What Are Premium Dog Foods?

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?

The main difference between premium and economy dog foods is the quality of the ingredients and the amount of actual nutrients digestible by your dog. Ignore any of the fancy wording or delicious looking pictures on the bag of food. Look, instead, at the dog food ingredients first.

Look at the first 2 ingredients to see if you are purchasing a premium dog food. Economy dog foods use a lot of low quality grains and meat by-products. Premium dog foods list an animal meat as the first ingredient.

Grains: Economy dog foods usually have a grain as the first ingredient, premium dog foods will not. Dogs are able to digest some grains well, like rice and oats, but have difficulty with corn and wheat.

Other problems with some grains is that they are a common food allergy for some dogs, such as corn, wheat and soy. These grains are usually by-products from processing of some other type of food and have very little nutritional value for your dog. They are simply cheap, useless fillers – used to “fill up” your pet’s tummy without providing much nutrients for your dog’s body.

Meat by-products are not a top 2 dog food ingredient in premium dog foods. Meat by-products are the slaughtered meat carcass parts that are left over after all the usable meat has been removed – like bones, necks, intestines, etc.

Again, like cheap grain by-products, meat by-products are just not an equal substitute for real animal meat for your dog. They are used to boost the protein percentages in the dog food and make pet owners feel like they are feeding their dogs animal meat.

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