Basic Nutrition Information

Basic Nutrition Information 

Get some plain English explanations for what's in dogfood and what pet food labels really tell you.

If you don't know calcium from phosphorus and you think the major food groups are chocolate, movie food, fast food, and frozen food, then this page is for you.       Dog food is full of good nutrients!  This is the first principal to remember in checking nutrients in your dog's food. Major dog food brands—which means all but the cheap-o unfamiliar brands—are backed by great research labs, scientists, nutritionists, and tons of data. Look around you: most dogs are in great shape and are getting good nutrition without major expenditures from their owners. The most important ingredient of your dog's diet is water. Healthy dogs ingest as much water as they need. Since dry food has lower moisture content, dogs drink more water when fed dry food. They need about 2.5 times as much water as dry content, so they drink to supplement whatever moisture is in their food. No matter what you feed your dog, all you have to do is provide clean, fresh water and make sure the water dish is never empty. Most of us have a good idea what carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are, because in this day and age, it's what we pay attention to in our own diets. Fad diets are often based on eating almost no fats, eliminating most carbohydrates, or on cutting calories. Calories, by the way, are just a measure of how much heat energy is given off when a sample of food is burned.  In energy terms, the calorie content represents the amount of gross energy yielded by a particular food. You'll also see terms like digestible energy and metabolize energy with corresponding calorie levels that are less than the gross energy figure. These measurements account for the fact that our bodies are not as efficient as a blast furnace and thus don't completely utilize every calorie identified in the gross energy number.