How To Feed Your Dog For Optimum Health
There’s more to owning a canine friend than just learning how to train a puppy. Generally, dogs are not difficult to feed, and they thrive on a diet not dissimilar to our own, albeit with a little more protein.
Nearly all foods of animal origin, cereals, root vegetables and fats are easy for them to digest. So as part of my puppy training tips, here’s some simple tips to help keep your dog healthy.
The secret of correct feeding is to give your dog a balanced diet that supplies all the essential nutrients in the proper proportions. These nutrients are as follows:
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates, in the form of cooked cereal starch, or sugar, can supply up to 70 per cent by weight of the dog’s food (after deducting any water) or about two-thirds of the calories. Dog biscuits, pasta and rice are three useful energy foods for dogs; rice is a particularly useful foodstuff for dogs with an allergy to wheat.
Proteins
Proteins in meat and plants help to build body tissue, carry out ‘repairs’ and make hormones. The dry matter of dog food should contain at least 15 per cent protein, of which at least half should come from animal foods (meat and dairy products), or high-quality vegetable protein such as soya.
Minerals
Minerals are sometimes referred to as ‘ash’ on dog-food labels. The important ones are calcium and phosphorus. Calcium and phosphorus make up most of the mineral matter of bone and should be supplied at the rate of about 3 per cent calcium/phosphorus in the diet; too much calcium in the diet, especially in large-breed puppies, can lead to skeletal abnormalities, while too much phosphorus (found in high meat and offal diets) can cause eclampsia in lactating bitches. Other essential minerals, such as zinc and copper, occur naturally in meat, cereals and other ingredients of a balanced diet.
Vitamins
Vitamin A (retinol) is essential for growth and vision, while B vitamins are important for the maintenance, in particular, of the central nervous system. Vitamin D helps the body produce calcium, essential for healthy bones and teeth, as is phosphorus.
Vitamin E (tocopherol) is vital for cell membranes. Since dogs can produce their own vitamin C (ascorbic acid), this does not need to be included in the diet.
Fat
Fat makes food tastier, but is actually only necessary as a source of the essential fatty acids (EFAs) that are vital for body health – they control water loss through the skin. A deficiency in EFAs can often result in problems such as reproductive, skin, coat and wound healing.
Fiber
A lack of fiber (roughage) in the diet can result – especially in elderly, inactive dogs – in constipation and other types of digestive problems cause by sluggish bowels. Fiber is supplied through the indigestible plant matter in foods such as cooked and raw vegetables and cereals.