Steve Ries, Top Gun Kennels and Native Dog Food (www.nativedogfood.com)
What The Levels Mean
The first thing most people ask when they see Native™ performance
dog food is what do the Energy Levels mean. The Energy Levels
are simply an indicator of the caloric content of each formula.
The higher the number, the higher the calories. Native was
designed to
make it easy to choose the level of food that will meet your
dog’s needs,
and all Levels are formulated to meet the nutritional requirements
for all life stages.
Change
Is Easy
With one exception, the ingredients are exactly the same in
all of the Native products. The Energy Levels are increased
by simply adjusting the balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates
in each formula. Since the ingredients
are the same, you won’t
get digestive issues when you move from one Energy Level to
another as your dog gets more active.
The
one exception to the ingredient rule I mentioned earlier
is that Native Level 1 uses primarily Lamb Meal while the other
Levels use primarily Chicken Meal. This formula was created
to meet the needs of dogs that have
very sensitive stomachs and just seem to do better on Lamb
than other meat proteins.
Energy Factors
With that said, there are several factors that that will affect
what Level is the right one for your dog. We have found the
following factors to be the most important ones.
You
should keep in mind as you consider these factors that there
really are no hard and fast rules. Every dog is a little
different and body condition should be evaluated on a regular
basis to ensure
that nutritional requirements are being met.
So What Level Is Your Dog
The following are some recommended starting points that work
well for most breeds. Again, this is just a starting
point. If your
dog is very active, move him up a Level if it seems to help.
Click Chart to see an enlarged version in a new window
Don’t Forget The Water
As always, quality and quantity of water are the keys to any
nutritional program. We need to make sure the bowl is kept
clean and full to maintain optimal health. We strongly
encourage frequent cleaning of your food and water
bowls to avoid the presence of bacteria, and we try to never
let the water bowl run dry.
This may be the best thing you can do to keep your dog happy
and healthy.
