Essential Health and Nutrition Information for Your Golden Retriever

Understanding Pet Food Ingredients

The four ingredient lists below are among the most popular and best-selling dog food brands. (We will not reveal the brands here.) Just read the ingredients. If the main ingredients are mostly "fillers" like rice, wheat, corn, and potatoes, they must add all the vitamins and minerals because the ingredients they use do not have adequate nutrition for your dog. You are feeding them rice, potatoes, wheat, barley, and a multivitamin. Not anything we want to feed our "kids." Just do your homework and provide the best you can for your four-legged "kids" that fit your budget.

How to Read a Dog Food Label

• The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) - A bit complicated and confusing but thorough.
• American Kennel Club (AKC) - Less complicated.

Dietary Supplements

If you cannot feed your dog high-quality food, compliment their diet with a daily supplement. The cardiology team that cares for our "kids" highly recommends a multivitamin with taurine and L-carnitine as ingredients. We recommend Houndz - Heart Health. Your dog will love the chicken-flavored chew with all the good stuff they need.

• Amazon

The body requires taurine, an essential amino acid typically found in meats, for eyesight, reproduction, bile acid (for fat digestion), and a healthy heart. However, the process that some dog food companies use to make "kibble" dog food uses high heat that reduces and sometimes eliminates this critical amino acid. While a dog's system does make this essential amino acid, their body has to work much harder to produce it in the quantities required when they are not getting it in their food. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs is associated with inadequate taurine levels. Click the link for more information about an ongoing Stern Cardiac Genetics Lab study at the University of California-Davis.