Keep Away From Table Scraps In Your Dog’s Nutritional Regime
We humans understand the purpose of good nutrition. We know that food plays a very important role in our lives. We eat for pleasure, for energy and to maintain our health.
Well, choosing the right food for your pet is equally important. A well balanced diet for your pet should include ingredients that provide the most nutrition for the money that you are spending. Good nutrition produces better health, a glossy coat and a happy dog.
Just as you wouldn’t consider feeding an infant a steak or popcorn, you shouldn’t feed a puppy food that is suitable for an adult dog.
There are six nutrient groups that play an important part in your pet’s life, just as they do in yours.
The six groups are:
* 1. Proteins that work on the body’s muscles, blood, tissues, skin, hair and nails.
* 2. Carbohydrates provide energy
* 3. Fats help transport the vitamins through the body, help make your pet’s coat shine and makes food taste good.
* 4. Water is an essential for life
* 5. Vitamins help maintain your pet’s metabolism.
* 6. Minerals necessary in developing healthy skin, bones, and hair.
When choosing food for your pet it is important that you take into consideration the age of your dog, the amount of exercise your pet gets and the size of your pet. Obesity in pets as in humans is very prevalent so it is important that you spend some time in researching what is best for your pet. Talking to your vet is a great place to start, reading pet food labels and doing some research on the Internet will provide a good source of information.
In this article I will try to provide you with information that hopefully will be helpful to you and your pet.
By the time you have picked up your puppy from the breeder, pet shop or from someone’s home your dog should be eating solid food. We suggest you ask the person responsible for your puppy to tell you what your pet has been eating and how often they feed him/her. It is important that you try to stick to their routine until your puppy adjusts to his/her new surroundings. You need to remember that your little one is going to be experiencing a total new life without “mommy” and its brother and sisters.
Puppies have a need for a great deal of nutrition, but they have very small stomachs, which require that they eat approximately six times a day. They should be eating food that has been made for puppies in order to meet the nutritional requirements needed for the puppy to grow up healthy. It is important that you do not over feed your puppy or feed him/her too many treats. Starting on the road to obesity at an early age is the wrong road to travel.
I have read that some nutritional experts “say that large breed dogs that are known to have hip dysplasia in their background may have had it caused by the puppies growing too rapidly.” Owners feeding the dogs, puppy food which promotes growth, in larger quantities than the puppies needed causing a more rapid growth factor which can be detrimental to the puppy’s
bones and possibly causing the problem. The nutritionists suggested that owners, who are raising large breed puppies, try mixing puppy food and adult food together to slow down the rate of growth.
When puppies reach the age of 6 months they can be fed two or three times a day and once they reach a year old it can be cut down to once a day. However, most dogs look forward to meal time and like to be fed twice a day and to us that seems like the right thing to do.
While the smaller breed of dogs reach their full size within 8 to 10 months of age, the larger giant size dogs will take up to 18 months to reach their full size. It is a good idea to talk to your breeder or your vet and discuss the proper nutrition for your dog while it is still in the growing stage. There are many products on the market that will make feeding your puppy an easy chore. Growing dogs need a growth formula diet to help complete his/her development and to grow strong bones and good muscle.
It is as important that you do not over feed your dog as it is to not under feed. As dogs tend to want to over eat and will give you the impression they are starving it is a good idea to talk to your vet and take his/her advice regarding how much you should feed your dog. You need to take into consideration the size and breed of your pet.
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