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Dog Food: Commercially Canned Meats For Your Dog
Commercially available fresh or canned meats are usually lamb, poultry and beef. Lamb is the most easily digested meat, then poultry and beef. Whether fresh, frozen or canned, meat should always be fed lean, not fatty. There is a wide variety of commercially prepared canned meat on the market. The best products developed as complementary additions for biscuit are meat and meat by-products. The ingredients' list will show little or no cereal content, and no food coloring additives.
Make certain that the fresh meat you feed is low in fat. Place the meat in a bowl, allowing it to stand until it reaches room temperature, then knead it as if mixing a meat loaf. Is the residue on your fingers only slightly oily or fatty, just enough to give your fingers a little "shine"? Or are there actual large globules of fat on and between your fingers? If the former is the case, you have a good quality meat. If you find your fingers encased with the latter condition, change your brand of dog meat.
Commercially canned and some fresh and fresh-frozen meat for pets contain additives. Usually charcoal, a natural ingredient aiding digestion, is found among these additives. Meat purchased directly from the butcher is normally meat alone, meat trimmings and, in less reputable establishments, floor sweepings. The meat you add to your dog's diet should be a balanced product by itself. Even a mediocre canned dog food will contain a higher nutritional value than bad, fatty meat. Dogs living in very cold climates require additional fat in the diet to produce a high caloric output. Calories processed by the body produce heat.
Check the color and odor of your dog's meat. Whatever type (fresh or defrosted frozen), it should be moderately bright in color. It should not appear darkened, black or crusty. Nor should the meat appear weakly colored, or look as though food coloring had been added, making it artificially red. Place the meat on a dish and check the "blood" collected at the bottom. The meat should be richly dark in color with an invitingly fresh scent, not rancid of odor. If the meat you feed does not meet these standards, find another brand.
Simply because a canned food is expensive does not necessarily mean it is good. Meat should be palatable and nutritious. Some readily available products have little nutritional value. Foods that look palatable to you, and that your dog relishes, are not always the best to feed. Some of these canned products list, for example, carrots, peas and corn, which unprocessed are completely not digestible.
Cooked or raw, these vegetables exit your dog's system in the same recognizable form by which they entered. Also try to avoid those cans that have a high amount of cereal content, artificial food coloring and water. Some canned foods are approximately 70% water! This narrows your choice on your grocer's shelf. Generally select the commercially prepared foods packaged by reputable companies which are available nationwide.
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