If you feel that your dog is not benefiting enough from the dog food you are giving them, there is nothing wrong with switching dog food.

If you have seen symptoms of an allergy in your dog or they seem to be suffering from any type of gastrointestinal illnesses, you may need to switch their dog food. Signs of difficulties that may be caused by dog food can include diarrhea, excessive gas, bloating, or vomiting. To determine if it is the dog food causing your dogs health problems, you can switch your dog food type and watch your dog for improvements in these areas.

If your dog improves in health after a few days of switching dog food types to an all natural dog food food or organic food, you will know that there were ingredients of the first dog food that was contributing your dogs gastrointestinal health. You can discuss the possibilities of dog food causes for your dogs situation with your veterinarian, and you can also discuss possible options for switching foods. This can help you to determine if changing dog foods will help your dogs health or if there is some other cause relating to your dogs sickness or allergies.

By determining this first, you can refrain from switching dog foods before it is necessary. This is important because, even though switching the type of dog food your dog eats may end up being inevitable, doing so too early or too often may cause more harm. If it is not the food causing difficulties, you may switch to a food for no reason, which can irritate your dogs stomach and cause problems.

Aside from actual illnesses, there are many reasons people switch dog food, and many times it is overall dog health. You may see a type of food that offers more benefits than the food you are currently feeding your dog, and so to achieve better dog health, you switch them. Or, you may decide that you want to offer your dog better dog health by changing them to an all-natural diet with no processed foods. For some people, the type of dog food is switched often so their dog receives variety, and has nothing at all to do with dog health. Unfortunately, this is not always a good idea. If your dog seems to be perfectly healthy on the dog food are currently eating, it is often best not to switch dog food.

written by : Aprilliza Varsya, 10 year school girl ( with assistance from her dog booger and her dad)

Aprilliza Varsya
http://domesticdogs.net

Are you just starting to research the BARF diet for dogs – also known as “bones and raw food” or the RAW diet? It can be confusing – I remember asking TONS of questions when I first started. How do you know how much to feed? WHAT do you feed? Can you mix the BARF diet with processed food? How long does it take to prepare the raw food? How much does it cost to buy all the BARF products necessary? Should you feed raw meat and vegetables? Well, on the last question, only you can decide what’s right for your dog, but I’ll answer the rest of your questions as best I can.

How do you know how much to feed?

It really depends on the weight of your dog. Most people recommend 2-5% of their body weight. Just make sure you know your dog’s weight before starting, and then watch their weight and adjust depending if they gain/lose/maintain.

WHAT do you feed?

Raw meaty bones, like chicken necks and backs for example. Muscle meat which has no bones. Organ meat, like lungs, liver, kidneys, etc. Some people also include raw vegetables.

Can you mix the BARF diet with processed food?

It’s not recommended as processed food, or kibble, is digested in about 10-12 hours, and raw food in about 4-6. This can lead to serious health problems. That being said, some people do it quite successfully – but I wouldn’t.

How long does it take to prepare the raw food?

If you buy pre-prepared BARF for your dog, it only takes the time to defrost and put in their bowl. If you prefer the DIY (do it yourself) method, this would depend on what you’re serving and to how many dogs. Most people recommend pre-packaging once a week in the serving sizes necessary for your dog. You could probably safely count on a half hour per dog, less if you can get your butcher to do some of the cutting for you.

How much does it cost to buy all the BARF products necessary?

This would also depend on whether you’re going with the DIY or buying the packaged food. DIY usually requires hunting for bargains and can be time consuming. What I prefer to do (with only 2 dogs) is buy my BARF pre-packaged from a reputable company and I serve that. It can be more expensive, but with our busy lives, I don’t mind paying a few bucks more.

Visit our website, http://www.a1-dog-info.com/barf-diet-for-dogs.htm for more information.

Dog Food Secrets!

Tara Pearce is the author and webmaster of A1-Dog-Info.com. Please visit us for all kinds of information about dog food, toys, health, books, supplies and clothes.

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Finding the perfect dog food for your dog can be difficult and incredibly frustrating, especially since the industry has not been truthful in terms of the production of dog food. Recent reports and news has shown us that dog food companies have been forced to recall some of their brands - due to dangerous ingredients in the food- and the worry that their questionable processing techniques will be exposed to the public.

Most of us know that junk food isn’t good for us, and the world at large is beginning to understand that we have suffered somewhat at the hands of the food industry due to preservatives and other techniques that are used to increase profits (but drop the quality and nutritional value of the food.) Consumerism and marketing, the ‘bottom-line’ and the increasing of profits have led to all sorts of ’shortcuts’ to decrease costs and preserve food that are not good for us in the least. We have not, unfortunately, taken this thinking to our dog’s health and have the mistaken assumption that food process techniques of dog food companies must be fine, or that our dog is tough enough to handle pretty much any food. Just like junk food, dog food can be tasty, but provides no nutritional value - and even MORE concerning is the fact that the preservatives and chemicals used in dog food were banned from human food years ago due to these chemicals being dangerous and the cause of numerous diseases and sicknesses.

Any dog lover will be concerned for their dog’s health, and should take every precaution necessary to ensure it. When our dog is sick, we take it to the vet, but often we can never quite figure out the CAUSES of the sicknesses. Just like with humans, the causes of dog ailments may be the very food we feed them every day. In fact, that is probably THE very cause. The food may be poisoning your dog, and you don’t even know about it!

Feeding your dog the wrong kind of food results in an unnatural limited lifespan for your dog, and can destroy your dog’s quality of life and cause your dog to behave awkwardly. Processed dog food causes many issues such as fatigue, aggression, timidity or even epilepsy. It also is the cause of many diseases such as cancer, chronic skin infections, ear infections, and flea or worm infections. Furthermore, it causes weak and deformed bones, kidney failure and can cause a dog to heal very slowly and unnaturally when he/she gets hurt. No amount of expensive ‘gourmet’ brand of dog food can actually sort out the problem, because the ‘gourmet’ food is processed exactly the same as the cheaper dog food - with chemicals like Sodium Pentobarbital which is highly destructive and causes cancer.

It is clear, both from what we see on the news and from what we are experiencing, that dog food companies do not have both dogs and the owners of dogs’ best interests at heart. They are mass-producing junk food for our dogs and expecting us not to take notice. We have to take our own much loved best friend’s health into our own hands, and learn the dog food secrets that will ensure our dog will be happy, full of energy, and live for as long as they should without suffering from ailments.

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