Understanding Fiber Sources in Dog Food

Canine nutrition expert Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible , recently discussed animal fat in dog food here on DogTipper. Today Hotchner takes a look at a necessary but sometimes confusing element of dog food: fiber.

Fiber sources in pet food are generally the by-products of other human food manufacturing processes and are the leftovers which result from processing another food – for example wheat bran, which is what is left after the nutritious wheat kernel is removed. Food fragments are lower-cost than the food from which they were derived, but they also can serve a useful purpose in dog food, which does need fiber content. While dogs definitely need fiber in their diets it should not exceed about 10% of the overall recipe, while many low-quality pet foods have much more of the indigestible fibrous material.

This Canine Nutrition Tip is from Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible and award-winning host of Dog Talk® on NPR station WLIU. Canine Nutrition Tips are sponsored by Proportions, the whole food custom nutrition program for your dog. Visit www.Proportions.com to get a custom 2-meal trial for your dog, or to learn more about canine nutrition from the full Canine Nutrition University classes written by Tracie.

Author photo courtesy www.traciehotchner.com; photo © Ling Li

About Paris Permenter and John Bigley

DogTipper publishers Paris Permenter and John Bigley are a husband-wife team of full-time writers. The couple has authored over two dozen books and 2,500+ magazine articles.

• Mail
|
• Twitter
|
• Facebook
|
• Google+
|
• More Posts (5416)

You might also like these posts: