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  • Nutrition
    • Healthy Diets
      • Choosing A Dog Food
        • Choosing the best high-quality kibble dog food
        • You’re feeding your dog wrong! 10 Reasons why you are feeding your dog the wrong way
        • Choosing treats for a dog with a sensitive stomach: 7 rules of thumb
        • Feeding your dog: How much, how often, and what you should feed your dog
        • How to read dog and cat food labels like a pro
        • Essential Tips for Choosing Dog Food for Small Dogs & Puppies
        • 10 Things Every Pet Owner Must Avoid In Their Dogs Food
      • Homemade Diets
        • What to avoid when making your homemade treats
        • Choose the best flour for your homemade dog treats
        • Bone Broth for dogs: What you need to know!
        • 7 rules of thumb when making your pets treats
        • 13 Binders to use in your homemade dog treats
      • Grain-Free Diets
        • The link between grain-free diets and DCM
      • Raw Food Diet
        • Article Review: How a raw diet affects the feline gastrointestinal tract
        • Feeding your cat a homemade or raw diet? You should know about these 3 deficiencies
        • How a Raw Food or BARF Diet Affects Your Dogs Microbiome
        • Five reasons your vet doesn’t agree with raw diets
        • How a Raw Food or BARF Diet Affects Your Dogs Microbiome
    • Healthy Treats
      • Choosing treats for a dog with a sensitive stomach: 7 rules of thumb
      • What to avoid when making your homemade treats
    • Holistic Health
      • Adaptogens & Nootropics: biohacking your dog
      • Dogs & Vitamins: Do dogs need them? Vitamin Deficiencies in dogs
    • Chia Seeds
      • The Benefits & Hazards of Feeding Your Dog Chia Seeds
      • Chia Seeds & Dogs: Which dogs benefit the most from chia seeds?
    • Flax Seed
      • Is Flax Seed Safe To Feed Dogs?: 8 Things to Keep in Mind
      • Flax Seeds & Dogs: Can My dog have flax seeds?
  • Gut Health
    • Probiotics
      • 4 All Natural Probiotics for Dogs we Love
      • How to choose the best probiotic for your dog
      • The pro’s & con’s of giving probiotics to dogs with pancreatitis
    • Microbiome
      • How a Raw Food or BARF Diet Affects Your Dogs Microbiome
      • Your pets microbiome & 4 things you can do to keep it healthy
      • Your pets microbiome & 4 things you can do to keep it healthy
    • 16 Holiday Foods that Can Harm Your Dog or Cat
  • Digestive Issues
    • Camping with a dog that has digestive issues
    • IBD & IBS
      • What’s the big difference between IBS & IBD?
      • Inflammatory Bowel Disease
      • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
      • IBD in Dogs
        • FMT: Could this be the cure for your dogs IBD?
        • Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) in dogs, important things you need to know
        • FMT: Could this be the cure for your dogs IBD?
        • Budesonide or Prednisone, finding the best treatment for IBD in your dog?
    • Diarrhea In Dogs
      • 6 Things to do when your dog has diarrhea
      • 7 safe over the counter medications for diarrhea & vomiting in dogs
      • 13 Foods that can help if your dog has diarrhea or vomiting
      • Chronic Diarrhea in Dogs: 7 Questions your vet will ask
    • Pancreatitis
      • Pancreatitis in Cats
      • Pancreatitis in Dogs
        • Pancreatitis in dogs: Causes, Prevention, and Treatment
        • Best Petco treats for dogs with chronic pancreatitis
        • How to comfort a dog with pancreatitis at home
        • What a veterinarian feeds her dog with pancreatitis
        • Camostat mesilate as a treatment of canine pancreatitis
        • The pro’s & con’s of giving probiotics to dogs with pancreatitis
        • 6 Possible Complications of Pancreatitis
        • Pancreatitis in Pets: Pet safety during the holidays
        • What Dogs are more Prone to Pancreatitis
        • 8 healthy low-fat natural treats for dogs with chronic pancreatitis
    • 5 things you should always have on hand if your dog has a chronic intestinal disease
  • Food Allergies
    • Chicken Allergies In Dogs: The Ultimate Guide
    • The differences between food intolerances and food allergies in dogs and cats
  • Diet Therapy
    • Feeding For Arthritis
      • What to look for in a quality joint-support dog food
      • Types of arthritis in dogs & how food can help
      • Arthritis in dogs: how the dog gut microbiome affects arthritis
      • How food can help prevent or delay arthritis in dogs
      • Arthritis in Dogs: 10 important ingredients in a joint supplement
      • The top joint Supplements to stop arthritis pain in dogs
    • Common inherited diseases in Golden Retrievers and how food can help

Feeding your dog: How much, how often, and what you should feed your dog

Your dogs diet is a key component of keeping them healthy. Make sure you are feeding them high-quality nutritious meals. This is why it’s extremely important to speak with your veterinarian and gain proper canine education. Below are some general rules to follow about how much, how often and what to feed your fur baby.

How much should you feed your dog?

Portion size may vary based on breed, age, and health condition, and settling on the right amount can be tricky. While there are recommend feeding amounts on the back of most dog food bags, these are just suggestions and you may notice that your dog does not function well with the amounts. Since every dog is unique, you will have to determine what works best for your dog through regular adjustments and observations. Unless stated otherwise, the amounts on the packaging is the recommended amounts for your dog over a 24-hour period.

Feed too much and it could lead to obesity, feed too little and it could lead to malnourishment, it can be a thin line when feeding your pup. However, most dogs tend to fall within the normal to obese weight range.

To determine how much food to feed your dog, start by knowing your dog’s estimated adult weight and from there you can determine how many calories your dog will need per day. One option is to try using a calorie calculator for dogs although you may need to adjust the results.

How often & when should you feed your dog

How often you feed your dog is just as important as what and how much you give your dog. With that said, there are no hard and fast rules about how often your dog should eat, each dog is different and how often you feed them should be taken as a case by case basis.

Most pet owners tend to stick to feeding their dogs twice a day, morning and night as this is usually a good place to start off. This is the least number of feedings that most vets recommend, but you may notice that your pup does better with more small meals throughout the day.

Some things to take into account when deciding how often to feed your dog are age, breed, and medical issues

  • Dogs with medical issues such as pancreatitis, may benefit from feeding three or four small meals throughout the day. Speak with your vet to determine if your dog requires specialized feeing schedules.
  • Size also plays a role in deciding how often you should feed your dog, large breed dogs like Great Danes may require more calories and hence more feedings throughout the day than smaller breeds like Yorkshire Terriers.
  • Puppies (8 weeks – 1 year): Puppies, like babies are growing and you may notice that they tend to burn off much of the food that they eat quickly and are still hungry after you feed them. If you notice that they are still hungry and searching for more food after they have eaten it is safe to increase how often you feed them. In some cases pet owners choose to feed puppies up to three or four times a day. Some owners opt for free feeding puppies since they always seem to be extremely hungry, but this often leads to uncontrolled accidents in the house so it usually is not recommended, although is safe to feed them more often throughout the day to keep up with their growing bodies. If you want more information on feeding a new puppy read our article here.
  • Some owners find that as their dog approaches senior status, they tend to eat less and decide to decrease the amount they feed them, or continue to feed them them the same amount but split it into more meals throughout the day.
  • Refrain from feeding your dog close to bedtime as this may cause accidents in the home and they may not get a great nights sleep as their stomach is digesting the food.

In general, feeding more times throughout the day tends to allow for better digestion and comfort for your pet, but it is extremely important not to feed. It is best to come up with a feeding schedule for your dog, as this can help prevent accidents in the home and with healthy digestion.

What should you feed your dog?

There are many many feeding options for dogs available and you have to decide if you are going to feed your dog dry kibble, moist food, homemade meals, or a mixture of both. Once you have decided, it is important to remain consistent in your pups diet as a large deviation often times causes stomach upset and possibly diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea. Irregardless of what you choose, ensure that it is a high-quality food. If you are having trouble choosing a food for your dog, you can read our article here about how to choose a dog food.

Here are some of the pro’s and con’s of each type of food:

DRY KIBBLE

PROCON
Better weight controlFoods vary wildly in quality and content, choosing a food can prove to be difficult in some cases

WET FOOD

PROCON
Tastier to most
dogs
Harder on teeth and can increase weight gain easier than many dry diets

HOMEMADE DIET

PROCON
You know exactly what
your dog is eating
There is a lot of information to learn and any missteps can be dangerous for your pets health

Homemade meals

While I believe in cooking for my dogs, I use it as a supplement to the kibble already available at the stores. I’ll usually make them something nutritious and use it as a topping on their dog food. Many people opt to do this because cooking for your dog at home can be extremely time consuming and if not prepared properly can do more harm than good for your pet. You need to know your dog’s energy and nutrient requirements, for instance puppies must have a specific amount of calcium otherwise they can develop metabolic bone disease or orthopedic conditions like early-onset arthritis.

If you want to feed your dog whole meals instead of kibble, but don’t want to cook for them, you can opt for a dog meal service which will regularly deliver fresh, appropriately portioned meals to your door. Since these companies have already done the work of formulating meal plans based on your dogs breed, weight, and allergies with a veterinary nutritionist this is a great option for pet owners that are too busy to do so themselves, but still want the benefit of a human grade meals for their dog. The best thing is that since the meals usually come pre-portioned, you don’t have to worry about under or over feeding your dog.

General guidelines for feeding your pet. To get an accurate feeding regimen for your dog consult with your veterinarian as every dog has different needs.

Once you have decided on a feeding schedule for your dog, it is important to remain consistent. If you are still concerned about correctly feeding your dog? Read this article about why you’re feeding your dog wrong and connect with a canine nutritionist.


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