What is the best natural dry dog food recommended by vets?
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The best type of dry dog food really depends on what you are looking to accomplish with your dog. Looking for a food that fits your dog's age, size and activity needs are a great way to start. From there you can look to more specialized diets depending on if your dog has a dietary issue, sensitive skin or stomach, or if he has a certain health need to address. You can also narrow down your search by looking for ingredients that you want to feed your dog.
For example: If you have a 4 year old male neutered golden Retriever, you would want to look for a natural dog food that is for Adult, large breed dogs, and one that does not say "active, or athlete" unless he is heavily involved in sports or jobs like agility or working. Neutered dogs have lower energy requirements so an adult dog food works fine for his age group. If he has a food allergy, avoiding ingredients in diets such as wheat, corn and soy products can help prevent him from having digestive or skin upset as these are the most common allergens.
Look for a food product that has whole ingredients listed, and ones you can recognize. Most higher quality foods will have ingredients listed in their whole forms, however this can be deceptive. If you see multiple of the same type of ingredient in the food, then it may be split up to make it look like "less" of it is in the product. Also try to avoid foods with excessive additives in them. At the bottom should be a nutrient breakdown list, and an AAFCO certification if in the US to show that it is a safe product to feed.
Some good mid-line natural foods to explore include: Nutro, Blue Buffalo, Innova, Kirkland Signature's Nature's Domain, and many other similar products in the aisles of these foods. Avoiding products at most major grocery stores can also help you to avoid lower quality or "grocery" brand diets such as Pedigree, Dog Chow and Kibbles n' Bits which are lower in quality.
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