Type and Amount of Food – A Feeding Guide for Dogs

Grooming one’s pet dog is one of the most challenging tasks though at the outset it might look simple. Food, like humans, is also very important for the dogs and any dog owner should learn what and how to feed their pet dog. For such people some good feeding guide for dogs would come up very handy.Questions to Answer

In grooming the dogs, some questions that are required to be answered are –

• Quantum of food to be fed to the pet dog
• Type of food; either dry, or canned, or fresh to be fed;
• Whether it is right mixing dry with canned food;
• Stopping the pet from gulping out the food that could be adverse to its health and well being;
• Is there any free choice in feeding the pet dog;
• Switching pet foods which means changing the diets;
• Maintaining special diet for the pet dogs;
• Preparing the measuring bags for the foods to be administered; and
• Understanding the food labels to select the best stored food for the pet dog.

It would be good going to answer these questions one by one as provided in the best feeding guides for dogs.

Quantity of Food

Perhaps the most important aspects of feeding the pet dog are the quantum of food to be given to the dog. One of the questions that every dog owner or groomer has is about the quantity marked on the food box labels and the actual quantum to be given. Since most of the recommendations are inconsistent and the markings on the labels vary to a large extent for each of the products, it would be necessary to look at the requirements of the particular dog and adjust the quantum of food administered accordingly. For instance; the requirements of a large size dog like Alsatian, or Gray Hound will not be similar to the requirements of smaller dogs like Fox Terriers.

Factors for Consideration

In deciding both the type and quantum of foods for the pet dog, any good and qualitative feeding guide for dogs will ask the buyer to take care of the following aspects.

Calorie contents of any food that is served to the dog because if there is too much calories then it will make the dog bulky and fattier which will not be good for its health and make it sluggish as well;

• Quantity and type of food should always be commensurate with the weight of the dog and it would also be required to learn about the ideal weight for the dog and that can be determined in consultation with the veterinarian;
• Active pets will require more food in comparison to inactive ones and therefore it would be necessary judging the activity levels of the pet dog before deciding on the food quantum; and
• Environmental impacts like high heat or extreme cool climates.

Most important part in deciding the food for the pet dog is to remember that most of the dogs are overfed and under exercised that reduces their longevity substantially.