The dog’s nutritional requirements are influenced by a variety of factors, with the main factors being age, size, weight and physical exercise.
Therefore, feeding “all purpose” food is not a good idea because of the different nutritional requirements in different life stages. Puppies, for example, need the correct amount of nutrients and a lot of energy in order to grow and develop.
Senior dogs need a diet that focuses on supporting the immune system, but without adding too much energy. Older dogs face the risk of becoming overweight if their calorie intake is not decreased.
Hopefully you understand that a puppy requires a very different diet compared to a senior dog. Puppies need to eat an enormous amount of food in order to grow into a strong, healthy adult. Puppies between 2 and 6 months old are usually fed 4 to 6 times per day. After that, the diet is reduced to 3-4 times a day.
The quality of the puppy’s diet is extremely important! Therefore it must be a specialized formula made by a reputable brand. When the puppy turns into a young adult, his diet can be switched to an adult one.
Secondly, there are the senior dogs. A dog’s senior years start around the ago of 7-8. They often start to take things a bit slower and enjoy spending more time on the sofa. You can anticipate on this behavioral change by feeding a diet which is lower in calories but higher in protein. It’s a good idea to supplement his diet with fatty acids, probiotics and antioxidants to give some extra support to the immune system.
For most people it is quite obvious that the calorie intake should match the size and weight of the dog. However, obesity in dogs is becoming an increasing and worrisome problem. Nowadays, pet owners are not aware of how much food they should give.
Then they say “Hey, he eats everything I give, so he must still be hungry!”.
WRONG!
When you put an over-full bowl, sprinkled with meat stock in front of him, of course he will eat it. Add the corner of your sandwich and the half sausage and it’s the perfect recipe for obesity.
High quality brands have clear feeding instructions on their packaging materials, and you should follow them. If your dog is experiencing weight issues, you should contact your vet and he or she will make a suitable diet plan for your dog.
Alright, for this topic I want to refer to humans. Imagine the difference between a high-performing sports athlete and the average couch-potato watching Netflix all day. If the couch-potato would follow the same diet as the high-performing athlete, he would get super fat in no time.
On the other hand, the high performing athlete would not perform well if he follows the couch-potato’s diet. I think that makes sense!
I remember when I was a tour guide with sled dogs, in northern Finland.
Those dogs’ daily meals have the same amount of calories as 8 Big-Mac menus from Mcdonalds.
Can you imagine?
Thank you for staying with me, I hope you've learned some useful information.
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