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Aug
6
Important tips on feeding your dog
August 6, 2007 |
What goes into your dog will determine their long term health condition. If we feed healthy natural meals, it will go a long way to help you save on medical expenses in the long run and most importantly, your dog will likely live up to good old age healthily. Never underestimate the need to feed your dog right foods as we have seen from our experience many illnesses improve for the better with just a diet change and supplementation.
Care must be taken to ensure that when you change the diet, it is planned, managed and implemented gradually. Most dogs have sensitive stomach and do not take drastic change in diet well and may react with tummy upset. Introduce new foods gradually to avoid diarrhea or vomiting. When changing to another type of dog food, ensure that only 1/5 of the new food is introduced. Gradually increase the ratio of new and old food over the course of few weeks. Observe the stool daily and do not increase the ratio if the stool is still soft.
Select A Good Doggie Bowl
1) Stainless steel is easy to clean and will not harvest bacteria as it can be sterilize with hot water. Alternatively, heavy ceramic bowls can be considered but must be handled properly as it may crack and if not found in time may cut the tongue during feeding.
2) Avoid plastic bowls as it is more difficult to wash off oil and grease and they are also good breeding ground for bacteria.
3) Long eared dogs like basset hounds, cocker spaniel should look out for deep dish to avoid messing up their ears with water/food.
Feeding Frequency
Puppies that are seven to twelve weeks old need to eat about four times a day. Once they are four months to six months old, feeding can be reduced to three times a day. When puppies are six months old, they only need food two times a day.
Adult dogs need only be fed once a day. However, if you feel that they are not taking one meal a day well (e.g. vomiting bile), to avoid putting on unnecessary weight, spilt one day meal into 2 meals a day. Alternatively, a good option would be to feed them one main meal in the morning and in the evening, feed them raw fruits like apple, papaya, pear, strawberries and bananas. Basically, you can share your fruits with them but take note not to give them grapes citrus fruits and night shades vegetables.
Fasting your dog
Fasting your dog for a day once in a while is beneficial for his digestive system as you are allowing their body to rest, rejuvenate and detox during fasting. In the wild it is not uncommon for a dog to go on for few days without food.
Do not be alarm if your dog refused his food especially when he is not feeling well or just stop eating for a day. It is alright for him not to eat for a day, in fact it is good for him. Just make sure he has fresh clean water at all times and feed him some healthy broth during his meal time instead. A healthy dog will not go without food for a long time. So observe, if she refuse food for more than 2 days, she might be unwell. A vet visit is necessary.
Selecting Dog Food
Feeding the right dog food entails us human to think long term to weigh the importance of long term health verses convenience. If your work requires you to travel a lot and your dog has to be looked after by a dog care taker or placed at boarding, ensure that your regular dog car taker is willing to adhere to your feeding style. We cannot change their diet overnight as it may cause stomach upset. Consideration on this must be given when making your choice of feed for the dog. Also, handling raw food may not be acceptable to some people and due to inexperience, they may mishandle the food thus causing ill heath or other problems. So make sure your dog care taker is committed to handle your dog feed when you are away.
Preparation for home cooked meals for your dog is simple and need not be a pain at all. I have switched from commercialized pet food to home cooked meals 6 months back after two young lovely dogs died of cancer suddenly. These dogs were on premium pet food all their life and both of them died at a young age of 6 and 7. After this traumatic episode, I put aside my initial struggle and started cooking home made meals for my dogs.
We cannot change their diet overnight as it may cause stomach upset. Start gradually and mixing their feed gradually until they are completed switched to home cooked food.
Read a good book on how to cook for your pet.
For convenience, cook up to one week supply (or more) depending on your choice. Freeze the rest in daily portions separately for convenience.
Just remember to place following day food supply from the freezer to chiller compartment of your refrigerator.
Raw Food (BARF)
Care must be taken during preparation, freezing and serving the food. Should you travel and need a caretaker to look after your dog, guide to ensure your care taker is confident in handling their meals. A lot of information can be found in the internet including basic recipes for BARF diet. Take your time to read and decide what is best for your dog.
From the pet food recall event, we know that dogs today get sick from cancer, diabetes, liver and kidney diseases at a young age and most died suffering from the onset of the illness due to the diet. This incident has created an awareness worldwide that the diet contributes a major role in their health condition today.
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