The most common misconception about "diet foods," are that feeding a "diet" or "light" food to your dog will help shed the pounds. While this should be true, often times it's not and most dogs or cats continue to gain weight steadily even on a light food. WHY? Well, let's take a look at the ingredients of a popular diet kibble sold in grocery stores nationwide.
Weight Control Dog Food:
- Corn Grits, Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Dried Beet Pulp, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Chicken Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Fish Meal (source of fish oil), Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Potassium Chloride, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E).
Ok, looking at the ingredients of this weight loss, or "weight control" food and looking at the regular dog food ingredients, how do they compare?
Regular Kibble
- Whole grain corn, poultry by-product meal, corn gluten meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), meat and bone meal, brewers rice, soybean meal, whole grain wheat, egg and chicken flavor, animal digest, calcium phosphate, salt, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, added color (Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 2), zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate.
Well, to me they look basically the same. The only difference in these two foods is the regular kibble has artificial coloring and dyes.. These are two different brands and manufactures as well. This will show you that most "diet" dog foods are really no different from your everyday foods. However, There is a solution to the growing problem of pet obesity. Feeding your cat or dog carbs, starches and grains will make them fat, so how do you manage to slim them down?
Meat Protein
Meat protein is essential for a canine and feline body. Protein is used and not stored. It gets used each day for energy and other general body functions. Protein needs to be ingested every day because it does not get stored like fats. Fats are stored in the body along with sugars and can contribute to diabetes and or yeast infections (also known as yeast overgrowth.) Here's a recipe that can help get your pet back on track to being healthy!
- read here for more information.