If you have ever wondered about what is in the food that you feed to your dog, it is worth finding out! Depending on the quality of food that you purchase for your dog to eat, you could be offering him/her a high quality diet that is full of wholesome ingredients, or you could be feeding him/her an unbalanced, very low quality food product possibly containing dangerous components to your dog's overall health.

Low quality foods contain cheap additives; cheap protein sources, and usually contain ingredients that you yourself would not think of ingesting. If this is the case, you would not want to feed this type of dog food to your dog. You need to find out what your dog food contains before purchasing.

How does one determine what is low quality and what is not? This may sound like a complicated puzzle, but it really is not. Below is a check list to keep in mind that will help you to know the difference between your run of the mill dog food, and a high quality product.

- Generally, low quality dog foods are sold in grocery stores, while premium products are not.

- Premium food products will usually cost a little more than the cheap food. This is the case because, to create a better product, better ingredients need to be used so this raises the price for everybody.

- Premium products will contain no animal by-products but cheap products will. This is the case, because animal byproducts provide a significantly cheaper alternative to quality nutritional sources.

- Premium products will contain no artificial colors, or sugar, while the cheaper alternatives will.

- When reading the label on a dog food bag, the protein component will be listed first. For a premium dog food this list will commence with a whole meat, such as a poultry or fish listing.

Another key fact to consider is your dog's current health. You may be feeding a low quality food product and are seeing a healthy dog as a result. What you do not see however is what is on the inside.

Every dog has nutritional needs, and if they are not met, over time, that dog will begin to suffer as a result. Whether you notice it or not is dependent on how much attention you give to your dog.

A dog that is lacking in the appropriate calorie intake, may appear simply lazy to you, but may actually be suffering from caloric deficiency. A dog that appears to be overweight may be the way he/she is due to a poor balance of fat to protein ratio. A dog that scratches constantly may be dealing with an allergy as a result of some component of his food.

So, it is worth your while to spend a little more to ensure a good brand of dog food. Your dog will benefit immensely from a high quality, good balance of ingredients in his/her dog food.

The results speak for themselves. Premium products offer a stable platform for your dogs vitality, health and well-being.