When choosing puppy food for your Shiba it\u2019s important that the food is formulated for growing puppies and meets minimum nutritional standards. <\/p>\n

The nutrition standard that most pet manufacturers follow is the standard provided by AAFCO, or the Association of American Feed Control Officials.<\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

However due to the fact that AAFCO is often scrutinized for allowing animal by-products as well as potentially hazardous preservation agents – I also look to the NRC National Research Council for their nutrition recommendations.<\/p>\n

The NRC is an institution born in 1916 and bred to revolve around scientific and governmental organization.<\/p>\n

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Although AAFCO looks to the NRC for most guidelines, the NRC guidelines are stricter more fine tuned and better for fresh and homemade diets than AAFCO guidelines.<\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

High – Quality Ingredients:<\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Only consider brands that are known to use only high quality ingredients. The food should list the exact type of protein rather than simply \u201cmeat\u201d or \u201cmeat by-products\u201d.<\/p>\n

The food should not contain BHA \/ BHT, propylene glycol, rendered fat, or white flour.<\/p>\n

Do the \u201cSalt\u201d test<\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

When looking at a long list of ingredients in dog food, find where salt is listed. Any ingredient after salt is 1% or less of the food. <\/p>\n

Many companies purposely mislead consumers by listing off many seemingly great ingredients such as blueberries, pumpkin, broccoli, etc.<\/p>\n

But if these ingredients come after salt, then the amount of these ingredients in the dog food is just a smidge.<\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n