How to choose a good dog food?
There are a bunch of factors that go into choosing the right food for your dog, many of which will be addressed by your vet. If not, we also got expert intel from Dr. Bernal, breaking it down into simple steps — trust of the brand, nutrition, ingredients and format. We’ll get into a lot of this later, but here are a few tips.
What is the flavor that dogs like most?
The answer to this question may surprise you. While there are a lot of different flavors of dog food on the market, the vast majority of dogs actually prefer the taste of meat. This is why most brands include some form of meat in their foods.
Why Have You Chosen Foods from These Brands?
There is a lot of controversy over brands at the moment. Smaller start-up brands ploughed a lot of money into marketing that suggested their products were superior, and they were very persuasive.
However, vets are continuing to recommend brands that can answer the questions set by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA). These include whether they hire a veterinary nutritionist, and whether they test their diets clinically or just formulate them with a computer. The WSAVA guidelines can be found here. And the Pet Nutrition Alliance took it upon themselves to contact the food companies and ask some of these questions. The results can be found here.
As you can see, many companies refused to answer the questions or weren’t able to discuss the results of their guaranteed analysis. Only four companies employ a full time American College of Veterinary Nutrition diplomat: Hill’s, Royal Canin, Purina, and Mars.