A dog is a man’s best friend. You do everything you can to
maintain your optimum health. Doesn’t your best friend deserve the same? Your
dog is an active (rather the most active) member of your family and needs the
same, if not more attention to health and nutrition as you do, to stay healthy,
and live longer.
After
all it’s very easy to get lost in s big pet store. The sea of products that we
have today, aisle after aisle is very confusing and also time consuming.
However keeping your dog healthy need not be a career option for you. All we
need to use is a little commonsense and good information regarding the breed
and age of your dog.
Let’s
divide the dogs into two categories – small & adult.
For
Small Dogs & Puppies
It has long been established and proven that small dogs
have a different metabolism as compared to large dogs, due to physiologic
effect of their body mass.
For ex.,
Great Dane weighing 100 pounds needs to consume about 23
calories per pound of body weight Pomeranian weighing 6 pounds needs to consume
47 calories per pound of body weight every day-more than twice as much!
As owner of a small dog, you need to be certain that your
dog’s energy needs are being satisfied. Be sure to choose a diet that's
been formulated properly with optimal balance of highly digestible nutrients.
Digestibility determines how much your dog can actually utilize each nutrient
in a diet.
Puppies
require almost twice or thrice as much food as adult dogs per pound of weight.
To keep up their energy levels, they have to be fed as frequently as three to
four times till they are six months of age.
Diet
is always the key to raising your children or puppies. The diet should
balanced, nutrient rich, should contain high levels of phosphorous and calcium
and be highly digestible. It should also contain high-quality proteins and
should adhere to Association of American Feed Control Officials' (AFFCO)
procedures. This would ensure that the puppy develops strong bones, muscle and
tissue.
For
Adult Dogs
Your
dog like you needs a combination of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins,
minerals, and water in a balanced diet to meet their daily needs. A lot of dog
food bags claim they are in themselves complete food. This ends up as null if
the nutrients cannot be absorbed by your dog’s system. Major companies take
great care in this aspect by trying to provide the nutrients in an absorbable
form.
Dog
foods must also consist of mineral and vitamin supplements in a balanced form.
The proportions should be accurate so that they do not interfere with each
other in your dogs system. This would provide maximum benefit to you dog. If
the food consists of one ingredient in overdose and the other in lower doses,
it could have an adverse affect on your dogs health.
Given
below are some feeding tips to make chow time more pleasant:
Always keep the food dish clean.
Feed adult dogs twice a day to prevent hogging at one single
meal and lessens the chance of your deep chested dog developing bloat or
stomach torsion.
Feeding Schedule should be relaxed
so that your dog knows the meal time but will not bother you if you are a
little late.
Keep your siblings away from your
dog while feeding, so that he does not get insecure and feel a need to defend
his food.
Never let your dog have free
access to food, lest they have constant activity in their digestive systems.
Make sure your dog sits and has
his food, in which case there is less chance of food spilling all over the
floor.
Never play with your dog with his
dish, better to teach him manners instead.
Leave the dish for 15
minutes so that he licks it clean.
In
case of any more information and help, please visit http://www.northolm.co.uk/
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