Just when you think you’ve figured out a good food for your pet, someone throws you a curve ball. Take the whole grain-free, whole grain thing. On that subject alone, one could write 50 pages. What about dry vs. wet vs. raw? Refrigerated? Home made? It is no easy task to sort it all out, and does require some investigation. Read as much as you can about foods. As always, consult with your vet regarding any major diet changes or questions about feeding.

There is no one food that is the best food for all dogs. The same way that we humans are concerned with what we eat and the quality of what we eat, so too should we be concerned with what we feed our pets. Their food is as important to them as ours is to us. Some problems your dog can suffer from if he doesn’t get proper nutrition include allergies, skin and coat problems, obesity and malnutrition.

Your dog’s age, size, health, activity level, metabolism, digestion, and other traits all affect what makes a food good or not so good for your individual pet. Even within a household, sometimes you need to buy more than one food. Two of my dogs are about the same size, but one is a couch potato picky eater with missing teeth and a sensitive tummy. The other is an active high energy ball-chasing maniac, and he eats twice as much with an additional meat protein topper. A well-balanced nutritional diet, appropriate for your pet, is critical to their health, energy, digestion, and more. Buying the cheapest bag of food in the discount store is not in your faithful friend’s best interest. Don’t just feed your pet to survive, feed him to thrive!

There can be several foods out there that will fit his needs. Rotating between a few brands that you and your dog are happy with is a great idea to give him variety in taste and nutrition. Not at every meal but after a reasonable amount of time such as every few bags, six months, or yearly, depending on how your dog adjusts to a change. I have three brands that my dogs do well on and like, and I go back and forth between them. I also switch up the meat formula within each brand to give them flavor variety. My little picky girl is not fond of change so I don’t switch her food as often. Instead I switch up the wet topper I put on it. One thing to keep in mind, is to stay within the same type of food, and not make changes drastic, like between dry and raw, or even grain and grain free. Too much of a change is a bigger challenge on your pet’s digestive system. Check with your vet!

The most-commonly fed food is a dry kibble. Most families are busy working folks with kids, seniors, businesses, or other responsibilities. Understandably, dry kibble is the most convenient to feed. It is also available at a lower cost than most options and does not need refrigeration. But for the love and health of your pet, don’t feed the first high-processed artificially colored cheap dry food you find on the shelf for the lifetime of your pet. That well-known brand that has been around for 50 years was probably an ok choice among the few available back then, but probably not now. Dry dog food has changed tremendously in the past few decades, and more recently has evolved into many forms such as grain-free, wholesome grain inclusive, baked, raw-coated, human-grade, and even dehydrated (which I’ll address as a separate category).

Dry foods generally contain about 90% dry matter and 10% water. Approximately 95% of dry dog and cat foods are heat extruded, meaning combined ingredients are cooked and forced through a die to create their shapes. A cooking temperature of about 300°F converts the starches into a more easily digested mixture, destroys any toxins and sterilizes the product. Then the food is sprayed with fat or some similarly enticing coating during drying to make it tastier. However, many believe the high heat processing also destroys nutrients, and sometimes the high carbohydrate content in some dry foods is undesirable due to health conditions of the pet.

It’s best not to feed dry food without first moistening it a bit. That way it doesn’t need to pull moisture from the body in the digestive tract, and doesn’t have to make the kidneys work as hard. Also noteworthy is that contrary to the popular belief that dry food is better for your dog’s teeth, unless the food is specially formulated for that, this is really not the case.* At the gumline where it really matters, kibble does not provide a cleaning effect. And if your dog is like mine, there isn’t much chewing going on during eating, just swallowing whole!

More and more baked dry kibble is coming on the market, offering a dry food to pet parents that has not been heat extruded. Baked kibble is touted to be a better alternative with the convenience of dry. There is also raw-coated kibble which introduces an element of raw that we will get to shortly. One last note about dry dog food that I have to make is, if there are different colored bits included, then please, step away from that bag! Why feed your pet artificially colored food?

Wet food is also popular, with options from cans to pouches. These contain an average of 75% water and 25% dry ingredients. Usually, wet foods have a higher level of fresh or frozen meat ingredients. This could be whole meat or meat byproducts. Ingredients are combined with water and left chunky or ground to a paste depending on the style of food being made. Cans are filled, sealed and pressure cooked with heat. Usually cans have a longer shelf life and are well liked by most pets, but is more expensive to feed than dry. Many companies are doing away with cans as containers and using little cartons, sometimes called tetra paks. Wet food in pouches is also commonly available, although pouches are generally small and better suited for small dogs.

Refrigerated foods are a moist cooked food that is often found in a log or pouch form. You just slice off a portion and cut it up a bit, or scoop little moist bites of food out of a pouch. These must be kept refrigerated, and have an expiration date. Serving portions should be allowed to come to room temperature before feeding.

Fresh foods are cooked foods that can be either made commercially by companies that make other forms as well, or special ordered in batches from online “fresh” pet food retailers. These will be made to order, sold frozen and just need to be thawed, allowed to come to room temperature and served. They are nutritionally complete, and don’t need any supplementation. Many online retailers sell by subscribing after filling out a pet profile, and will package them in proportion sizes according to information you provide about your pet. Freshly cooked and conveniently packaged, this is an expensive option for most people if you have a big dog or multiple dogs.

An alternative to fresh foods you buy frozen, is to make home cooked food yourself and freeze it in batches. You have the flexibility to add the ingredients that you and your dog like best. A big drawback here is that you have to add nutritional supplementation to meet the needs of your dog. In addition, it is time consuming when cooking and packaging, but is easy to thaw and serve after that.

From Merck vet manual on home-prepared diets:

“Dogs can be successfully maintained on properly formulated home-cooked diets; this is much more difficult in cats. Advantages of home-cooked diets include the use of fresh, high-quality ingredients chosen by the owner. Disadvantages include preparation time, variable quality control and diet consistency, higher cost, and the difficulty in formulating and preparing a nutritionally complete and balanced diet.”

“If owners choose to feed a home-cooked diet, they should use a recipe formulated by a veterinary nutritionist (vs found on the Internet). It is also important to realize that no home-cooked diets have undergone the testing and research used to formulate complete and balanced commercial pet foods.”

People who swear by raw food rave about the health benefits. Reductions in allergies, shinier coats, and less dental disease are some of the claims. There is no question, there are pets that have overcome some health problems on a raw diet. They also refer to raw feeding as the evolutionary diet of dogs. But over thousands of years, dogs have evolved to be genetically different than their wild ancestors, and have the ability to digest plant products not just meat. Raw food can be commercial or home-made, as well as freeze dried, which I will touch on next. However, raw feeding is still controversial, and has drawbacks. It’s just not for everyone. Not only is it quite expensive, but requires extreme diligence to safe food handling practices, and many veterinarians are not fans of it.

Freeze-dried raw is more convenient and easier to store and serve than frozen raw with many of the same benefits. It is generally sold in patties, chunks or nuggets. People who serve raw at home, often take freeze dried raw on vacations with their pets because of the convenience. The freeze-dried meat provides excellent nutrition in a safer, lighter, easier to store form. Drying and minimal processing removes the moisture from raw meat. Most companies use a form of high-pressure pasteurization prior to freeze-drying, but you should still wash your hands after handling freeze-dried food. Raw coated kibble uses a freeze dried coating on the kibble to give some of the raw benefits to dry kibble. You’ll find more info at the end of this article.

Dehydrated pet foods can be small dry or moist pieces or a powdery mixture similar to oatmeal. Formulas can be complete with a meat protein or be a base to which you can add your own meat or meats of choice. It gives you the ability to create a home-made style meal, but with the convenience of all the ingredients and nutrients already in the package. The package is usually a bag, or bag within a box. Pound for pound, what you buy will make much more food than what you see in the bag, because you add water to rehydrate the formula. Or in the case of base mixes, you add your own meat protein as well. I feed a form of this as a topper, and I have to say it smells like real food.

No matter what style of food you prefer to feed your dog, do a bit of research and see what’s in that package. There is a lot to be said for quality, and remember to check with your vet if you have any questions.

Obesity in dogs is also worth mentioning here. Far too many owners are unaware when their dogs are considered obese. Some dogs are more prone to obesity, but others are getting a bit too much “love”. Many owners feel they are being kind by feeding more to their furkids. The truth is obese dogs face a higher risk of health problems, some serious, such as diabetes, bone, joint and cardiovascular issues, as well as a shorter life. Monitor your dog’s weight regularly by feeling to see if his ribs are difficult to feel or prominent, and whether you can see a waistline from above and tummy tuck from the side, or if he looks like a stuffed sausage.

More about feeding raw from PetMD:

https://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/5-mistakes-people-make-when-feeding-pets-raw-food-diet

There is more written about feeding on the Merck Veterinary Manual website here:

*https://www.merckvetmanual.com/management-and-nutrition/nutrition-small-animals/dog-and-cat-foods?query=foods

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/resourcespages/pet-health-overview

More on dry food and teeth:

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosing-dog-food/dry-dog-food-cleaner-teeth/

One company’s take on the tetra paks:

https://www.petfoodindustry.com/directories/114-pet-food-product-database/listing/12457-petcurean-now-fresh-stews-and-pates-and-tetra-pak-packaging

Wellness pet explains freeze-dried dog food:

https://www.wellnesspetfood.com/our-community/wellness-blog/health-nutrition/diet/what-are-benefits-freeze-dried-dog-food