Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
What is nutrient density?
Nutrient - any substance that nourishes an organism.
Density - a measure of the compactness of a substance, expressed as its mass per unit volume.
A high nutrient dense food gives you more for less. Meaning the more nutrient rich a food is, the less you have to eat of it. Makes complete sense right? Right. So what are we feeding our dogs? What are you feeding your dog? Is it a nutrient packed food or not? When we feed a low grade dog food, we need to feed a lot of it. Ever notice how much food the low grade foods tell you to feed? It is pretty astounding how much food has to be given to even reach the acceptable nutrient level.
More is not better. Obviously are many people feed their dog way too much food. Perhaps they read the directions on the back of the bag and then round it up, so to speak. If you feed really high quality food, you don't have to feed as much to get all the nutrients in. Elsa eats about a cup of food, twice a day. (Luke should eat the same but rarely does so he gets snacks whenever he wants or will eat one) That is not much for dogs this size; but as far as I am concerned, she is in perfect peak condition.
I am very food conscious as far as my human family is concerned. That has flowed over into the world of canine nutrition. I am always looking to learn more; both in the human and canine nutrition area. Like any other topic that you research; you will find information from all walks of life. That means that you must sift through it all and figure out how you feel about what you read. When you settle on what you feel is good for you; then you have to consider your dog/s. I do my best, it is all that we can do. Dogs have very different food requirements than we do and I try to meet those to the best of my ability.
If you are still just grabbing a bag of dog food without reading labels or considering what is best for your dog then you could be doing better. In my opinion, if there is an advertisement on television for the a dog food, DO NOT BUY IT. Many of the big dog food companies are behind the push back against real food diets. Of course they are; they don't want us to know that dogs can eat food, just real food. But just like us, dogs should eat food that is processed as little as possible. If you do want to feed a kibble based diet then read, read and read some more. Find a food that is actually made for your dog and not just to put money in the pocket of the huge manufacturers.
Our dog's bodies need fuel; high quality fuel, not just filler so that we can say "there you're fed." There is still a general consensus that dogs deserve less; which has been perpetuated over the years by feeding low grade dog food. The idea that giving our dogs the same food that we eat is something awful to do. "People food," is the term that most people use when in fact it is just food, food for all actually. Who said we humans have dibs on all the food? Funny isn't it? It's all ours and we will dish it out according to your status. Well, sadly the dog is still getting short changed in many homes today.
Don't give your money to those companies that don't care. The big conglomerates that take your money in return for cast off waste to feed to your dogs.
Think carefully about where your money is going when you buy a bag of dog food. Is it going into the people at the tops pockets? The ones who are scraping the bottom of the barrel to create what they sell to you?
Expect quality, buy quality; wouldn't it be nice if you always got what you thought you were paying for?