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What are premium dog foods and are they really any better for my dog than your garden variety dog foods? How can you tell what a premium dog food is? Is it listed on the bag somewhere? Is it more expensive? What makes a premium dog food premium?

A true premium dog food has better quality ingredients. This means your dog will get more and better nutrients that he desperately needs. But don’t be fooled by all the enticing bags in the market today. Don’t be lured in by the beautiful pictures of fresh foods and advertising stating how your dog needs something in this dog food. The dog food ingredients list is what you need to find.

Before you purchase a premium dog food, check out the first two ingredients. Look at the actual ingredients listed on the ingredients label. They tell you a lot. Premium dog foods will have a meat listed first – dogs need animal proteins. Premium dog foods also use a better quality of grains.

Grains/Carbs: Dogs are better able to digest certain grains better than others. Rice, oats, lentils, and barley are all easily digestible for dogs. Corn, soy, and wheat are not. This means less nutrients for your dog. And since economy foods list grains as top ingredients, this means the dog food as a whole is less nutritional than premium dog foods.

Some grains, such as soy, wheat, and corn, are also common sources for food allergies in dogs.When utilized as by-products, such as corn wheat gluten, they are nothing more than cheap fillers. Their main purpose is to fill up your dog’s stomach so that he feels full. It’s kind of like human junk food – fill your tummy with no nutrition.

A meat by-product is not a top 2 ingredient in premium dog foods. Meat by-product is just what is left over after all the usable meat has been removed. This includes the bones, head, intestines, and blood.

Like the grain by-products, these provide very little nutritional value to your dog, but do boost up the protein ratio in the dog food. The quality of the meat by-product is another big mystery that no one seems to be able to answer.

Premium dog foods will have a meat meal or meat as the top ingredient, with a meat meal being the better choice. Many premium dog foods will have 2 or 3 meats/meat meals listed in the top ingredients, thereby giving your dog better protein and nutrients.

What about price? Is that a good indicator of the type of dog food? Not really. Of course if you see a really cheaply priced dog food, it is probably an economy food. But just because the food is expensive, does not automatically mean it is a healthy, premium dog food. Again, you need to take a peek at the dog food ingredients list to really know what you are getting.

And now there are more types of dog food, like holistic and organic. For more information about the different types of foods available for your dog and how to carefully choose the best premium dog foods for your particular pet at the Healthy Dog Food blog.

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