Best Super Premium Dog Foods

The best Super Premium Food choice for pet owners is dog food, which contains the necessary calories, minerals, vitamins and nutrients so that it can be used as a complete diet. Is it possible? Yes, if you choose wisely. Good options can be found among mid-range products, but still many people prefer to buy super premium dog food. Here’s why.

1. This dog food is dominated by animal protein rather than vegetable protein. It provides your pet with those amino acids that are not synthesized in the body. In vegetable protein, there are either very few such substances or none at all.
2. Meat accounts for at least 40% of the ingredients. This explains the higher cost compared to premium dog food. Price is not always an indicator of quality, but in this case, this rule is really fair. Manufacturers use different types of meat% chicken, lamb, beef, rabbit. The benefits of such a diet are obvious. Moreover, the more varied the meat composition, the greater the nutritional value.
3. Super premium feed contains a minimum of cereals. There are also those where cereals are completely absent. Your four-footed friends are carnivorous by nature, foods such as soy, corn, cereals are not assimilated by their body. At the same time, manufacturers sometimes introduce them into the composition of the diet, thereby reducing its cost.
4. The selection of super premium dog food is usually very large. The manufacturer has formulations for different breeds, adult pets and puppies, animals with different physiological characteristics.

How to choose?

The first thing to look for is the composition of the dog food. Most ratings are based on this principle. If we are talking about super premium feed, the composition should not include:

• antibiotics and hormonal drugs;
• artificial colors (the most common are tartrazine, azorubin), flavors and preservatives;
• artificial flavor enhancers.

Here are some of the ingredients that you can see in the ingredient list on your dog food packaging.

• By-products. They are useful and not very useful. Manufacturers add them to replace artificial additives – that’s a good thing. From by-products, the pet receives some trace elements and vitamins that are not contained or are present in muscle meat in small quantities. For example, it is in the cartilage tissue, ligaments and bones that chondroitin and glucosamine are contained, which are necessary for the functioning of the animal’s joints (especially in old age). There is also a downside. The digestibility of this protein is lower, dogs do not digest it well, which can cause diarrhea.
• Dehydrated meat. This is meat that has undergone special processing to reduce the amount of moisture, and as a result, became meat flour – this is how manufacturers increase its content in super premium and some premium feeds.
• Thermox. It is an antioxidant that is found in dog food. It protects fats and fat-soluble vitamins from oxidation, preserves the quality of meat/fish meal, thereby increasing the shelf life of the feed. No harm to the health of the pet, no side effects from thermox were found.
• Propyl gallate (E310). It is an artificial preservative that prevents fat oxidation. It is not recommended to purchase dog food that contains it. It can cause allergies, kidney problems, and stomach irritation. The preservative is prohibited in the production of baby food.
• Taurine is an important feed ingredient. It is good for the heart. In dog food, its content is lower than in compositions for cats (lower need for it), but its presence is highly desirable.

Carefully study the composition of the super premium feed indicated on the package. Keep in mind that something like “turkey flavored” doesn’t mean that the pellets contain poultry. We can talk about flavors or flavorings.

What else to look for.

• Nutritional value of dog food. If your pet is overweight, you should not take food with a high nutritional value, although this indicator itself is positive.
• The age of the pet. As a rule, dogs aged 7+ are transferred to a diet for older animals. Food for puppies is richer in vitamins and amino acids, its energy value is higher, which is necessary for the normal development of a growing organism during a period of increased activity. If you give such food to an adult dog once, there will be no health problems. But feeding an animal with a composition that is not for its age for a long time can be hazardous to health. And the opposite situation. If the puppy is given adult food all the time, the lack of vitamins will be critical, there may be problems with normal development, the formation of a bone corset, teeth, and immunity.
• The manufacturer is another indicator of quality.

Below we will consider the most successful products from various manufacturers, but for now, as a result, we will bring out an approximate “recipe” for the ideal super premium food for dogs:

• the main ingredient is an animal protein component with a content of at least 40%;
• gluten – up to 8%;
• animal fat – up to 18%;
• omega-3 fatty acids – 3.9.

These are guidelines for dogs in good health. The diet should be adjusted if there are problems with the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, etc. – in this case, the decision on the choice of super-premium or premium food for dogs should be made together with the veterinarian.