I am debating whether to change Caspar's food to one that has a higher ratio of protein to carbohydrate. Is there a general guideline as to what ratio of protein, fat, fibre, ash, carbs is best? He is doing well on his current fish-based food but I want to be satisfied that we are doing the best for him. His current food only scores 3.7 on allaboutdogfood - which is a whole lot better than the brands that most UK vets seem to push. He is show rather than working, 16 weeks. Any advice appreciated.
Not sure if you have this brand in the UK, but i’m Planning on feeding my new puppy what I fed my last one, Acana Wild Regionals. It’s rated 5 stars due to the high protein ratio and the ingredients used. According to Dog Food Advisor, it’s safe to feed the same food given to a puppy as you would feed the adult with this brand. Protein content is 35%
There's no one right answer. I personally prefer to feed grain free because you end up feeding less, which saves money. Others here don't worry about grain free. Others feed raw. The important thing it to feed what suits your budget, and what suits your dog. Some foods will give your dog loose stools, so it's just a matter of finding what suits you and your dog.
I definitely do not want to feed raw. I don't have enough freezer space and we take the dog away with us a fair bit. Budget is not a concern. I am more interested in what should be the correct ratio of the different elements.
It’s not as simple as saying x% protein to y% carbs and z% fats. Not all proteins are created equally. Animal-derived protein contains all the essential amino acids whereas vegetable-derived proteins do not. Yet they are still proteins and will be included in the percentage. So you need to look at the source of the protein, too. It gets more complicated than that if you want to take it to extremes; the protein from grass-fed beef, for example, from what I’ve read, beef from grass-fed cows is higher quality than that from grain-fed. I don’t know enough about canine nutrition (on my list of things to read up on) but in humans who are working on their fitness, you look at getting a certain number of grams of protein each day, based on your body weight and exercise. So you can see how percentages wouldn’t give the whole picture; a higher percentage of protein in a food that you eat less weight of could result in a smaller amount of protein than a lower percentage in a food you eat more of. Sometimes reading the summaries doesn’t give the whole picture!
Dog food gets very complicated and us quite a contentious issue as to what you should or shouldn't feed . I'm not sure if we have a minimum protein requirement for puppies but in the USA the AAFCO do have a recommended minimum which is something like 20 or 21% (really must look it up). Dogs aren't true carnivores like cats and can digest other forms of protein, not just meat. So when looking at ingredients you would prefer a good proportion of meat protein first as the best protein source. Be a little wary when you see terms like 'poultry' or 'fish' with no clear identification of what is in the food. Watch out for manufacturers splitting rice % into brown and/or white rice. If they do check the overall rice % and it could well make up 50%+ . Overall if your puppy is thriving, eating happily, producing firm poo I wouldn't change just because of a rating on a website. I've used 5 star rated food that haven't suited my girl and lower rated that have
