Canine Weight Control Strategies for Implementing a Balanced Dog Diet

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The importance of balance

Balance is important when it comes to feeding your best friend. Balanced in terms of your dogs diet, just as with the rest of your family, means balanced over time. Balance, along with variety and moderation, are the three keys to successfully feeding your dog.

Importantly though, you wont find balanced dog diet nutrition in a bag. It doesnt work like that. It come from respecting your dog and treating your best friend just like the other members of your family. That means feeding healthy wholefoods. Proper, nutritious food. Meat, fruit and vegetables, oils, herbs and spices. Just the way dogs were fed for thousands of years before commercial dog food came along and spoiled everything.

Balance and what it really means

Balance entails getting all the nutrients required by your dog into his or her diet and in the right proportions. That means balancing the right amount of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and water. Importantly, precise balance does not have to be achieved every single day. Thats not how it works. Thats certainly not how it works in the natural world. In the natural world, nutritional balance is achieved over time.

If your dog has some of each of the six essential nutrients for dogs each day, it really doesnt matter what they are. Not every single meal you prepare for your dog, or your family for that matter, has to be perfectly balanced. But if you feed a variety of different fruits and vegetables and a variety of different protein sources over the course of a week or so, your dogs diet will ultimately balance out.

Thats what balanced really means. Forget the complete & balanced so often touted by the commercial pet food industry. Thats nonsense. Thats marketing jargon created to blind the unwitting consumer with flawed science. Its a marketing ploy to stop pet parents from thinking for themselves and questioning whats actually in the dry dog biscuit theyve been feeding their dog for years.

The six essential nutrients

There are six main groups of essential micronutrients and macronutrients. In no particular order they are water, protein, fats, vitamins, carbohydrates and minerals. Those six nutrient groups are key to good dog health just as they are imperative to good human health. Some are more important than others, but they all required or essential to your dogs diet because they are involved in all your dogs bodily functions.

Heres the thing though. When you feed yourself and your family, there is no big brother standing over you telling you what you must and must not eat in order to maintain good health. You instinctively know that already. You know that if you eat junk food day in, day out, it is likely to negatively affect your health.

By the same token, you know that if you eat quality food made with fresh natural ingredients, it is likely to improve your health. Those things are a given. It is also a given that if you vary what you eat each day, you will achieve what is known as nutritional balance. In other words, a balanced diet. A diet that gives you all the essential nutrients you and your family need to survive and thrive.

There is no exact science which tells you exactly what you need to eat in order to achieve that nutritional balance. Its a state you automatically achieve without even knowing it. Provided that is that you eat a variety of fresh natural foods.

Common ways we mess up our pups nutrition

When you love your dog, you may feel the urge to spoil them with treats or come up with elaborate meal recipes. But some of the feeding choices we make out of love can turn into big mistakes depriving our dogs of necessary nutrients, overdoing fats or leaning too heavily on the magic of chicken and rice (which is supposed to be a temporary diet for upset digestive tracts).

Top tips for dog diets

• Feed a commercial diet that is certified as providing complete and balanced nutrition for your dogs life stage, or work with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist to plan a home-prepared diet that matches your dogs needs.
• Be conservative with treats. If you love giving your dog lots of little tidbits throughout the day, use low-calorie, low-fat snacks such as carrots or snap peas, or set aside part of their daily meals for treats.
• Make all diet changes gradually, and consider giving a probiotic during this transition period.
• Schedule an appointment with your veterinarian if your dog has chronic diarrhea or stomach upset to determine if there are other underlying causes.

Too many treats

When asked about where things often go awry with doggy diets, Dr. Joseph J. Wakshlag, section chief and professor of clinical nutrition, immediately responded, Too many treats!

It is common, even when the dog is on a commercial diet, that folks still like to feed treats or table scraps, Wakshlag says. Treats should be limited to no more than 15% of the daily calorie intake since these are often not complete and balanced foods, which may throw off nutrient intake.

Many veterinary nutritionists recommend limiting your dogs calories from treats to 10% of their total diet, especially if you are working on a weight-loss program. Even though many of us feel like we only give our dogs occasional table scraps, those bites add up quickly.

I was involved in a study looking at table-scrap feeding, or human foods to be more precise, and the average calories from these sources was about 20% of calories for the average dog, which is a bit too much, Wakshlag says. Veggies are often fine because they are low in calories, while the pizza crust, burger bites and fries are just way too high in calories, and can really lead to obesity and subpar nutrient intake.

The good news is that there are easy ways to get your dogs diet back in balance without denying them treats and snacks. Instead of feeding random food scraps, use part of your dogs primary diet as treats. Set aside part of each meal to use for training and random snacks. This is helpful both for weight-loss management and to ensure that your dog is eating a balanced diet.

Another option is to use healthy, low-calorie items as treats. Carrots, broccoli and snap peas are three examples that many dogs love.

Hazards of home-cooking

Home-prepared diets for dogs are increasing in popularity, but many veterinary nutritionists advise caution. It is critical to use a recipe that is deemed complete and balanced to make sure that your dog is getting everything that they need. For dogs with health conditions, a custom diet designed by a veterinary nutritionist is often the best plan.

If people are feeding home-prepared diets, this can be a problem, since there are a number of nutrients that are often deficient like calcium, B12, zinc, magnesium, etc., which can lead to subclinical deficiencies, Wakshlag says. The most egregious deficiency is usually calcium, which can lead to pathologic fractures in puppies and osteopenia with a risk of fracture.

But your dog can have their ground turkey cake and eat it too. If considering a home-cooked diet for your dog, ask your veterinarian to evaluate it for nutritional adequacy. Its very important to use vitamin and mineral mixes designed for home-prepared diets when feeding dogs, particularly if using primarily a meat-based diet plan, Wakshlag says.

Too much of a good thing

Our dogs love meats and fats, but overly rich foods dont always love them back. Overindulging can irritate your dogs pancreas and cause pancreatitis.

Pancreatitis is an extremely painful condition characterized by nausea, vomiting, lethargy, poor appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea and fever. In severe cases, it can be fatal. Pancreatitis is treated with pain medications, anti-nausea medications and intravenous fluids. Most dogs who have survived pancreatitis have to stay on a strict, low-fat and low-protein diet for the rest of their lives to prevent recurrence.

Prevention is the best medicine when it comes to pancreatitis. Only give your dog small amounts of rich or fatty foods, especially if they have a history of having a sensitive GI tract. An occasional marrow bone is likely safe, but avoid making them a regular snack. (Also keep in mind that dogs can crack or break their teeth when chewing on these bones, or get hurt from splinters that break off and become lodged in their throat).

Long-term bland diets

Plain, boiled chicken and rice can save the day when your dog has diarrhea. Lean, cooked hamburger and cooked pasta are two other great options when your dog is sick and needs a bland diet to soothe their GI tract.

However, neither of these diets are balanced, and they are not safe to feed long-term because they have an incomplete nutritional profile.

If you find yourself whipping up a bland diet for your dog on a regular basis, then they may have a health condition more serious than a simple case of diarrhea. Some possible underlying causes include intestinal parasites, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), pancreatitis, food intolerance, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), Addisons disease, liver and kidney failure, food allergies or even cancer. The bland diet will help temporarily with your dogs discomfort, but wont resolve the underlying issue and may even make it worse over time.

Schedule a veterinary appointment to discuss your dogs symptoms and complete testing to figure out why your dog may still need a bland diet. Bloodwork, plus a fecal exam to check for parasites, is a great place to start. If those tests dont provide clear answers, your veterinarian may recommend additional blood tests, an X-ray or ultrasound, allergy testing or endoscopy.

Switching too quickly

If you need to change your dogs diet, do it gradually. Start by feeding 75% of the old diet mixed with 25% of the new diet. The next day, feed 50% of each diet, then on the third day feed 25% old and 75% new. This 4-day transition works for most dogs, but dogs with sensitive stomachs may need a longer, more gradual swap.

If you end up doing a sudden diet change, your dog may have some diarrhea because they arent used to the new diet yet. This is usually temporary and will resolve without treatment, but can be unpleasant for both of you. If the diarrhea lasts more than a day or two, or if your dog has other symptoms, call your veterinarian to get some probiotics or anti-diarrhea medications to help ease the transition.

This article has been reprinted with permission from the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicines DogWatch newsletter, published by Belvoir Media Group. When you become a member of the Riney Canine Health Center, you will receive a free subscription to DogWatch.

Balanced diet

Just like a baby, your puppy will grow up before you know it. In just one year (two for large breeds) your puppys bones and joints will grow to full size. Their muscles, internal organs and immune system will fully develop. And their cognitive skills will develop too, meaning your pup can learn lots of new things.

With all that growth and development, your puppy has some specific nutritional needs. So youll need to make sure theyre eating complete and balanced food, that is formulated specifically for puppies and that provides all the necessary nutrients in the proper quantities and ratios to each other.

Heres a look at what makes up a high-quality puppy diet:

Water

The key to life. Water aids in hydration, helps regulate temperature and transports nutrients throughout the body. Make sure your puppy has a bowl of fresh water at all times, whether its meal time or not.

Calories

To say puppies are active is an understatement. Depending on your puppys age, breed size, environment and activity level, energy needs will vary. While you need to make sure youre giving your puppy enough calories, you also dont want to give him too many. Otherwise, his body will store the extra energy as fat, which can lead to obesity.

Protein

Protein is the building block of muscle development and tissue repair. Protein also supports immune function, the synthesis of enzymes and hormone production. It can be utilised as a source of energy, too.

Fats

Yes, thats right. Despite what you may think, fats are actually a concentrated form of energy and a source of essential fatty acids that will help your puppy absorb certain vitamins and maintain a healthy skin and coat.

Carbohydrates

Chewing, romping, running and playing take a lot of energy. And aside from sleeping, thats about all puppies do. Cereal grains like oats, wheat, corn and rice will help keep their motors running.

Minerals

Elements like calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron are necessary to help your puppys body perform certain important functions like growing strong bones and teeth, maintaining normal muscle and nerve function and producing hormones.

DHA

DHA (docosahexaeonic acid) is a natural omega-3 fatty acid that helps support brain and vision development.

Vitamins

Essential vitamins like vitamin E will help keep your puppys immune system healthy, while vitamin A will help maintain skin and hair.

With the exception of water, dog foods identified as 100% complete and balanced contain the proper proportions of all of the required nutrients for this life stage.

When preparing your puppy's food, always ensure you follow the recommended feeding guide on the package (unless otherwise recommended by your vet), as amounts can vary from breed to breed and also change with age.