Researching Your Dog’s Food
August 30, 2009 by Paris and John
Filed under Tips
You want to make sure you are feeding your dog the best food you can; although quality food may be more expensive, you’ll save money and worry down the road in terms of veterinary care. But just how do you determine the quality of your dog’s food?
It’s not an easy process. Just like determining the nutritional value of human food, deciding how dog foods compare to one other is tricky business. You’ll see a whole list of terms: meat, meat by-products, meal, animal digest, organic, natural…just what does all this mean?
Fortunately, you’ll find several websites that do an extensive job of comparing commercial dog foods, both dry and canned. They provide nutritional information and reviews plus explanations of what it all means to your dog.
ConsumerSearch.com This site, as the name implies, has a whole host of consumer-oriented reviews and lots of good information on dog foods. A good overview of the numerous dog food reviews online can be found at http://www.consumersearch.com/dog-food/reviews
DogAware.com This site includes a lot of coverage about nutritional information and just what it means in layman’s terms. Check http://www.dogaware.com/dogfeeding.html for a good rundown of terms and a look at commercial dry and canned foods.
Dog Food Analysis This site reviews dry and canned foods, rating them from one to six stars. Along with nutritional information, you’ll find reviews by the editors with their determination of whether or not the editors would purchase this food. (Note: when this posting was written, we had to look at the cached version of this site; there are new reviews on the site so we’re hoping it’s just a temporary glitch.)
PetFoodRatings.com This site includes one of the easiest to use charts we’ve seen; the Dog Food Quick Reference Table compares brands side by side in terms of price and how they rate. You’ll find complete reviews on the site as well with a helpful “what’s good” and “what’s not so good” section for each.
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Please do a little research before believing everything you read on the internet. Reviews sites can be informative, depending on WHO is writing the review. Many people love their pets & have the best of intentions, but very few are qualified pet nutritionists. Some reviews do not even list the person's name or credentials.
That's good advice! Whether you're looking for dog food reviews or hotel room reviews, see who's doing the reviewing!