Selecting the Best Dog Food Based on Your Dog’s Individual Needs

In the past, I’ve avoided posting too much about what I feed my dogs.  Finding the best dog food for Kitsune and Fenrir hasn’t always been the easiest of tasks.  As a biologist, a pet blogger, and a concerned pet guardian, I understand the importance of a healthy diet.  For many dogs, the ultimate healthy diet is a properly balanced raw or home-cooked, fresh food diet.  I discovered raw diets for dogs shortly after we got Kitsune, and spent hours researching how to provide a properly balanced raw food diet.  Unfortunately, not for lack of trying, I’ve never really been able to get a raw diet to agree with Kitsune.

What was I doing wrong?

When Kit was a puppy, we discovered that he has some food sensitivities.  As much as he loves food, I’ve had to be careful about what I feed him.  Try as I might, I could not get a fully raw diet to work for him.  After ruling out any medical issues, discussing his unique needs with a vet nutritionist, and personal research, we eventually came up with a diet plan that works well for Kit.

Fen, on the other hand, actually tolerates raw food really well!  Which I’m happy about because finding the best dog food for Fenrir proved to be a bit of a challenge for me as well.  Fen is an Alaskan Klee Kai, a breed that’s a bit notorious for being picky eaters.  Fen definitely fits that mold!  Just try to feed him the same meal for more than a few days in a row.  He’s sure to turn up that adorable little nose of his.

Two Dogs = Two Foods

Being a two-dog household, of course it would make life easier if Kit and Fen could just eat the same food.  But, the fact of the matter is that the “perfect” food for one dog might be horrible for another.  Like how Fen does really well on raw food, but it tends to make Kit throw up!  Thankfully, with my two dogs, I’ve kind of found a way for us to meet in the middle.

Most of Kit’s and Fen’s meals are home cooked recipes that I create using the website BalanceIt.com.  Both Kit and Fen LOVE their home cooked meals.  Making their food myself means that I can change up recipes as often as I need to to keep Fen interested in his food.  Keep in mind, if you’re interested in feeding home-cooked meals to your dog it’s super important to make sure you are balancing their diet!  An unbalanced diet will lack important nutrients, and can lead to health issues.

Fen, like I mentioned above, does fine eating raw.  Although I mostly feed home-cooked currently, I do give Fen a premade raw as a backup food.  He also gets raw meaty bones regularly for his teeth.  I used to give Kit raw meaty bones too, but even that small amount of raw wasn’t really agreeing with him so I stopped.  No worries, Kit gets dental chews instead.  So he doesn’t feel left out!

As many raw or home-cooked feeders will attest too, back up foods come in handy!  Sometimes you just don’t feel like cooking for your dog.  Or you forget to defrost their raw food.  Or you forget to buy some of the ingredients you needed for a recipe.  Que the backup food!  For Fen, I keep a bag of Instinct Frozen Raw Bites in my freezer.  Kit gets Farmina kibble.  Back off kibble haters!

Feeding Kibble IS NOT a Sin!

Resorting to feeding Kit kibble, albeit high quality kibble, once upon a time made me feel a bit like a failure.  Especially before I dived into the deep end of home cooking for my dogs.  Kit ate exclusively kibble for years before I started home cooking.  I tend to run in crazy dog people circles, where feeding your dog…gasp…kibble…is often looked down upon.  Thankfully, I’m way past caring much about what other people think of me at this point.    

SO Many Options!

This day and age, there are so many options available when it comes to feeding our pets.  Besides the growing body of knowledge about home prepared diets, there are hundreds of companies selling commercially prepared foods, everything from common kibble to commercial raw diets.  Taking into account the shear number of available options, plus the fact that not all foods work for all pets, selecting the best dog food for each of your pets can really be a daunting task.

Luckily you don’t have to go in alone!  There are so many amazing resources out there for pet owners who want to find the food that will work best for their pet.  Your pet’s veterinarian can be a great source of knowledge.  An increasing number of general practice vets seem to be supporting higher quality foods, some of them even recommending and helping owners to create balanced raw/home cooked diets.  If your general practice vet isn’t cutting it when it comes to feeding advice, look for a vet nutritionist in your area.  They specifically study pet nutrition and are a wealth of knowledge!

Subject to Change

Also keep in mind that your pets’ diet is something that can very much be subject to change.  As you learn more about what does and doesn’t work for your pet, more about specific diets, or your pet’s dietary needs change, it’s ok to try new foods.  Just because Kitsune is doing well on home cooked, and Farmina kibble now doesn’t mean that will necessarily be what I feed him for the rest of his life.  I am continuously assessing my pets’ health, including how they are doing on their current food, and making changes as needed.

I feed what works best for my individual dogs at their current stage of life, and you should too!  Dogs aren’t robots that we can all stick the same fuel into and expect them to run optimally.  Dogs are living, breathing creatures with individual needs, health concerns, living situations, likes, dislikes, etc.!  People would never expect one single diet to work perfectly for every human in the world, and we shouldn’t expect that of our dogs either!  Take the time to feed your dogs the food(s) that work best for them as an individual!     

I’d love to hear from you!  What are you currently feeding your pets?  How did you go about selecting the right food for them?