A number of individuals create their own pet food. As with food meant for humans, the key is proper ingredients to make nutritious meal times. An alternate option is one of the available brands of dog food. Speak with a professional, and listen to all of the different meal suggestions.

There are those who say that pets do better eating the remains of their masters' meals, as they have through the ages, and that the dog food products of more recent times are full of substandard meat, harmful chemicals, and other undesirable ingredients. They insist that commercially prepared pet foods provide an insufficient amount of nutrients for their dogs.

When comparing dry pet food to canned there are some disadvantages and advantages to both. Dry food is usually the lowest cost of the two. It does not contain much less water than canned food and is good for your pet's teeth in helping to prevent tarter. Dry food can also be stored longer than wet or canned food. On the other hand if you open and use a complete can of dog food at one feeding the rest of your supply of unopened cans will be fresh longer then an opened bag of dry food.

Kibble, which is the common name for pellets of dry pet food, is normally manufactured either by extrusion or baking. Extrusion involves cutting dough or a mix of raw ingredients and feeding it into an expander. Pressurized steam or hot water is added to the expander, causing the pellets to puff like popcorn when they are removed. After the kibbles dry, they are sprayed with vitamins, fats, oils and any other remaining ingredient that does not have a tolerance for high heat.

If not properly sealed, it is possible for dry food to lose its quality. Oxygen is known to react with components added after initial preparation, altering the taste. Further, the heat involved in shipping the wellness dog food can also have negative effects before it even hits store shelves. Another alternative comes from the Burns company.

Many pet owners believe baked kibble is a more natural and digestible food for their dogs than foods produced by extrusion. However, baking involves a longer heating time which some people feel negates the extra values the food might have had. In the baking method, kibble is put through less pressure for extended periods of time. Instead of being sprayed on as an afterthought, fat is baked right in which means that baked kibble keeps longer when exposed to air than extruded kibble does. For this reason, opening a package of kibble does not seriously cut down on the shelf life of baked kibble dog foods.