National Nutrition Week 2022: Elevate Your Fur Baby’s Diet With Superfoods

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Is home-cooked better than packaged food? Can dogs eat the same food as humans? Does it provide them with superfoods?

If you’re a pet parent–especially a dog parent–and love to spoil your fur babies, you’ve come to the right place. While a healthy lifestyle, balanced diet, and good sleep are required by humans to function at optimal levels; the same is required for dogs as well. However, there is a host of information out there that may leave you confused about which dog food to choose. Is home-cooked better than packaged food? Can dogs eat the same food as humans? Does it provide them with superfoods?

While nutrients like carbohydrates and protein help canines to remain active and grow in a healthy manner, adding healthy sources of fat to their diet will provide them with extra energy, a healthy coat and skin, and good gut health. Similar to humans, dogs also need superfoods to keep them functioning at their best, research suggests. This does not imply that dogs and human beings can eat the same food. Oil, salt, and spices added to human food may give them digestive troubles and in some cases, may prove to be fatally toxic to them.

According to a study titled Diet and dog characteristics affect major and trace elements in hair and blood of healthy dogs, obtaining correct amounts of essential elements such as amino acids and antioxidants, and avoiding toxic elements in their diet are key factors in dog health. As such, there are several superfoods that you can add to your dog’s diet to make them develop healthy skin and fur.

Amino acids– Look for amino acids when you choose dog food as they play diverse and critical roles in dogs, with specific amino acids being essential. Foods such as red meat, dairy, eggs, and related products have sufficient amino acids necessary for skin and fur health

Antioxidants– Brightly colored foods such as pumpkin, carrot, spinach, kale, papaya, tomato, and asparagus contain varying levels of one or more antioxidant compounds that are extremely beneficial for vision.

Polyphenols–A form of antioxidants that are found in fruits such as blueberries, pomegranate, herbs such as parsley, turmeric, kale, asparagus, spinach, and broccoli are beneficial for dogs.