Feeding Your Dog
Posted on 30. Jan, 2010 by doglover in Nutrition and Weight Loss
How much food does your dog really need?
These days, dogs are suffering from obesity in greater numbers than ever before, and they’re suffering from similar weight related diseases that people do. I guess more people are becoming overweight too. As a vet, do you know how hard it is to explain to a dog owner that they’re slowly killing their dog, as it enjoys (!) a poor quality of life, when the owners are also very large? It takes a fair bit of tact.
I heard a report recently discussing the role of diet and exercise in weight loss in people. Apparently, you need to cut back on the calories as well as increase the amount of exercise you do, to drop those kilos ( or pounds, for our non metric readers). Exercise alone just won’t cut it. Given that dogs are physiologically very similar to us, I can’t see why they’d be any different.
It is not too hard to reduce the amount of food you are feeding your dog. Just put less in his food bowl, and cut out the toast crusts and leftovers from dinner.
How much do you feed your dog? There’s no easy answer to that. It depends on their activity level, their metabolism, their life stage, and what you’re actually feeding them. I also believe that the feeding guidelines that are on packets of dog kibble are too generous.
One of the worst ways of feeding your dog is “ad lib” feeding. This basically means putting out a big bowl of kibble, and allowing him to help himself whenever he wants to. There’s no way you can monitor how many calories he’s taking in, except if he empties the bowl! Use a measuring scoop, and dole out his rations carefully.
Feeding your dog appropriately is one of the most important parts of his weight management.
