狗糧推薦

狗糧推介 | 狗糧牌子

那隻狗糧最好？我的狗狗應該食什麼狗糧牌子呢？你是否都有這樣的疑問？有些顧客想我們推介特別的狗糧牌子給他們，但我們也只能根據狗糧的成分和品質控制，選擇推薦某些品牌，但推薦的狗糧卻不一定適合每一隻狗狗的需要。

首先，我們需要了解狗糧的種類。狗糧主要分乾糧，濕糧（狗罐頭），生肉糧三大類。

乾糧分為有穀物和無穀物乾糧。有穀物乾糧是傳統的乾糧，成份包括了米 /糙米、大麥、粟米、燕麥等五穀成份。小麥含有麩質，已很少採用（對麩質敏感的狗隻可能會進食麩質後有慢性小腸發炎，但其實並不常見）。

有穀物乾糧碳水化合物水平比較高，有些比較平價的乾糧，穀物是主要成份，只含少量肉類。狗狗是雜食的動物，可以消化碳水化合物和五穀食物。但如果食物中的蛋白質和脂肪含量太低，可能影響肌肉發展和皮毛健康。

優質的品牌，就算是有穀物乾糧，都會有平均的蛋白質，脂肪和碳水化合物水平，提供均衡營養，所以並不一定要吃無穀物乾糧。

無穀物乾糧的興起，源自於有人提出，狗狗的祖先是以食肉類為主，不會吃大量的碳水化合物和榖物，所以要模仿狗狗祖先的食物。但狗糧的生產過程其實需要碳水化合物作黏合作用，不用穀物的話，也需要其他含碳水化合物的農作物代替（例如薯仔，甜薯，木薯等），所以無穀物乾糧也會含有相當水平的碳水化合物。

無穀物乾糧的蛋白質和肉類含量是否一定比有榖物乾糧高呢？在我們出售的品牌中，似乎是這樣。但市場上的其他產品，卻未必如此。有些產品的穀物成分只是被薯仔、甜薯代替，不一定是增加了肉類成份，最好是看看成份標籤，肉類是不是成分表上的第一位，再看看蛋白質水平。不過，蛋白質也可以來自動物（肉類）和植物（豆類）。除非廠家說明，有時也很難分辨來自動物和植物的蛋白質比例。

那你的狗狗適合無穀物還是有穀物的乾糧呢？如果你是吃有穀物的， 狗狗身體健康，不一定要轉無穀物。但如果你想增加狗狗的食慾（無穀物糧比較香口）和肌肉發展，或你的狗狗的確對穀物敏感，你可以嘗試無穀物狗糧。若你的狗狗吃無穀物乾糧，但發現狗狗消化不良，有軟便，放屁和便臭的話，也可以試試有穀物糧。有些狗狗其實對肉類敏感，反而食一些低肉類，低蛋白質成分的糧會更好。

如果有腸胃敏感和食物敏感的話，可以嘗試不同肉類成份和簡單配方的乾糧。最有效的抗敏糧是水解抗敏糧，把肉類蛋白質分解成微小分子，令免疫系統不會認出和攻擊這些外來物質，就不會引起過敏反應。市面上很少生產商有技術生產水解蛋白糧，所以這種水解抗敏糧以獸醫配方糧為主。

那什麼時候要食狗罐頭呢？如果你的狗狗比較嘴叼，不是太喜歡吃乾糧，或者吃乾糧後也偏痩，或者你想增加多點營養，那狗罐頭是一個很好的選擇。有些人會為愛犬弄雞肉，三文魚肉，加進狗糧中，如果少量也沒問題。但沒有均衡的鈣磷比例。相比之下，罐頭的選擇很多，雞、鴨、牛、羊、魚、海鮮，應有盡有，餵食方便，而且已有均衡的鈣磷比例，維他命，礦物質等，罐頭亦比乾糧更容易被消化和吸收。當然亦要選擇一些成份好（人類食用級）的天然狗罐頭為佳。劣質的狗罐頭是用動物級成份（不適合人類食用）製造。再加上人造色素和味精等，令罐內的肉類顏色較均勻和有較香的味道，以吸引狗主人購買和狗狗食用。這些狗罐頭並不是一個好的選擇。

至於生肉糧和鮮食，由於價錢昂貴，還不是很普及，生肉糧的種類，可以參考我們的另一篇文章：

https://cn.wisepet.com/blog/raw_diet/

那隻狗糧牌子最好？這個也是我們最常聽到的問題。曾幾何時，美國的 WDJ (Whole Dog Journal) 每年都會列出十大狗糧，消費者固然對名單感興趣，銷售的店舖亦以十大狗糧為賣點。但這幾年，WDJ 的推薦名單已經有40多隻狗糧牌子，成分一般的牌子也可以上榜，反而一些成份好的，但沒有公開生產設施的品牌，卻會落榜。如果要在40多個品牌中選擇合適的狗糧，亦不容易，所以這個最佳狗糧名單意義已經不大了。

Wise Pet 售賣的都是高品質的天然糧，成份都是好的，但是每隻狗狗也是一個個體，有不同的體質，所以不會說某一隻牌子的某一款味道對任何狗狗都會是最好的。所以，我們建議大家可以多作嘗試，隔一兩個月轉換一下口味，不但對狗狗來說更有新鮮感，亦可以給他們來自不同肉類的營養，減少因長期食用同一種肉類而產生的食物過敏症。

乾狗糧方面，我們推薦以下品牌：Canagan, Merrick, Organix, Pristine, Wellness。

狗罐頭方面，我們推薦：Merrick, Organix, Wellness, Ziwipeak。

     

Dog Food Recommendation

     

Which dog food is good? How do I choose a dog food?

Many people have the same questions, what is the best dog food? Which dog food is suitable for my dogs?

Dog food can be divided into 3 categories: dry food, wet food (canned food), and raw food.

Dry dog food is further divided into grain free dog food and dog food with grains. Dog food with grains are the traditional dog food, they contain rice / brown rice, barley, corn, oat, etc.  Since wheat is rich in gluten, they are seldom used in dog food (some dogs may be intolerant to gluten and gluten consumption leads to celiac disease, but it is not very common in dogs). 

Dog food with grains have higher carbohydrate content.  Some cheap dog food may use grains as the main ingredients and contain a low percentage of meat.  Dogs are omnivores and can digest carbohydrates and well-cooked grains. However, if the meat content in dog food is too low, it may affect muscle development and skin and coat health.

Dog food from reputable brands have proper level of protein, fat, and carbohydrate.  They provide balanced nutrients for regular dogs, so it is not really necessary to choose the grain free recipes.

Grain free dog food gains popularity in recent years because advocates of grain free dog food suggest that the ancestors of dogs in the wild ate a meat-based diet, they did not consume a large amount of carbohydrates and grains, and they try to mimic the ancestral diet of dogs.  However, the production of dry food requires carbohydrates as binding agents. If grains are removed from the recipes, they have to be replaced by some other crops that are rich in carbohydrates (such as potato, sweet potato and tapioca). Therefore, even grain free dog foods contain a considerate amount of carbohydrates.

Do grain free dog foods always have a higher protein and meat content than dog food with grains? For the brands sold in Wise Pet, this seems to be true. However, it may not be true for other brands sold on the market.  Some grain free dog foods have similar meat and protein content as the recipes with grains.  The only difference is the grains are replaced by potatoes and sweet potatoes. It does not necessarily mean that the manufacturers have added more meat to the recipe.  It is better to read the product label and check if meat is the first ingredient and check the protein percentage as well.  Nevertheless, protein can come from animal source (meat) or plant source (legumes). Unless the manufacturer has disclosed the ratio, it is hard for the consumer to tell the ratio of protein from animal source vs plant source.

Should your dog eat a grain free diet or dog food with grains? If it is eating a dog food with grains and is healthy, it is not necessary to change to grain free diet.  However, if you want to improve your dog's appetite (grain free dog food usually tastes better) and better muscle development, or you know that your dog is allergic or intolerant to grains, you can try the grain free recipes.

If your dog is eating a grain free dog food but shows signs of indigestion such as soft stool, farting, stinky stool, you can also try the regular dog food with grains.  Surprisingly, some dogs actually do better on a low meat, low protein diet.  The most common allergens for dogs are not grains but meat and dairy products. 

If your dog has food allergies or food intolerance, you can try dog food made with novel protein and/or simple ingredients. But the most effective hypoallergenic dog food is made with hydrolysed protein. Hydrolysis a technology to break down large protein molecules into miniscule molecules, thus the immune system will no longer recognise the protein molecules as foreign particles and start attacking them. Therefore, it will not induce allergic reaction. There are few manufacturers who possess this technology on the market, therefore, most hydrolysed protein diets are prescription diets.

So when do you need to feed wet food / canned food? If your dog is a picky eater, does not like dry food that much, or is underweight, or if you want to add more nutrients to the diet, canned dog food is a good choice.  Many dog owners feed chicken meat, salmon meat to their dogs, they are ok when fed sparingly. These meats are nutritious and tasty, but they don’t have proper calcium : phosphorus ration.  In comparison, canned dog food comes in a wide variety, chicken, duck, beef, lamb, fish, seafood, etc.  They are convenient, have proper Ca:P ratio and are complete and balanced with added vitamins and minerals.  Canned foods are more easily digestible than dry foods. Of course, you need to choose canned foods of good quality, preferably those made with natural and human grade ingredients.  Poor quality canned dog food uses animal grade ingredients (not suitable for human consumption), artificial color and flavors to make the meat color more uniform with stronger aroma.  Those canned foods should be avoided.

As for raw food or homemade food, they are not as popular because of their price.  Our previous article has explained the types of raw food and you can read it here:

https://wisepet.com/blog/raw_diet/

Which brand of dog food is the best?  This is also one common question we receive.  Unfortunately, there is no standard answer to this question.  Wise Pet sells only high-quality natural dog food made with premium ingredients.  However, each dog is a different individual with different constitution.  There is no single brand and/or single formula that will be the best for all individuals.  We suggest you can try different brands and/or different formulas.  Not only your dog will get more varieties and the food will be less boring, the food variety will also provide more diverse nutrients to your dogs and reduce the chance of developing food allergies due to eating the same kind of protein over and over again.