Nutrition for your Miniature American Shepherd
One of the most common questions I answer for dog owners at work as a veterinarian and from the owners of my Miniature American Shepherd Puppies is what should I feed my dog? There is SO much information on Facebook, the internet, television, etc that it can be overwhelming for owners at time. Here are a few general rules we use when selecting a dog food for your Miniature American Shepherd...
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1) Look for animal protein listed as the first ingredient
2) Check the best use by date on the bag or packaging. The farther away the date is the more recently the bag was produced.
3) Don't buy the big bag! Unless you are feeding multiple dogs don't buy the 30 lb bonus sized bag of dog food. It does save you money initially, but 6 months from the time you bought it when only 1/2 the bag is gone, the freshness of the food is questionable.
4) Look for ingredients that include fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
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We always welcome our families who have our Miniature American Shepherds to contact usia they have questions about food choices.
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Below are some of the foods that we like and have used...
1) FROMM - Classic Adult & Small Breed Gold
2) Honest Kitchen - Thrive & Force are two of our favorite varieties
4) Home Cooking - using the BalanceIT website and supplements we do occasionally do some home cooking for our dogs. **Note home cooking based on internet recipes should never be attempted as they are almost always missing essential nutrients and are not complete and balanced for dogs. If you are going to do any home cooking for any extended period of time we recommend consulting with a veterinarian that is board certified in nutrition a list of which can be found here**
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