Nutrition
Planning your dog’s diet is an important and occasionally challenging decision. Canine health depends on the appropriate balance of nutrients and calories sufficient for prime growth, activity level and cellular repair.
Choosing the right dog food
Anyone who knows me knows I'm a health and nutrition NUT! I take the nutrition of my family, and that includes our beloved dogs, very seriously. Just like human foods... dog foods ARE NOT ALL CREATED EQUAL!
I have poured in years of research as well as consulting MANY vets about nutrition and food options. I base my decisions, including the optimal diet for my dogs, on science and expertise from experts in this field. When doing your research on dog foods, make sure your sources are credible! There is SO much misinformation out there. Ensure that your information is sourced from a legitimate veterinary medicine journal.
We feed a Canadian-made food - ACANA WILD COAST, ALL-LIFE-STAGES FOOD. We strongly recommend that our clients stay with a high-quality dry kibble diet. This helps ensure that your dog's diet is complete and balanced and isn't missing any micronutrients. Further, we suggest choosing food with high-quality animal proteins, whole grains and vegetables from organic sources. Also, the prenatal health of a momma dog has a potentially large impact on the short and long-term health and well-being of her babies. Thus, make sure that the breeder you choose feeds high quality food to their mommas.
Additionally, we MOST CERTAINLY DO NOT recommend feeding a diet that is considered a "boutique diet" , one that contains exotic meats, one that is grain-free, vegan, vegetarian or homemade. Please follow this link to learn more about why these diets are not safe or healthy options for your dog.
Avoid foods with unidentified fat or protein sources, by-products, artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, and added sweeteners. When considering dog foods, don’t forget to look at what’s in those treats you buy for your four-legged friend! Buy healthy, and again, avoid preservatives, fillers or by-products. Our all-time favourite dog treats are made by an Ontario company - Arf'ul Good. These treats only contain one simple ingredient and even my pickiest dogs adore them!
Read more about dog diets and health:
Dog Food Advisor provides an annual review of the best of the best dry kibble foods.