Avocados: A Surprisingly Healthy Fruit For All Dogs Part 2
Most dogs love avocados. They taste good and they are an excellent source of fat. Fat is responsible for providing dogs with an extra amount of energy and gives them healthy skin as well as an extra glow in their coat.
Strangely enough, it was the dogs themselves who led us to the idea of using the avocado as a supplement to the canine diet. It seems that avocado growers’ pet dogs were competing with the growers for any fallen fruit. The growers became curious and decided to compare the nutrients that this amazing fruit contained with those needed by canines.
According to a Veterinary professor at Iowa State University, this fruit enhances hair quality as well as skin tone. Avocado growers have reported this improvement in their dogs is most likely due to the amount of linoleic acid of the fruit when added to the dog’s diet.
Of course, this fruit alone could not be recommended as the only nutrient source for dogs. An avocado, in small quantities as a supplement, might be helpful if adequate amounts of fat were not available from other sources.
A dog’s requirement of fat depends mostly on the amount of activity he engages in. For instance, an active working dog needs up to twenty percent fat in his diet, while the average household dog that walks a few blocks everyday, needs only five to eight percent of fat in his diet. The very thin dog should get a diet rich in fat until his weight and health improve. The pregnant and nursing female dog also needs greater amounts of fat in her diet.
The majority of canine canned foods contain adequate fat to satisfy the need of an average household dog. However, if the dog is fed a diet strictly of dry meal, it might be moistened with additional sources of fat.
Avocados are an excellent source of fat for this purpose. For canines that get most of their fat from canned foods, this tasty fruit also serves as an occasional treat. Avocados might be alternated with other occasional food supplements to add variety to the dog’s regular diet. Simply put, dogs love avocados and they are good for them!
Word Of Warning: Documented evidence suggests that some dogs, as well as other domestic animals like cats and cattle, can be severely harmed and prove fatal when they eat the avocado pit, skin, leaves and bark of the avocado tree. Therefore, when supplementing your dog’s diet with avocados, make sure to only give him the meat of the fruit.
Avocados Are A Surprisingly Healthy Fruit For All Dogs
If you feed your dog a diet consisting of only lean meat, chances are it could have severe nutritional problems. While a dog is a carnivore, it cannot live on protein alone. Just like its owner, a dog needs a balanced diet including fats, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.
Few of us could afford a predominantly steak diet for our dogs, but even if we could, they would be a lot healthier with a cheaper cut of meat. Less expensive meats are better for dogs because they have a higher fat content.
Fats provide dogs with energy and heat and help keep their skin healthy. Not enough fat in a dog’s diet can cause scaly, dry skin. its coat may become coarse and lifeless. A diet low in fat may also cause a dog to become highly nervous and more susceptible to many types of illness.
There are three fatty acids that a dog needs. These are: linolenic, linoleic and arachidonic. Linoleic acid can be found in meat products, suet, butter and corn oil. It can also be found in avocados.
The Avocado
Avocados are one of the few fruits that most dogs love. One reason for this is that these fruits add palatability and texture to food, especially dry meal. It is also a nutritious supplement of fats to the canine diet. This pear-shaped fruit contains sixteen percent of rare oil seldom found in fruits, as well as an unusual amount of protein.
One medium avocado contains about 35 grams of fat, mostly monounsaturated. This fruit also has more potassium than bananas. Avocados are also rich in vitamin E, vitamin K and the B vitamins.
When the nutritional requirements of adult dogs were compared with the composition of avocados, particularly Californian avocados, this fruit proved to be a good source of vitamins and minerals. One half of a medium avocado provides a mature dog with all his daily requirements for magnesium, potassium and niacin. About half of his requirements for thiamin, manganese and vitamin A, are also provided with this awesome fruit.
Compare what the avocado offers a dog nutritionally, to some of the other foods often added to a dog’s diet to improve his skin tone and coat. Half an avocado supplies thirteen grams of fat. There is one gram of linoleic acid in half of the fruit.
An egg has half the amount of fat grams and only a trace of linoleic acid. One half cup of cottage cheese only offers five grams of fat and a trace of linoleic acid, while one tablespoon of corn oil has fourteen grams of fat and seven grams of linoleic acid, but none of the vitamins and minerals that the avocado offers.
Are Rubbermaid Pet Food Storage Bins the Best?
There are quite a few options that you have when it comes to pet storage bins, just make sure that you choose airtight pet food storage bins so you know that your pets food is going to be kept fresh and safe. The Rubbermaid name is one that you can definitely trust in, but before you head out to get your own Rubbermaid pet food storage bins, there are a few things that you are going to want to be aware of.
The Selection
The first issue that you are going to have to deal with is learning about the selection of Rubbermaid pet food storage bins that are out there. There are actually quite a few, but the best seller to date is the Rubbermaid Pets Scoop n’ Store pet food storage bin, which is very unique and different from all other pet food storage bins out there today.
This Rubbermaid pet food storage bin seals in freshness while locking out pests and pets. Now you never have to worry that your pet is sneaking in to get more food after you have gone to sleep, which may seem cute at first but which can actually lead to problems because not only are you going to be running out of food more often but as well your pet may end up unhealthy and overweight.
This Rubbermaid pet food storage bin is incredibly handy and looks nice too so you don’t have to worry about hiding it out in the garage. The slim design on this food storage bin is ideal for storing against any room in the home and it will not be large and sticking out.
The Rubbermaid pet food storage bin features a handy pet food scoop that stores in the lid, and it is even available in a variety of sizes, so depending on how many pets you have and how large they are, you can find the appropriately sized food storage bin.
You will quickly see the benefits offered to you and your pet by using an airtight food storage bin, and your pet is definitely going to appreciate it. They are going to notice that their food tastes better and fresher, and remember that this is not the only pet food storage bin by Rubbermaid, so make sure that you check out the others as well to figure out which is going to work best for you.
Commercial Dog Food and Pet Food Recalls
Commercial pet food is a multi-billion-dollar industry that seems to grow in sales each year. What is happening here, are more animals being adopted, or are more pet owners being sold on the idea that dogs absolutely must eat dog food in order to be healthy?
Surprisingly, the answer is the latter of the two possibilities. Dog owners seem to think that their dogs will be healthier and have more energy by consuming processed commercial dog food.
There was an article written in the New York Times by a woman named Laura Cunningham. The year was 1981 and back then Laura reported that $4 billion dollars was spent yearly on pet food. Recently, when the pet food recall took place, the media reported in March of 2007 that people are now spending over $16 billion annually on pet food.
To further add an interesting statistic to the conversation, back in 1988 the American Pet Products Association ran their very first pet ownership research study and came back with their poll report which claimed that approximately 56% of every household in America had a pet, either a cat or a dog. The most current poll conducted states that approximately 63% of today’s US households maintains a pet in the family.
Not all statistics are accurate, but this only shows a 7% increase in household pets. Surely this 7% increase cannot be consuming the extra $12 billion per year in pet food that was eaten in 1981. In other words, less people bought pet food for their dogs and cats than they do today. With so many people buying commercial dog food and other pet foods, why then were they so surprised about the alarming pet food recall?
There are many dog and cat owners who can see through the advertising and myths of feeding a cat “cat food” and a dog “dog food”. However, most people seem to just fly through their lives, being busier than ever and due to convenience, believe everything that corporations are telling them – or should we say “selling” them. However, the recent pet food recall has started to wake up many dog owners and other pet owners, to the fact that these products may not be as healthy as the commercials claim.
Although many dog and pet owners neglect thorough research on nutrition and continue to believe that processed pet food is the best thing to feed their animals, it doesn’t mean that they do not care. We all want our pets to be healthy and have the best possible food that is good for them. Unfortunately, many of these pet owners truly believed they were doing the right thing by their pets. With tainted food causing many pets to get ill, more and more people are starting to ask questions and find out the truth behind proper nutrition for their pets.
Standard Commercial Dog Food Sold In Stores
There are 3 types of commercially prepared dog foods that are available in the market today: Canned foods, Semi-moist foods and Dry foods.
Canned Foods
This type of food comes in several varieties, which ranges in quality as well as price. They consist of about 75% water and are mixed with assorted meat, fish and cereal products. They are easy to prepare and dogs love them! However, canned foods produce low-energy nutrients, which means that you would need to give your dog a big serving in order to provide it with the required energy it needs.
If you have a large dog, you would have to double the amount of servings, which makes canned food unpractical and on the pricey side. To solve this problem, consider mixing canned food with dried food. The mixture will provide more energy for your dog and will also add volume to the food, thereby saving you money.
There is another kind of canned food that only contains meat, hence called “all meat canned foods”. Similar to regular canned food, all meat canned food does not provide your dog with the proper amount of energy that its body needs. In order to get enough energy, you would need to give it large quantities of the food, although this will only produce an unbalanced diet. Therefore, all meat canned foods should be mixed with dried foods or even semi-moist food.
Semi-Moist Foods
This type of food has high concentration and only contains 15 to 30% water content, which provides more energy for your dog in less amount of volume than canned foods. Their ingredients consist of meat, cereals, vegetables, sugar and fats. They are easy for your dog to digest and it will surely love the taste. They come in a wide variety, do not need to be refrigerate, and many owners find them to be the most convenient way to feed their dogs.
Semi-moist foods are expensive and are loaded with sugar and corn syrup and should not be given to dogs with diabetes. In addition, these foods are also loaded with colorings and artificial flavors. It is best to give your dog this type of food only on an occasional basis, rather than its main source of diet.
Dry Foods
Dry foods contain about 10% water, providing high energy value to your dog. They are the least expensive of all the dog foods, they can be stored in bulk quantities and they do not need to be refrigerated. This is why most pet owners prefer this food for their dog and consider it to be the most economical way to feed their pets.
On the other hand, the majority of commercially prepared dried foods contain mostly cereal and is very limited in the amount of protein that the dog requires. Consider mixing dry food with canned food to give your dog a well-balanced diet. Another alternative is to choose a brand that contain meat as its main ingredient.
