Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is not only important for you, but it’s important for your pet. Figuring out your dog’s diet can be hard. With all the daily requirements your dog needs, it can get overwhelming fast. That’s why we’ve taken the time to look over your pet’s nutritional needs and have broken it down into easy categories, so you can ensure your dog is getting a healthy diet and has everything they need to live a long, healthy life.
Age
The age of your pet is very important for ensuring your pet’s nutrition. The requirements for your dog’s diet change based on whether your pet is a puppy, adult, senior, or pregnant/feeding a litter. It’s important that your dog has a healthy diet at each stage to ensure that your dog is healthy.
Protein
According to the National Academy of Sciences, a healthy diet means protein. Your puppy (weighing between 12- 33lbs) will need 56 grams of crude protein every day. Your adult dog (weighing 33lbs) will need 25 grams and your pregnant/nursing dog (33lbs with 6 puppies) requires 69/168 grams of protein, daily. What does crude protein mean? Lean meats, like beef, chicken, lamb, fish, and cooked eggs. The ASPCA warns dog owners to make sure they feed their dogs cooked eggs only because raw egg white is harmful to your pet. When it comes to making sure your dog’s diet is the best means making sure your dog is getting the right kind of protein. It’s okay to trust commercial dog food brands. If you’re ever unsure about your pets diet you should talk to your dog’s vet.
Keeping your dog healthy can help limit urine spots on your grass. Aside from a good diet, check out other ways to prevent dog urine spots on your grass!
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Fats
Fats are a great energy food source for your dog’s diet. However, making sure your dog has a healthy diet means you have to keep in mind that you need to set limits with how much fat your pet has. Fats that naturally occur in the food you’re already feeding your pet are the right kinds of fat. It’s best to avoid feeding your dog snacks, like sliced cheese, chips, and other foods meant for human consumption.
Carbs
The fiber found in carbs is important to your dog’s diet and digestive health. For your dog to have a healthy diet, the best grains to feed your pet are corn, rice, and wheat. Vegetables that are high in fiber are bad for your growing pet. It’s best to stick to the grains provided in your pet’s food. Simply because feeding your dog the wrong type of food can make your dog malnourished or sick.
Foods to Avoid
Because your dog digests food differently from you, it’s important to your dog’s diet to stay away from feeding your dog just anything from your plate. The Merk Manual, which is trusted by veterinarians, talks about a healthy diet for your dog, what foods to avoid when feeding your pet, and the dangers of feeding your pet a homemade, organic, or vegetarian diet. The short list of foods to avoid are: chocolate, raisins, grapes, macadamia nuts, onions, garlic, chicken skin, raw meats, and sugar free food.
Keeping your dog healthy may seem difficult, however, as long as your dog’s diet is made up of foods that meet their nutritional needs, avoid over feeding, and keep them away from harmful food, then they have a healthy diet and they should live a long, healthy life. If you enjoyed these facts on feeding your dog a healthy diet, then check out all the other useful facts POOP 911 has to offer. You can rely on the experts at POOP 911 to bring you the best dog facts and tips.
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