How to Choose Dry Dog Food for a Beagle

Every Beagle pet parent wants to see his dog healthy, happy and energetic. But not everyone has the time to prepare a balanced, healthy meal, full of balanced amount of protein, minerals, trace elements, vitamins, and many more. High quality dry dog food is a great way out.

Today the market offers a huge variety of dog food, and it is easy to get lost not only for the new pet parents. To make the right choice it is vital to consider:

5 Main Criteria to Choose Food

• Standard or Special (for dogs with allergies, diseases, obesity)
• Dog Size
• Dog Age
• Life Style & Level of Activity
• Classes of Dry Dog Food (Ingredients Quality)

In our review we have followed these criteria to make your choice easier. Beagle is a medium sized dog, so all food from the list below fits medium sized dogs. All food here is standard, as special food should be purchased in accordance with veterinarian prescriptions and special needs of your Beagle. Beagles are hunting dogs with high energy level if they are raised according to their natural needs.

So, what is left? Just to define your Beagle’s age and proceed to selection. Classes are also taken into account and described below.

4 Groups of Food Based on Age:

1. “Starter” Puppy food. Designed for the youngest puppies who no longer eat their mother’s milk
2. “Junior”. Food for puppies in their first year of life
3. “Adult”. Food for dogs from 1-7 years
4. “Senior”. Food for older dogs (7+ years old)

This division is necessary, since the digestive system develops differently at each age (with different intensity). That is why it is important to follow the age criteria when choosing food. Each age group has a different formula, necessary for healthy and long lasting dog life.

5 Best Dry Dog Food for Beagle Puppies & Juniors

Puppies food should contain DHA and ARA (important fatty acids found in mother’s milk) to support cognitive function and retinal health. Junior dogs, on the other hand, should be fed a diet high in protein, fiber and carbohydrates. For better undersatanding of the differences in nutritional requirements between puppies and adults, you can check with the Merck Veterinary Manual of the recommended nutrients for dogs.

Tip: The feeding recommendations for puppy are based on the current weight of the puppy and the expected adult weight. The weight of the same-sex parent Beagle can be used as a guideline. In addition, the amount of food depends on the activity level of the puppy.

7 Best Dry Dog Food for Adult Beagles

Balanced  and nutrient rich, highly digestible food to support overall health and wellbeing of an adult dog.

5 Best Dry Dog Food for Senior Beagles

Senior dogs formula should support their joints and promote mobility with balance content of omega-3s and minerals. Heart, kidney and bladder health supports are essential. And let’s not forget about mental sharpness promotion and giving extra energy.

You may also like: How to Feed a Beagle. A Complete Feeding Guide

Buyer’s Guide

Choosing Dry Dog Food Based on 5 Main Criteria

As we have mentioned above, there are 5 basic criteria of dog food choice. Age division you can find at the top of review. Now let’s talk in detail about the rest.

Standard & Special Dog Food

There are 3 types of food depending on the specific needs of the dog:

• Therapeutic Food – made specifically for dogs with certain health conditions. The food is prescribed by the veterinarian and must be consumed strictly according to the instructions. You can buy therapeutic food for dogs only from manufacturers of premium class food
• Purpose-Built Food is designed to prevent and treat health problems (obesity, digestive and urinary tract disorders), and for sterilized pets
• Standard (or Daily) Food – for healthy dogs, this food is great for everyday diet.
  Important: Always be aware of his daily food allowance, because his health and longevity are largely determined by what he eats.

If your dog is healthy, he is fine with standard nutrition every day. Therapeutic foods are only necessary for dogs with certain health conditions, such as arthritis, digestion problems, food allergies and so on. Not every brand offers therapeutic dry food. The most popular therapeutic foods are Royal Canin, Hills, Purina.

Foods for dogs with different health problems have special labels indicating their focus. For example, for dogs with obesity, it may be “Weight Control”, “Hepatic Dog” (for liver, pancreatic dog’s problems), “Hypoallergenic Dog” (for allergic dogs).

You should know that the therapeutic food is not intended to feed the dog all the time. Its prescription and duration of use should be regulated by your dog’s veterinarian.

Choosing Food by Dog Size 

Lets say immediately, for owners of medium-sized dogs such as the Beagle, this criterion is not particularly significant.

If someday you’ll be an owner of a small and miniature dog, or a giant dog breeds, it is better to search for foods designed for dogs with special sizes.

Why is this important? First, the size of the food pellets matters. While the bigger the pellets, the better for a giant dog, the big pellets may not be chewable by small dogs. Secondly, these food take into account  special needs of dogs in nutrients, vitamins and minerals. A Great Dane puppy, for example, needs more calcium during his active growth period than a Beagle puppy.

Choosing Dog Food by Dog Age

Different needs at different stages of a dog’s life require different types of food. Premium and super-premium foods usually offer an entire age range of their products. In terms of nutritional needs, dry foods are commonly divided into 4 groups: Starter, Junior, Adult and Senior.

It is important to remember that this division is designed to meet the needs of the dog’s body, taking into account age-specific characteristics. Therefore, it is strongly not recommended to feed, for example, a weakened older dog with food for puppies. After all, dogs at different stages of life have very different needs for calories, calcium, phosphorus. Their metabolic process is also different.

Choose dry food based on your dog’s actual age, not because you think it’s better. If in doubt, consult your veterinarian.

Choosing Food by Life Style & Level of Dog Activity

This another important criterion for choosing dog food. Judge your Beagle’s lifestyle with a reasonable degree of objectivity.

If your dog is an athlete, active in hunting, or just constantly on the move with you, it is probably best to choose a dog food for active, energetic dogs. Such food is labeled “Active” or “Energy” on their packaging.
This food will also be good for dogs who need an extra source of energy in the wintertime, dogs who are weak after an illness, or have been under a lot of stress.

If your Beagle spends most of his time snoozing on the couch or on his Beagle bed, you need “Normal”, “Standard” or even “Light”, the latter for those who need to lose some weight. Here we should not that Beagles are prone to obesity. And feeding Beagles in accordance with their real activity level is one the way to keep Beagles in good shape.

Classes of Dry Dog Food (based on quality and nutrient content)

When selecting food for your dog you need to consider the quality and price category. What are the classes of dog food? Is it worth saving money by choosing cheap pellets? And what can this lead to?

• Economy Class Food

This class of dog food does not contain high-quality protein, necessary for the high-grade life of the pet. It is made from low-quality raw materials: soy, by-products (mainly meat and bone meal), waste food production, including stimulated slaughter. Chemical preservatives and flavors included in such food pellets are cheap, but harmful and may cause individual intolerance. There are no vitamins in such food, so the owner of the dog will have to diversify the diet on his own. In addition, low-grade food is poorly absorbed, simply blocking the sense of hunger. As a result, various diseases may occur: allergies, stomach disorders. And what’s most important – since the nutritional value of economy class dry food is low, the pet feels nourished just for a short period, thus you will not save much money in the end.

• Premium Class Food

It consists of high-quality animal protein, vitamins and minerals, whole grains (or grain-free) and vegetables your dog needs for an active, healthy life. But they may contain chemical preservatives or poor-quality ingredients, such as by-products. If you’re feeding your dog a premium dog food, be especially careful to read the label.

• Super Premium Food

This food contains the best quality animal protein (meat, fish, eggs) as the 1 ingredient and minimum of grains (or grain-free). Plus healthy supplements, and exclusively natural preservatives.

• Holistic Food

The highest quality of food possible. Perfectly selected balance of elite components and useful supplements. Probiotics to improve digestion. All this makes this food suitable even for human nutrition.

Despite the significant difference in price, feeding higher quality dry food will not cost much more in the long run than feeding the cheaper varieties. Because the nutritional value of premium, super-premium and holistic food is so much higher, less is needed to cover your dog’s daily nutritional needs.

In addition, feeding a quality food will save you money on the veterinarian, because your dog is much less likely to have any health problems if his food is balanced and made up of quality ingredients.

Why to Choose Premium, Super Premium or Holistic Dog Food?

• Made from specially selected and environmentally friendly raw materials
• Have their own individual standards for the products used to prepare the food
• No soy or corn, no preservatives and no flavors are allowed, which are so harmful to pets

Tips on Choosing the Right Food for Your Beagle

You can select the food yourself, taking into account the criteria of your pet, but additionally you can consult a veterinarian, visit a specialized exhibition or ask for advice from breeders.

The first step is to look at the ingredients:

• It should not contain by-products and other doubtful ingredients (preservatives, flavors, sugar, caramel)
• It should contain the following: natural meat or fish; vitamins and minerals
• The food content should contain caloric value of the product, amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats

Carefully study the nutritional recommendations from the manufacturer, as well as the daily and one time allowance.

Do not choose cheap economy food of questionable composition, as feeding bad food can significantly affect the health and lifespan of your pet. In addition, the daily norm of economy food is much higher than that of other food. You can’t feed your dog just dry economy food alone, you must include wet food and give vitamins separately, which leads to significant food costs for your pet.

To ensure that your dog lives a long and healthy life, you should choose premium, super premium or holistic food, which is a complete and balanced diet. And dogs will not require extra nutrients and vitamins on a regular basis. The daily amount is much less than that of economy food, so the food you buy is sufficient for a longer period of time.

Is Dry Food Good for Dogs?

A balanced diet isn’t just meat and bones (and even then not all meat and not all bones are good for your dog). It’s also whole grains, vegetables, lots of fatty acids, minerals and vitamin supplements. Lack of these ingredients can cause serious damage to the animal’s body.

Only low quality pet foods consisting mainly of by-products, soy, “empty” additives and synthetic preservatives and flavors can harm the health of the dog. They can indeed cause serious urinary and digestive problems, shedding of hair and so on. But that doesn’t mean that any food in pellets would be as bad. A professionally calculated food formulated by experts who know everything about a dogs body at different stages of life is definitely better than porridge with meat, which is prepared by a loving but inexperienced owner.

In addition, there are picky dogs who absolutely refuse to eat vegetables and grains. So they won’t get enough of the good stuff, no matter how hard you try to fool them and feed them at least some of the right food. And since different dogs need different types of food at different times in their lives, the question of whether or not to give them a good dry dog food goes away.

Spicing Food Up

By the way, you can also spice up the food of your Beagle a little every now and then: Give a few noodles, rice, cooked chicken, apple, banana, raw or cooked carrots, potatoes and much more in moderation to your usual food as a special variation in between times. As fast as the bowl is emptied, you may not even be able to say “bon appétit.

Always remember – we are here to help you with the right choice. So please do not hesitate to ask any questions because we will answer them right away!