7 Ways to Improve Your Dog’s Diet

Diet is the biggest contributor to your dog’s overall health and wellbeing. This is besides its mental health and exercise needs, all of which affect its present health and life longevity. But to understand how to feed your dog, you need first to understand its nutritional requirements so you can incorporate that into its meal plan. Below, we’ve included some tips that you can follow to ensure your dog has all the nutrients they need to lead a long, healthy life.

1. Fresh Foods

Shelf-stable foods rely on synthetic supplementation to meet nutritional standards but have no live enzymes. For the wholesome health of your dog, introduce fresh whole foods with live enzymes like fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and meats.
Whole foods are enriched with fiber and nutritional cofactors working synergistically to aid the body with the absorption and assimilation of nutrients. Incorporate animal and plant foods like eggs, goat milk, sardines, kefir, fish oil, green beans, rice, oatmeal, banana, carrots, apples, pumpkin, and sesame seeds for dogs in their diet.

2. Feed Them a Balanced Meal

90% of what you feed your dog every day should be a balanced diet. It is easy to compute this with commercial feeds since most are formulated with dogs’ essential nutrients. If you prefer feeding them on homemade diets, ensure that they meet the daily nutritional requirements for dogs. These basic essential nutrients are fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates, and others.

3. Practice Portion Control

Obesity is the most common health threat in dogs. One of the best ways to prevent this, besides regular exercise, is watching how often and how much you feed your dog. Instead of refilling its feeding bowl every time you find it empty, practice portion control. Also, measure the food so that you only feed them the recommended healthy quantities.

4. Provide Fresh, Clean Water

Always provide your dog with fresh, clean water. Watch the intake, as taking too little or too much water can signify a health issue. Find ways to encourage your dog to take water, like serving it some homemade broth or freezing its favorite treats so it can lick the frozen water off. Proper hydration is central to a dog’s healthy life.

5. Avoid Feeding your Dog from Table Too Often

Stop feeding your dog with table food every time they refuse to eat what you have served them. With time, they become conditioned to think that when they hold out eating what they enjoy less, you will hand them some other treats. Withdraw the table foods and dog treats that might make them not eat the regular, balanced diet that you serve.

6. Check the Labels

Before buying any dog food, check their label for ingredients, target age, and nutritional composition information. This is the way to know exactly what your dog is ingesting. Labels will tell you if you are serving enough of each nutrient and how much to avoid overfeeding or underfeeding it.

7. Weigh Your Dog

Every few months, check how much your dog weighs. Monitoring the dog’s weight will help you know if it is underweight, overweight, or within the recommended weight range. It becomes easier to determine the number of calories to feed them per day. Typically, dogs require 20 to 30 calories per pound. Only 10% of the total dog’s calories needs should come from table foods, treats, and supplements.

Endnote

Keeping your dog healthy lowers their risk of getting diseases and increases their life expectancy. As a valuable companion, a healthy dog translates to a healthier you as they encourage playfulness, exercise and help ease your loneliness.