Feeding My Dog 101
With the countless different diets on the market, finding the right food for your dog can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be! We got the scoop from Veterinary Technician and Continuing Education Coordinator, Alyssa, on how to pick a food for your furry family member.
Feeding My Dog 101
by Alyssa H., Veterinary Technician and Continuing Education Coordinator
Peer Reviewed by Dr. Sapato, BLVD Vet Logan Square Medical Director
Why is choosing the right food so important?
While you may eat a diverse diet that changes each day, your dog eats the same food every day, year after year. It’s important to find a nutritious, balanced diet so that they don’t develop dangerously low or high levels of any single nutrient. Additionally, selecting the right food for your pup can significantly extend their lifespan and quality of life!
At BLVD Vet, our veterinarians follow science. Our recommendations can and will change as new research is published.
The top 4 aspects of diet our team recommends are grain inclusive diets, no legumes or pulses in the top 10 ingredients, age appropriate diets and using well-trusted, research-backed brands.
Grain inclusive diet. Grains are a great source of nutrients for your pet! They are full of carbohydrates that are used for energy, plus vitamins and minerals to keep your dog’s coat healthy and their immune system strong.
No legumes or pulses in the top 10 ingredients. What are legumes and pulses? A legume is a type of plant that grows in a pod- like beans, peas and chickpeas. A pulse is a dried seed from inside the legume. When dog food companies started eliminating grains from their diets, they replaced them with other high carb ingredients like legumes, pulses and potatoes. While these foods might be great sources of nutrients for humans, they can be a dangerous addition for dogs. Diets with a large amount of legumes and pulses are linked to cases of Dilated Cardiomyopathy, a fatal heart disease. While they may be ok in small amounts, we advise against foods where pulses and legumes make up a large portion of a canine diet until there is more research available on the safe use of these ingredients in dog foods.
Age appropriate diet. This can be found by looking for a Nutritional Adequacy Statement located on the food packaging.
The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) creates model guidelines that are then adopted by state and federal governments to regulate pet foods. They have several different life stages:
Gestation/lactation: for pregnant and nursing dogs
Growth: for growing puppies
Maintenance: for full grown adults
All life stages: the diet satisfies requirements for all three life stages
While it might seem like the better choice because it covers more stages, “all life stages” diets give your pet less precise and less tailored nutrition than sticking to a diet that is formulated for a single life stage.
Unless otherwise directed by your veterinarian, adult dogs over the age of 1 are recommended to eat a diet that is formulated for maintenance and puppies under 1 year of age are recommended to eat a diet that is formulated for growth. Just like humans, a dog’s nutritional needs change as they age. By choosing the correct life stage, you ensure that your dog is eating for their current health needs.
What about senior diets?
Most states and companies follow the AAFCO model guidelines, so until an AAFCO life stage is established there is no standard for what a senior diet should include. This means that all senior diets fall under the maintenance category. Each company decides what their senior food will look like, which is why it’s important to attend yearly veterinary exams where your veterinarian can recommend specific diets to meet your pet’s individual needs.
What about large/giant breed puppies?
Large and giant breed puppies grow at a much faster pace than their smaller sized counterparts. Think about the difference between a great dane puppy’s leg and a chihuahua’s! Because of this, we want to make sure that we set up our large and giant breed dogs for success with the optimal amount of nutrients and minerals in their diets. By feeding a large breed specific puppy food, we reduce the risk of developing orthopedic conditions caused by their diet.
Well trusted, research backed brands like Royal Canin, Hill’s and Purina. These three companies have been around for a long time and have built a strong reputation within the veterinary community for creating species appropriate, science backed foods. We know that when we are feeding these diets that we are feeding our pets nutritionally balanced diets that undergo routine quality control testing to ensure safety and consistency.
On the back of the bag, pet food usually has one of two nutritional adequacy statements - the diet is either formulated to meet AAFCO standards, or used feeding tests using AAFCO procedures to determine a food complete and balanced. The most important difference between feed tested and formulated diets is that a diet that is feed tested has undergone minimum safety studies to ensure that what you’re feeding is safe for your pet. Additionally, feed tested foods are required to re-certify every 5 years, whereas formulated diets are not. This means that a formulated diet could be created once and never touched again, regardless of how long it has been on the market or if the company has changed ingredient suppliers (which both impact the nutritional makeup of ingredients). We prefer seeing a diet that has undergone feeding tests because we know that at minimum, steps are being taken every 5 years to ensure that the diet matches with what has been formulated.
When it comes to quality control, think about when you pick up a package of chicken from the store and some pieces are bigger than others, or have a little extra fat when others do not. While these are normal variations in fresh food, they can cause detrimental changes to the final diet formulation- pet food companies bring in truckloads of each ingredient regularly! To ensure that each ingredient and protein has a similar nutritional makeup, reputable companies complete quality control on each ingredient batch coming into their facilities. They stick to the same producers that they know and trust, and they also test the final product in every single batch to make sure that it not only matches the nutritional profile for the product, but is also free of contaminants that could cause harm to your pet. We trust research backed brands because not only do they have the science to support their diets, but they also have a longstanding history of transparency when it comes to the quality control they complete on their products.
I picked out my diet, now how much do I feed my dog?
Each diet has a different caloric density (how many calories are in each cup of food) so it’s important to take a look at the bag of food when you switch flavors or formulas. Every bag (and can!) of food will have a feeding guide where you can see how much is recommended you feed your pet each day. This may change slightly based on how active your dog is. For a specific daily calorie count recommendation, please ask your veterinarian at your dog’s next appointment.
How do I feed?
The last piece of the puzzle is how you give your pet their food. For most healthy adult dogs, twice daily feeding is adequate. No matter how many times a day you offer your dog food, we recommend measuring out the food at each serving. Practicing meal feeding a set amount rather than free- feeding will help to prevent unintentional weight gain. Because the majority of dogs aren’t able to self-regulate how much food they should eat in a day, they will overeat when given the opportunity to do so. You can use a puzzle feeder, slow feeder, or use your pet’s kibble as treats while training throughout the day. Unless otherwise recommended, as long as your dog gets an adequate amount of calories each day you can feed whenever and however you want to! Do what works for your lifestyle! Check out our at home enrichment article here for more creative feeding methods.
As a rule of thumb, always discuss nutrition with your veterinarian. Every dog is different and has their own special feeding needs - just like us! Consulting with a professional will be the best way to work through the many food brands and labels.
We hope you found these tips useful and that they help keep you and your pet happy and healthy. Please don’t hesitate to schedule an appointment if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
The BLVD Team