What goes into a nutritional, balanced dog food?

A complete and balanced diet includes proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Water is also essential to life and is needed daily. This may seem very simple and easy with the basic ingredients broken down, but understanding how each nutrient is used in a dog’s body, understanding the processes, and knowing how much of each nutrient is needed for a healthy dog at all life stages is very complex.

In fact, this process is so complex that an entire specialty in veterinary medicine is dedicated to small animal nutrition—the American College of Veterinary Nutrition. But as a pet parent, the main things you need to know about dog food nutrition are:

– The guidelines created by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) for pet foods

– The nutrients in your dog’s food and what they do