Skip to main content

Tips for Feeding Your Dog



Tips for Feeding Your Pet
Guest Post Courtesy of Lynne Choate, Pet First

The rattle of a bag or the opening of the pantry door and here they come. Does your pet knows the sound and always comes running in hopes of a nibble no matter what it is? And even worse, your dog just finished up what was in their bowl. So why do they always seem hungry? Are you feeding your pet enough? Is their food nutritious?

Let’s start with reading the ingredients listed.The first ingredient listed should represent the highest valued food in the mix, but that isn’t always the case. The weight of the food may have been taken prior to being cooked or processed. For example, chicken when raw weighs about 80% more than it does when cooked. 

The word “meal” in the ingredient list is something that has been weighed after being processed.  For example, "chicken meal" is chicken which is weighed after it has been cooked and the water has already been taken out, giving you more meat and protein per weight volume.

How much food and how often should you feed your pets?
First, always talk with your vet and follow his/her recommendations. Your vet knows your pet’s medical history and their breed-specific needs. Here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind:

For grown dogs (over the age of one year) most vets recommend feeding them twice per day and to stick to a specific routine on timing. As far as how much, it depends on the weight of your dog.  Smaller breeds (25 lbs and under) need one cup or less per meal; medium breeds weighing between 25 – 50 pounds need 1 – 2 cups of food per meal; large breeds weighing 50 – 75 pounds need 2 – 2½ cups per meal; and the larger breeds such as Great Dane, Malamute, St. Bernard or Mastiff, may need 2 – 4 (or more) cups of food per meal. 

Last, but certainly not least, what about the begging? Is your dog or cat a beggar while you are enjoying a family meal or when you go to grab a snack?  To tell the truth, you (or those in your home) are most likely to blame. Begging is a learned behavior. What started out as innocent sharing has now become an annoying habit, a habit that is much harder to break. But rest assured, it can be done!  Start off by only feeding your pup (meals, treats and snacks) in their food bowl. Train your dog to sit a couple of feet away from the bowl while you prepare the food and not to move toward it until you give the command. Also, never feed your dog while they are begging. Treats are your idea, not his (or hers).

Image: Flickr

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

10 Strangest Items Swallowed By Dogs

My mother’s Schnauzer mix, Sha Sha, eats just about anything.  I didn’t quite believe just how often she would quickly snap up everything in her sight until a few weeks ago when she swallowed a quarter and a nickel in the blink of an eye. The vet advised my mother to watch her for the next few days as the coins would likely pass. It’s a very common issue among dog owners and it doesn’t only happen with puppies. The majority of dogs do grow out of the need to eat inedible objects. It can be difficult to pinpoint exactly what a puppy would eat so it’s best to be vigilant about where you dog is allowed to freely roam. Many dogs and puppies have been known to swallow seemingly unsuitable items, which  you might not find in any way enticing or preferable, but they do. Check out this list of the strangest things swallowed by dogs as witnessed by the  ASPCA :

Keep Your Dog Safe With These Holiday Safety Tips!

    ‘Tis the season for putting up decorations and eating delicious holiday treats, but that also means pets could be getting into serious trouble! Trupanion , a leading provider of medical insurance for cats and dogs, sees a 10% increase in foreign body ingestion claims and a 24% increase in toxicity claims during the holiday months each year. But you can keep your pets safe this holiday season with the below tips from Dr. Sarah Nold:

10 Most Common Medical Conditions That Send Dogs to the Vet

No one likes going to the vet, especially our dogs. Like many others, my dogs can sense when they are going way before we get there. They get nervous and hyper. Some dogs whimper endlessly at the vet’s office while countless others have fear-induced accidents right in the office. While regular check-ups and vaccinations are a necessary evil, we can try our best to keep our pups in optimal health thus avoiding another dreaded trip. Veterinary Pet Insurance  compiled a list of the 10 most common medical conditions that send dogs to the vet. Some are unavoidable while others may be caught early on. Dr. Carol McConnell, DVM points out that many of the conditions that most regularly require vet visits “can be stopped early or successfully managed in partnership with a veterinarian. To prevent some of the discomfort that so many pets experience from common diseases, the place to start would be by checking them regularly for developing problems.” Check out the full list here at Babb