“Eat your veggies” is a commonly uttered phrase at the dinner table, but is it one you should be uttering to your dog? As you know, our Beef & Vegetables, Chicken & Vegetables, and Turkey & Vegetables dog foods wouldn’t be the same without the vegetables. We use cooked carrots, green beans, and sweet potatoes in each of our wholesome and delicious dog food flavors. Today, we want to focus on carrots.

You and I know carrots as tasty orange root vegetables that are delicious and slightly sweet when raw or cooked. If your dog has a hankering for carrots too, there’s good news! Carrots safe for our furry friends and even offer a number of nutritional benefits, including: 

• Plenty of Vitamin A. Vitamin A is the nutrient in carrots that helps maintain our vision, and it offers the same benefits to dogs! Furthermore, vitamin A is essential for your dog’s skin, coat, muscles, and nerves, according to the National Animal Supplement Council. If your dog has a vitamin A deficiency, they note, they may become night blind, and/or have deteriorating quality of skin and coat. 

• Lots of potassium. Potassium is essential for maintaining a lot of your dog’s organ functions, including the heart, the kidneys, and the muscles. A dog lacking potassium in its diet may experience stomach issues, muscle cramps, irregular heartbeat, and general weakness and lack of energy.

• Nutritional fiber. Fiber isn’t the most exciting nutrient to talk about, but we all know how important it is. Fiber helps keep your dog’s digestive system working smoothly, helping to prevent constipation and diarrhea. Keeping our dogs safe and comfortable is our top priority. Including fiber with an ingredient like carrots is a much healthier option than the “cellulose” you may see in commercial dog foods. Often, this ingredient is made from shredded paper. 

We include responsibly-sourced carrots in our human-grade dog food as a great source of vitamin A, potassium, and fiber for your dog. We want you and your dog to live long, healthy lives together. For more healthy tips for you and your dog, be sure to follow us on Instagram. Shop for dog food, treats, and bone broth!

Picture this: Your best friend has been on the latest fad diet for a few months now, and it’s really showing some great results for them. Eager to see the same for yourself, you ask them for all their tips and steps to succeed on the same diet. You follow everything to the letter and...nothing happens. It’s frustrating, but every body is built differently and reacts differently to a variety of nutrients, ingredients, and eating practices. In much the same way, every dog will react differently to different types of food.

Your veterinarian is the best first point of contact when it comes to developing a diet for your dog. If you’ve taken their recommendations into consideration, here are a few of our tips for finding the perfect food for your pup:

1. Consider any food allergies your dog might have. The telltale signs of food allergies include excessive paw licking, itchy skin, and red, smelly ears, among others. To diagnose your dog’s food allergies, most vets recommend starting with an elimination diet, which involves feeding them a very simple diet and slowly reintroducing other proteins and components to find out which items they can tolerate. The diet you build for your dog will need to eliminate any ingredients that irritate them.

2. Check the wording on the food packaging. Believe it or not, the wording on your dog’s food packaging can tell you a lot about the amount of protein they’re getting. A bag that says “chicken for dogs” means that the protein comprises 95% of the product, not including water content. “Chicken dinner,” on the other hand, usually means that the protein only comprises about 25% of the product. Finally, “chicken flavor” means the product includes a minimal amount of the protein - just enough for taste.

3. Do your research on your chosen brands. If everything looks ok on the ingredients label, do your due diligence and research your chosen dog food brands to make sure they use sustainable production practices and source their proteins ethically. This is the information that’s not required to be on the label, so a few hours of research is a good idea for you and your pup!

You want to make sure your dog is on a diet that keeps them happy and energized. If your dog is picky about their food, we offer delicious, sustainably sourced bone broth to make any meal a little more appetizing. Click here to get some for your pup, or browse through our store for more treats and foods!

If you’ve kept up with our blog, or you’re big into dog health issues, you probably know that one of the most important components of your dog’s diet is protein. It’s important to note that not all protein sources are equal. Some proteins, like eggs, deliver a lot of protein in a small package, but also have increased cholesterol compared to other sources. Other proteins, like beef and chicken, are not necessarily responsibly sourced, preventing you from giving your dog the best quality protein available.

Lamb has become increasingly popular in dog food over the last few years, both in dry food options and in whole, natural food choices. Here’s why people are turning to lamb as the main source of protein for their dogs:

• It doesn’t trigger food allergies. Many people believe that grain is the top source of food allergies for dogs, when in reality, protein sources are more likely to trigger allergic reactions. In studies, lamb was far less likely to cause dogs to have an allergic reaction than sources like beef and chicken. Lamb is considered hypoallergenic and is just as delicious as other meats for your dog.

• It’s packed with nutrients beyond protein. Lamb has shown higher concentration of key minerals like calcium than other similar proteins. It’s also a significant source of omega-3 fatty acids, like the kind you would usually source from fish oils. In addition, responsibly-sourced lamb is high in zinc, which is great for your dog’s metabolism. Overall, lamb is a great meat for healthy bones, skin, and hair!

• Lamb is considered a complete protein, meaning that it contains all the available amino acids. In the case of incomplete proteins, much of the material isn’t used efficiently and is cast off as a waste product. The presence of all amino acids, however, aids in the delivery of nutrients to the right system and the more complete absorption of proteins, meaning your dog gets a huge nutritional punch from lamb.

As always, consult with your veterinarian before switching your dog’s food. A lamb-based food may be a great choice if you find your dog suffers from allergies. Keep an eye on our shop for our new lamb dog food, coming soon! To order your first set of food or treats, take a look at our store.

Treats are an important part of every dog’s diet! Not only do they give you a way to reward good behavior and train further good habits, they allow you to beef up your pet’s nutrition as long as you make healthy choices. From training treats to larger chewables and bones, treats can keep your dog busy, strengthen their gums and teeth, and reinforce positive behavior at home and on the go.

Most veterinarians recommend keeping treats under 10% of your dog’s daily diet, and you should make sure that your pup gets the bulk of his nutrition from his food before filling up on cookies. But besides that, how do you know what treats are the right ones for your pet? Here are a few tips:

• Include real vegetables, like carrots, green beans, or broccoli, for a healthy crunch and pure nutrition. On a hot day, many dogs love chewing on a handful of frozen veggies to cool down. Before you go to the fridge, though, make sure the fruits or vegetables you choose are not toxic to dogs. Onions, grapes, avocado, and chocolate are at the top of the do-not-feed list.

• Opt for all-natural ingredients if you don’t rely on veggies for snacking. Many popular dog treats, like Milk Bones, are packed with sugar and other fillers designed to get your dog hooked. Even if you use treats sparingly, this amount of sugar can lead to serious tooth decay and bloated bellies. Remember: Dog treats aren’t required to meet the same health standards as complete nutrition systems, so go with a treat brand you can trust. (Hint: Pawsitively Pure’s limited-ingredient treats include nothing but the best!)

• Be careful when giving your dog bones to chew on. If you want to give your dog a real bone to gnaw on, make sure it’s a raw, meaty bone like a turkey neck. Cooked bones become brittle and can splinter easily, causing a choking hazard. Some bones, like antlers, may be too hard for your dog’s teeth and can cause cracking. Pay attention to your dog’s reaction to their treats and always supervise snacking.

Choosing the right treats for your dog should be fun and exciting. When you have a handful of flavors to choose from, you can pick out the one that makes your pup’s tail wag the hardest. Even picky eaters love Pawsitively Pure cookies. To learn more or to shop for your favorites, click here.

If you’re a dog owner, you’ve probably experienced your fair share of halitosis coming from your furry friend. Yes, we love our pups, bad breath and all; but whether you realized it or not, bad breath doesn’t have to be the default for dogs. While your pup may never have minty-fresh breath, severe halitosis and odor from the gums and teeth may be a sign of a health issue that can develop into something bigger if left unchecked.

One of the many reasons why we feed our dogs with human-grade dog food is because it’s been proven to support better oral health. Here’s how:

• No added sugars. Just like processed human foods, processed kibble tends to include a lot of sugar-based fillers to make it more appealing and preserve it for longer. All that extra sugar leads to buildup and tooth decay - yes, just like it does to humans! Reducing the amount of sugars in your dog’s diet can be a huge helper in staving off plaque and freshening their breath.

• It includes tooth-protecting enzymes and nutrients. The nutrients found in fatty acids, COq10, and folic acid, have been shown to strengthen gum tissue and help stave off periodontitis. Our bone broth and dog food are chock full of healthy ingredients including these nutrients, leaving your pup with a more comfortable mouth.

• It makes it easier to add in supplements. If you have a picky dog, you’ve probably gone through the struggle of trying to add supplements to their kibble, only to have them pick around it. Flavorful bone broth is a great way to disguise additional supplements in your pup’s food and can blend completely so they can’t pick around it. They may even learn to love their supplements in time!

While oral health isn’t always at the forefront of a dog owner’s mind, it’s an important part of your dog’s overall wellness. Keeping the teeth and gums strong can help dogs lead active lifestyles and keep their body safe from other infections. To learn more or to browse through our human-grade dog products, click here. Want to know where else you can find Pawsitively Pure? Check out our blog here!