The most frequently asked questions of inexperienced dog breeders: how much feed is needed for the dog per day? And what? And why can not be applied at once for the whole day and let it eat? Why is bones not food? You can get an answer to these and other questions in this article.
Natural nutrition
With natural nutrition of the dog, the following amount of natural feed is needed for each kg of body weight:
- 20-40 g conditionally dry;
- 30-40 g moist with a sufficient water content;
- 35-40 g of fiber.
If it is a producer male, a pregnant bitch or a service dog that daily performs an increased physical load and spends a lot of energy, then the amount of food can be increased. The main thing is to monitor the weight of the animal and fatness.
How Many Times a Day Should DOGS EAT? – Puppies and Adults
How much feed is required for a healthy dog, the table is approximately orienting. Of course, the indicators are conditional. The total consumption of natural food will depend on the age of the dog, breed and its size and physiological state (G):
For an adult dog weighing
The diet of puppies will be slightly different. In addition, there is a difference how much food is given to a monthly puppy or already one-year-old, as well as taking into account the pedigree feature:
| Name of products | Age of puppies (in months) | |||
| 1-2 | 2-4 | 4-6 | 6-12 | |
| Meat of medium fatness or fish | 200 (only meat) | 300 (only meat) | 400 (meat and fish) | 500 (meat and fish) |
| Group | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
| Vegetables | 100 | 100 | 100 | 200 |
| Milk | 500 | 500 | — | — |
| Chicken eggs | — | 1 yolk per week | 1 egg per week | 1 egg per week |
| Liquid sour milk | — | — | 30-50 | 50-100 |
| Fish fat | 20 | 20 | 20 | 30 |
| Meat-bone or fish-bone flour | 10 | 20 | 20 | 50 |
| Salt | 10 | 10-15 | 15 | 15 |
| Number of feeders per day | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| Approximate total feed volume per dose (kg) | 0. 25-0. 5 | 0. 5-1 | 1-2 | 2-3 |
The most important rule when compiling a diet: meat products in the diet should be 50-70%, everything else is fiber, cereals, vegetables.
With natural nutrition, the dog will most likely need additional minerals and vitamins. The name of the drugs, intake and dosage courses are calculated individually by the veterinarian for each individual!
Several recipes for feeding the dog:
- Beef cheeks, meat trimmings (except for pork), kaltyk and / or heart, rice (or buckwheat), carrots, greens, pumpkin, zucchini, 10-15 ml of fish oil or vegetable oil. Everything is boiled, cut into pieces, mixed, seasoned with fish oil or oil. Vegetables can not be boiled, but lightly scalded with boiling water so that they do not lose their vitamin and mineral properties.
- Sea fish (pollock, for example, or cod 1-5 pieces), non-watery vegetables and any greens (except onions and garlic). The fish is boiled, bones are removed, vegetables are finely chopped (you can use fresh, you can boil it – make a decision on the tolerance of the animal), everything is mixed and slightly moistened with fish broth.
- Cottage cheese 0%, kefir (or low-fat sour cream), one raw chicken egg (or 2-3 quail), vegetables (carrots, pumpkin). Cottage cheese is mixed with vegetables (fresh or boiled), and together with the rest of the ingredients is laid out in a dog bowl. You may not mix. Cottage cheese is great to mix with cereals – rice or buckwheat.
- Sometimes, large beef moss with cartilage can be given as a "yummy".
- Poultry meat, buckwheat (or rice cereal), carrots. The chicken is boiled, cut into pieces or ground into minced meat (if the dog is small), mixed with porridge and grated carrots.
- Liver-apple-carrot cookies (delicacy): the liver and apple are crushed in a blender, finely grated carrots, egg, flour are added (even bone flour is possible). The resulting mass is poured onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and baked until a golden hue of the layer appears (this is about 25-35 minutes). Then the layer is cooled, cut into portions (or breaks).
- If you dry the beef liver cut into pieces (1×1 cm) in the oven, then the resulting product can be used both as a treat and as a reward at the time of training.
The nutritional value of by-products is significantly lower than that of natural meat products, so they can be given no more than 2-3 times a week and the volume per serving for feeding should be slightly larger than meat.
"Dry" and "wet" feeding
Dry dog food
If it was decided to feed the dog dry dog food, then first of all, you should follow the manufacturer's recommendations. The packaging usually indicates the rate of feed consumption, depending on the age of the animal and its physiological state. But keep in mind – the nutritional norms on the best dog food storage container are indicated by weight not by the weight in which the pet is at the time of feeding, but by the weight in which it should be, taking into account its physiology! In addition, there are feeds that are individual for each breed, as well as therapeutic ones, which are given for the duration of the treatment or prevention of a particular disease.
If the food was purchased by weight, then on average they usually adhere to the following norms (with medium quality feed, g / day):
| Dog weight (kg) | With a low level of physical activity (less than 1 hour per day of active movements) | With an active lifestyle (physical activity of 1 hour or more) |
| 2 | 30-40 | 60-70 |
| 5 | 60 | 80-100 |
| 10 | 120-130 | 160 |
| 20 | 170-200 | 270 |
| 30 | 250 | 390 |
| 40 | 300-320 | 470 |
| 50 | 350-400 | 560 |
| 60 | 420-500 | 640 |
When feeding dry dog food, the water intake for a dog increases from 50 ml / kg to 100-120 ml / kg.
Wet dog food
Wet dog foods include pates, soufflés, pieces in jelly or sauce. Feeding dogs with wet industrial food is justified only in cases with small breeds. For large dogs, the consumption will be simply crazy, provided that you cannot mix ready-made food with natural food (cereals, pasta, etc.).
If the manufacturer did not indicate the food consumption on the packaging, then you can approximately navigate according to the following average norms (g / day) – approximately the total volume is within 5-7% of the total body weight of the animal:
| Dog weight (kg) | With a low level of physical activity (less than 1 hour per day of active movements) | With an active lifestyle (physical activity of 1 hour or more) |
| 5-9 | 100-160 | 160-200 |
| 10-14 | 140-200 | 190-240 |
| 15-19 | 210-260 | 240-300 |
| 20-24 | 270-300 | 300-360 |
| 25-29 | 310-400 | 360-410 |
| 30-39 | 400-440 | 410-500 |
| 40-49 | 450-520 | 500-600 |
| 50-60 | 520-650 | 600-700 |
The individual needs of the dog cannot be ignored. If you began to notice that, eating according to the norms on the package, the dog began to gain weight excessively – reduce portions or remove one feeding (if the regime allows). If he eats and asks for more, while not gaining weight, increase the portion or add one feeding.
How to understand that the dog is not starving
Why does the owner know how much food the dog needs a day? It is necessary to choose such a portion of feed so that the animal is enough energy for normal life, but at the same time, that overeating with obesity and hunger with exhaustion is excluded. The dog can be weighed from time to time, but this occupation is troublesome and this, as a rule, does not do it.
If the dog will not eat regularly, it will begin to lose weight, an enhanced molting will appear, the wool will lose its shine, the pet will constantly be near its bowl or try to grab something somewhere on its own (it will start to work instinct to feed yourself). In this case, you should either add another feeding per day or increase portions.
The degree of fatness of the dog is determined by probing its body and evaluating the general proportions of the body:
- The ribs are clearly expressed by the naked look;
- The spine and scapular arc are strongly protruding;
- In short-haired dogs, the bones of the pelvis and deep hungry pits are clearly visible;
- The fat layer is not felt, the subcutaneous fiber is thinned.
- The ribs, pelvic bones and scapular edges are clearly visible;
- The hungry fossa is expressed, but not critical;
- In the field of "waist" thin fat deposits.
- The spine and costal arcs are not visible from the side, but are well felt;
- The "waist" in the abdomen is noticeable, the hungry fossa is not fallen;
- A slight fat layer in the abdomen.
- The dog does not have a "waist"
- Sags a noticeably stomach;
- The ribs and spinal column are felt with difficulty or are not at all felt;
- The general silhouette is visually different from the ideal constitution, but without abuse.
- The spine, rib arials, interspace fossa, pelvic bones are not felt at all due to the excessive fat layer;
- Significant fat deposits are found throughout the body, and not just in the area of the abdominal wall;
- Excessively sagging belly.
Constantly food in a plate – yes or no
Definitely not! It is rare that the dog has a sense of proportion, mainly the dogs eat exactly as much as it will be imposed in a bowl. Even if you are lucky, and your dog can move away from the fooder with food as soon as she eats, she will return to her a little later and the remnants, even without a feeling of hunger.
Natural need for nutrients
What is the point of laid in dog feeding in general? In filling out the costs of nutrients and internal energy to maintain a natural level of life.
Nutrition needs depend on:
- Constitutions and body weights (in small breeds of dogs, energy needs are higher, they have a faster metabolism and stronger energy losses due to a high difference in body weight to the area of the body surface);
- Age and sexual characteristics (young cells of energy are needed many times less than a dog in age);
- Physiological state (special needs for nutrients have sore animals, male during the period of melts, nursing, pregnant women and puppies during growth);
- Environmental air temperatures (energy needs increase in the cold season).
Squirrels
Despite the fact that dogs have 3 times less need for proteins than in cats, they also cannot live without it. Protein is a source of necessary amino acids that participate not only in metabolic processes, but also are the structural material of many body tissues. The average need for protein of an adult dog is 4. 5 g/kg of body weight, in growing, pregnant women and male producers-up to 9 g/kg. The lack of protein is as dangerous as excess. With a lack, muscle weakness develops, a painful exhausted appearance appears, puppies lag behind in development, anemia can develop against the background of a lack of hemoglobin, and enzymatic liver functions are impaired. Excess protein leads to renal pathologies and liver intoxication against the background of blood disorder of protein decay.
A source: Meat (main source), fish (slightly), dairy products.
For a dog, this is an actual source of energy, as well as a catalyst for a normal secretory function of the digestive glands. The very concept includes fatty acids (unsaturated and saturated), pigments, fat-soluble vitamins, sterins, etc. The average fat need for an adult dog is 1. 3 g/kg of live weight, in puppies-2. 4-2. 7 g/kg. Incorrect and/or insufficient flow of fats very often provokes vitaminosis and dermatological pathologies (peeling, dandruff, hyperkeratosis, disheveled wool and molting, exacerbation of allergic reactions, etc.).
A source: Animals and vegetable (insignificant) fats.
Carbohydrates
These include sugar, starch and fiber. The optimal carbohydrate requirement for an adult dog is 10 g/kg, of which 1 g/kg is fiber. In puppies, this requirement is 15. 3 g/kg and fiber – 1. 5 g/kg. Keeping a balance of these nutrients is very important, because. Deficiency leads to obvious exhaustion, excess leads to obesity. The ratio with fats is in inverse proportion – the more carbohydrates in the diet, the less fat you need to put. And vice versa. Carbohydrates usually make up to 70% of the total caloric intake of the diet. With the normal consumption of sugars and starches, the body receives the necessary glucose. And fiber stimulates the proper functioning of the intestines, biliary tract, and also helps to remove excess cholesterol.
A source: cereals (rice, buckwheat), bran. Vegetables are an additional source of fiber.
Vitamins and minerals
Every living organism needs vitamins and minerals. When feeding with full-fledged, expensive luxury and Holistic dog foods, there is no need for additional feeding with them. Also, a dog that is on a full and varied natural diet does not really need all this – some of the substances come from outside in sufficient quantities, some are produced in the body (for example, vitamin A from beta-carotene). With unbalanced and / or monotonous feeding, additional vitamins and mineral supplements will have to be given. It is best not to do this without consulting a veterinarian, because. Complexes are both general and specific, aimed at normalizing the function of something (for example, to improve the condition of the skin).
What is the relationship between feed class and consumption?
- The higher the class of feed, the higher the concentration of high-quality nutrients in it. The calculation is per 100 g. That is, the cheaper the food, the more it will have to be fed to the dog in order to cover the daily need for proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
- The more natural the food, the less various flavors it contains. Not surprisingly, cheap food is eaten more readily and in much larger quantities. But if the animal is immediately accustomed to good, expensive food, bad food will not only not taste good, but will also not give a feeling of satiety.
- The better and more concentrated the food, the less unnecessary auxiliary components in it and, therefore, there is no additional (and unnecessary) burden on the organs of the digestive system (in particular, the pancreas and liver). For example: 150-250 g of nutritionally economical food can correspond to 45-62 g of holistic or luxury food. The difference is ballast.
- In cheap feed there is no balance in vitamins and minerals. At best, they are, but without observing the daily proportions, at worst, they are completely absent.
- High-class feeds are able to gently stimulate the work of the gastrointestinal tract, improving the metabolism of the whole organism.
- The best medical series of food only in the luxury and holistic classes.
- High-quality feeds are expensive in cost, but at the same time they have a minimum daily consumption. If we recalculate the consumption of cheap economy feeds by nutrients, then the output costs will be either the same or less, but at the same time, the benefits will be significantly greater.
Class separation of industrial feed – which is better?
All industrial feeds are divided into 4 classes, depending on the raw materials from which they are produced and the concentration of nutrients:
- Luxury and holistic (the best);
- Super premium;
- Premium;
- Economy
- "+" great price.
- "-" disgusting composition: food waste, no balance in nutrients, an excessive amount of flavors and smells.
- "+" reasonable price-quality balance, usually a large variation for dogs in different age groups and physiological conditions (for puppies, for pregnant, for aged dogs, etc.)
- “-” is unprofitable in terms of consumption, if you do not analyze the composition on the best dog food storage container (the risk of buying economy at a premium price).
- "+" excellent quality of the components, complete balance of nutrients, a range of feeds for different physiological conditions of the dog and age, high nutrient concentration and the absence of ballast substances (due to which there is a small consumption per daily portion).
- "-" is expensive and sometimes tasteless for the dog due to the lack of flavors and flavors.
- "+" natural-unique, balanced nutrition that fully covers all the needs of the dog in nutritional and vitamin-mineral substances at a minimum consumption.
- "-" very expensive (although it can be quite profitable in terms of consumption)
Why can't you give your dog cat food?
The most significant reason why this cannot be done is a different metabolism and needs in nutrients. In addition, in these animals, completely different components provoke allergic reactions.
The fundamental difference in food for dogs and cats:
- Dog food does not contain a large amount of protein, becauseIt has no acute need. Cats are necessary regularly and constantly, so their feed is saturated with protein components.
- According to the overall assessment, cat foods are more saturated with fats, and dogs – carbohydrates.
- Cat food practically do not contain cereal and other plant components, because they are practically not digested by their gastrointestinal system. Dogs need this, so there is always this in the composition.
- In dogs, vitamin A is synthesized in the body of beta-carotene, which is present in dog feeds. In cats, this is pure vitamin A. Kormamy a pet with cat food, you can provoke hypervitaminosis with all the consequences.
- Cats contain Taurine, becauseThis indispensable amino acid is not synthesized in their body. The dog liver is capable of producing this substance, so the need to enter it from the outside is minimal.
- Thanks to its composition, cat food will seem tastier to the dog, it will be more willing to eat, but in the end it will cause more harm, becauseExcess protein and fats will necessarily affect the work of kidneys, liver and pancreas.
- There is no vitamin K in cat stern, and it is very necessary for dogs. Despite the fact that phyllokhinon is produced by the body, this is a soluble vitamin in water, it is consumed very quickly, so top dressing is required.
The main nuance: feeding any type of animal with non-suitable food will necessarily lead to an excess or lack of nutrients, provoking disorders of metabolic processes and the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
Contents
- Natural nutrition
- "Dry" and "wet" feeding
- How to understand that the dog is not starving
- Constantly food in a plate – yes or no
- Natural need for nutrients
- What is the relationship between feed class and consumption?
- Class separation of industrial feed – which is better?
- Why can't you give your dog cat food?
