeth, and their digestive systems reveals that dogs are built to eat and digest meat and bones!

Ideally dogs need to be fed with a combination of the following that mimics their diet in the wild:

1. good quality and amount of meat

2. A small percentage of animal fat

3. Fresh veggies and herbs (to mimic the uneaten remains of the prey’s stomach in wild)

Now pause a moment and check that bag of kibbles you just bought! You will realize that most commercial dog food is laced with preservatives, artificial flavors and artificial colors. These are also cooked at a very high temperatures to ensure a long shelf-life at the risk of loosing all the nutrients and vitamins and lowering its overall nutritional value.

Commercial dog food is the main cause of skin infections, bad breath and body odor problems among other things. Feeding your dog commercial dog food raises the risk of cancers in your pets multi-fold!

These processed dog foods, are packaged in attractive containers and are targeted more towards the convenience of the pet owners rather than their pet! Give it a thought; your pet is important to you, so is his health. Would you eat junk food all day? Commercial pet food can be compared to our junk food at times, we cannot eat that all day long without having the ill-effects of the same.

The following info-graphic, depicts the body condition systems of dogs. Check out the same and understand what category does your pet fall under?

 We at Shvaan believe that research and knowledge can help you make an informed decision. Shvaan is based on sound food knowledge and research. We at Shvaan keep it simple, and keep it all natural!

Make the right choice! Switch to Shvaan for a happy and healthy pet!