Whether your dog has cancer or not, maintaining a balanced and healthy diet is vital. When a dog’s immune system is compromised, either by disease or treatment, nutrition is critical in giving your companion the best chances possible for fighting disease. As many are becoming aware, good nutrition is at the heart of the battle against cancer.
If you feed your pet a commercially prepared diet (canned and/or dry foods), it’s essential that you know what’s in the food and how to read the label. But after the first few ingredients, reading dog food labels is often like reading hieroglyphics.
But there’s hope. Here’s a helpful article on WebMD by Elizabeth Lee that can help you decipher the contents of your dog’s dinner. The article starts here and lists 7 things you should know about reading dog food labels, what’s good, and what you’ll want to avoid, including: (1) How do I read the dog food ingredient list? (2) What are byproducts, and should I avoid dog foods that contain them? (3) What are all those chemical-sounding names? (4) How can I make sure the food meets my dog’s needs? (5) What is the guaranteed analysis? (6) What do “natural” and “holistic” labels mean? and finally (7) What is organic pet food? Additionally, the article provides a “Feeding Directory” with numerous articles on appetite, hydration, new-puppy diets, and a host of other helpful links.
And for more on nutrition and dogs with cancer, you might find the article on “Nutrition for the Canine Cancer Patient” at CanineCancer.com helpful as well.
