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Congratulations!
By clicking on this article, it means that you have already got your best furry companion. Either you bought it or adopted it, you are the lucky one and your companion will be well cared for.
A step further, after choosing the breed and buying or adopting your best friend, is to know how and what to feed it. It’s a pretty serious matter if you want your furry friend to spend many happy and healthy years with you. You are their carer and now you have to make wise decisions for their well-being.
The Vet’s Suggestion
for feeding your dog is once a day a portion recommended by the dog food producer. There is a chart at the back of each pack of food saying how much you should feed your dog according to the age, size and weight. Very simple rules to follow and be happy. You will definitely not make a mistake with the vet’s advice.
The vets say the dogs can’t digest food fast, so their digestion is optimized by one portion in 24 hours.
But, there is always but. Over time, you will see these sad eyes watching you eat and you won’t be able to resist them. However, don’t give them food from the table. It won’t do them good. They will always ask for more and they will get fat and getting fat leads to many diseases and you will be sorry in the end which won’t fix anything. They really can’t digest all the food given during the day.
My Experience is a Little Different!
I am always indulgent because I have always had severe cases of rescued dogs. Whenever they look at me, my first thought is what they were through. Anyway, I know I am not allowed to risk anything else with them, so I had to find a compromise.
I measure the portion they are advised to have in a day and I give them half in the morning and the other half in the evening. This way, I have made a compromise with myself and the vet – one portion a day in two servings. Isn’t it great?!
Just to remember not to get them used to the food from the table. They aren’t aware of healthy diets or anything similar that could be applied later. They are instinctive beings, just like wolves, most of them would eat as long as there is food. The minority is the lazy ones that you can’t please, just like my Chloe.
The look on Chloe’s face when she’s called to eat.
What to Feed Them?
Anyhow, I don’t feed only dry food. One serving is usually dry and the next serving is wet food.
Dry food is what they usually don’t like much. In that case, I pour some meat soup or broth over it to make them eat. As I am a hard-working person, always busy, I don’t have much time to prepare food for them, too. Not only is this the fastest alternative, but it is also a good option because people who make food are people who know what the optimized quantity of nutrients is per portion. So, this is also the safest way not to make a mistake with feeding your four-legged friends.
Again, my suggestion for dry food is this.
For the second serving in a day, I cook meat (chicken, veal or beef) with vegetables, but most often, for the same reasons mentioned for the dry food, I use canned wet food from the pet store. Again, when you have found the most reliable dog food producer you only buy their products.
A Bad Experience, Luckily not Mine
but my friend’s, ended fatally. My friend had a chihuahua that she loved so much. It was a female and she gave birth to a daughter. My friend kept them both and loved them so much. She is a wealthy one and she could afford anything for her pets. The thing is that her love made one of them permanently ill and the other deceased.
Instead of buying high-quality food for them, she bought and fed them treats, a lot of unhealthy treats and no real food. What my friend lacked was knowledge! However, she gained it, but late.
Her young three-year-old dog died of kidney failure after having been provided with the best possible vet care in several European countries. Unfortunately, no vet was able to fix what she had spoiled.
Please don’t overfeed them nor feed them treats! Treats are treats, not food! Treats serve as a reward for good behaviour and obedience.
Whether You Decide
to follow the vet’s advice or learn from my experience, just always have in mind the bad ordeal that my friend’s love made to her pets. Always think about their health first and don’t feel bad if you don’t fulfil their unquenchable desire for food.
If regularly fed, they are not hungry, this is their instinct craving to clear the table. So it isn’t about you and your austerity. You are on a good path if you resist their moaning eyes.
In spite of all I have said above, I really think that the best way to feed your dog is homemade food. The only thing is that I cannot determine the exact balance of all the nutrients needed for their proper development. Maybe, if I had more time, I could study it and make them a proper meal. Unfortunately, with this amount of work, I will have to leave it to specialists and buy what they make for our best friends.
A dog is God spelt backwards.
So treat them like Gods and remember that we never treat Gods with food, but with love and respect. So love them, respect them and never overfeed them!
