DOG

You may all know the importance of daily brushing and flossing for regular good health of your teeth and gums, but that's as humans and also thanks to dental health education being so updated today. But, did you stop to consider the fact that since science has revealed oral health benefits us by lowering our risk of cardiac problems, it could well be the same for our canine pals? Keeping this medical fact in mind, pet owners are advised to pay extra attention to cleaning their dog's teeth regularly to keep diseases such as plaque and tartar at bay; even a simple swipe across Fido's gums with a clean damp cloth should do the trick!

Moving on from the basics to the more advanced techniques for maintaining your dog's oral health: first understand the importance of proper, balanced and nutritious diet for your pooch i.e. canned food or dry food, any treats and toys apart from regular meals and how much exercise and post-meal oral hygiene is practiced? These are all questions pertinent to your dog's good oral health maintenance program.

It is strongly suggested that as a caring dog owner, you provide your dog with a daily diet filled with nutritional foods and multivitamins, if he needs them. It is preferable to give your dog dry dog food as compared to the moist, tinned stuff that since this rubs against the teeth to perform the action of a plaque-remover and over time, reduces it too. Adding water to the dry dog food or even adding gravy to it robs the small kibbles of this essential property, so dog owners beware!

As for the treats you give your dog – well, they aren't much different from the snacks we humans munch on, which we all know are not that great for us either since there are very few of us that actually reach for that recommended crunchy fruit or veggies bag when our stomach growls! So, let these be a rare treat and of dog-bones, raw meat, jerky or dog bikkies (unless they are the hard kind) and keep the greens and corn starch chews that have more than just empty calories like rawhide given between meals, typically. These actually help prevent tartar – so stick with the program, man – and you can be your dog's best friend by promoting his long life through a good, regular and well managed oral health program!

Dog Diet – The Right Food For Your Dog

Dog Food: Thoughts For Consideration

If you have ever wondered about what is in the food that you feed to your dog, it is worth finding out! Depending on the quality of food that you purchase for your dog to eat, you could be offering him/her a high quality diet that is full of wholesome ingredients, or you could be feeding him/her an unbalanced, very low quality food product possibly containing dangerous components to your dog's overall health.

Low quality foods contain cheap additives; cheap protein sources, and usually contain ingredients that you yourself would not think of ingesting. If this is the case, you would not want to feed this type of dog food to your dog. You need to find out what your dog food contains before purchasing.

How does one determine what is low quality and what is not? This may sound like a complicated puzzle, but it really is not. Below is a check list to keep in mind that will help you to know the difference between your run of the mill dog food, and a high quality product. - Generally, low quality dog foods are sold in grocery stores, while premium products are not. - Premium food products will usually cost a little more than the cheap food. This is the case because, to create a better product, better ingredients need to be used so this raises the price for everybody.

- Premium products will contain no animal by-products but cheap products will. This is the case, because animal byproducts provide a significantly cheaper alternative to quality nutritional sources.

- Premium products will contain no artificial colors, or sugar, while the cheaper alternatives will. - When reading the label on a dog food bag, the protein component will be listed first. For a premium dog food this list will commence with a whole meat, such as a poultry or fish listing. Another key fact to consider is your dog's current health. You may be feeding a low quality food product and are seeing a healthy dog as a result. What you do not see however is what is on the inside. Every dog has nutritional needs, and if they are not met, over time, that dog will begin to suffer as a result. Whether you notice it or not is dependent on how much attention you give to your dog.

A dog that is lacking in the appropriate calorie intake, may appear simply lazy to you, but may actually be suffering from caloric deficiency. A dog that appears to be overweight may be the way he/she is due to a poor balance of fat to protein ratio. A dog that scratches constantly may be dealing with an allergy as a result of some component of his food.

So, it is worth your while to spend a little more to ensure a good brand of dog food.

Your dog will benefit immensely from a high quality, good balance of ingredients in his/her dog food. The results speak for themselves. Premium products offer a stable platform for your dogs vitality, health and well-being.