Every dog is unique. The “best” food for them depends on their individual needs and preferences. If your dog appears healthy, with no signs of health issues that may influence diet selection, there are three criteria your dog’s food should meet at a minimum:
Once you’ve found options that meet these needs, you may like to consider other factors that fit within your lifestyle and priorities. Do you require convenience and ease? Are storage options limited? Does human-grade pet food align with your ideals? Does your dog have specific nutritional needs? It’s all up to you and your dog.
When a dog food is labelled as “complete and balanced”, it’s declaring it contains all the nutrients a dog of that life stage and breed size needs in their day-to-day life. These nutrients are not just present but are supplied in the right volumes and ratios when recommended guidelines are followed.
International pet food regulatory organisations, like the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), have developed nutritional guidelines to ensure a food is “complete and balanced” for each life stage, as puppies have very different nutritional needs compared to adult dogs. Many complete and balanced diets are formulated to comply with these guidelines.
If your dog is not eating a “complete and balanced” diet for their life stage, they’re at increased risk developing nutritional deficiencies and/or toxicities that can impact their health and wellbeing.
Dog food comes in a range of formats, each made slightly differently with unique benefits and drawbacks.
Dry dog food, also called kibble or dog biscuits, is one of the most common types of dog food. It’s easy to feed, convenient to store with a long shelf life, and is often available in economically friendly bulk sizes. Every bite is uniform in shape and flavour, so fussy dogs can’t pick and choose what parts to eat and potentially miss out on vital nutrients.
Kibble is typically made from meat, grains, and veggies mixed and shaped into bite sized pellets and cooked at high temperatures to ensure a high level of food safety. To ensure the end product is complete and balanced, manufacturers may add supplements as a coating to replace any nutrients that were damaged through the heating process.
Air-dried dog food takes blended raw ingredients and removes moisture by using a constant flow of warm air to dehydrate the food. The result is a chewy, meaty dog food.
Air-dried dog food like Providore’s range combines the benefits of wet and raw diets with the convenience of kibble: it’s highly palatable, made of natural ingredients, minimally processed, does not require refrigeration, has a long shelf-life, and is ready to eat right out of the bag.
Wet dog food offers a range of textures, from stews to chunks to pâte, for dogs to enjoy. This shelf-stable option appeals to dogs’ senses with its strong aroma. Generally packaged in cans or sachets, the high-water content can make wet dog food a less economically friendly option when compared to kibble and air-dried foods, as the equivalent serving size required to meet a dog’s daily nutritional needs is greater.
Raw diets aim to mimic the diet of ancestral canines in the wild. It involves raw, uncooked ingredients and high amounts of meat and sometimes offal. Some people opt to make their dog’s raw diet at home, which, unless following a recipe approved by a qualified animal nutritionist, may not be complete and balanced. When feeding BARF, it can be challenging to source ingredients, takes time to prepare the food, and is also smelly and messy compared to other, more convenient diets.
Take care if feeding your dog a raw diet. Because the ingredients are not cooked, they do put your dog at higher risk of food borne pathogens, including bacteria and parasites. Practice good hygiene when handling raw diets, washing your hands and any instruments and surfaces used thoroughly after touching raw food.
These diets often have short shelf lives and need to be kept frozen or refrigerated. Like wet food, a fully raw diet can get expensive due to the volumes required to meet your dog’s daily needs.
Fresh dog food uses wholefood ingredients, which may even be human grade, and gently cooks them to improve food safety. Like raw food, some people cook fresh meals for their dogs at home, which may lead to nutritional imbalances if not following a complete and balanced diet, but there are many commercially prepared options available.
Freeze-dried dog food is typically made up of raw ingredients that have undergone a freeze-drying process to remove moisture. The final result is a highly palatable, shelf stable product with nutrients that have not been altered by heat.
Like raw food, freeze-dried food may have higher risk of food-borne pathogens compared to cooked diets. The risk is lower than a traditionally raw diet, but not all pathogens are fully eliminated by the process. It can also be more expensive, due to the process, and many freeze-dried diets recommend rehydrating the food before your dog eats it, adding an extra step to mealtimes.
Rather than sticking to a single food format, many dogs love eating a combination of food types. They enjoy the variety of textures, flavours, and aromas.
Air-dried foods like Providore offer a quick, easy and nutritionally sound topper to sprinkle your dog’s diet with happy, healthy additions to their main meal. Providore is complete and balanced, so also makes a good base to mix with wet food, kibble, or fresh and raw diets.
When mixed feeding, take care not to overfeed. The food you use as a base should make up 70% of your dog’s daily calories. The topper you mix in or add on top should not be more than 30% of your dog’s daily calories.
The amount of food your dog needs at every meal depends on:
There is no single value or rule that applies to all dogs. When figuring out how much to start with, it’s best to follow the feeding guidelines on the packaging.
The feeding guidelines are a good starting point, often illustrating how much to feed your dog over 24 hours. This recommendation daily intake won’t account for treats or portions for mixed feeding.
Start by weighing your dog and getting an idea of their size. Then, find out what the recommended daily portion size is for that weight range. Feed your dog that amount initially, keeping an eye on their body shape and weight. If your dog starts looking overweight, slightly decrease the amount of food; if your dog seems to be losing weight, increase the amount of food.
If you have a puppy, you’ll need to use their current age and expected adult weight to find the correct starting portion. As your puppy grows, you will need to adjust their food portions regularly as different growth phases have different nutritional requirements.
The feeding guidelines usually outline the recommended portions for a full 24-hour period, NOT per meal. If your dog gets two or three meals per day, split the total recommended amount of food over each meal.
For example, if the guidelines recommend your dog get 200g of food per day and you feed them breakfast and dinner, that 200g needs to be split over two meals. They would get 100g of food at each meal.
Treats are extra calories and, if your dog is getting a lot of them without any adjustments to their food intake, it could quickly lead to weight gain. When feeding treats, adjust your dog’s daily portions as needed to account for the extra calories.
Treats should not exceed 10% of your dog’s daily calories.
For most dogs, two meals a day is recommended, though there are exceptions.
The younger the puppy, the more frequently they need to be fed. When you first bring your puppy home at 8-12 weeks of age, they’ll need to be fed 3-4 small meals per day. As they get bigger, this can slowly drop down until they’re being fed twice a day from 6 months of age.
If your dog’s food is safe to store at room temperature, like air-dried food or kibble, it can be tempting to leave this out for your dog to graze on. However, this is not recommended for a few reasons:
Feeding your dog a defined amount at regular mealtimes is much more controlled with less risk of over- or under–eating, especially with nutrient-dense foods like kibble and air-dried dog food.
So, what’s the best dog food? The answer really depends on you and your dog.
Providore offers a delicious, natural, high-protein air-dried dog food that many dogs love as a topper or complete diet. Available in a number of different flavours, your dog will devour our range of high meat food crafted in small batches and gently processed to preserve the ingredients’ natural goodness.
Visit our store locator page to find a retailer near you and ensure your pet gets the best nutrition available.
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