Every day you need to be sure that you are providing your dog with the proper balance of foods. The combination should involve carbohydrates, good fats, and protein. If your dog is eating a well-balanced meal every day, she is much more likely to have a long and happy life, a lovely coat, and plenty of energy.
Many dog owners are unaware of the proper balance for their dog's diet. They don't know how much of which to ensure that she gets. And, as a rule of thumb, you might consider the following. Carbohydrates should be 40% to 60% of her diet, fats should be 20% to 35% of her diet, and protein should be 2% to 25% of her diet.
Now, those are not all of the elements in a diet. Your dog also will require vitamins and minerals. But your dog's needs are not the same as your own. B1 is a particularly important vitamin for dogs. They don't store it well in their bodies and all too often it is not included in commercial dog food. You also need to note that feeding your dog a diet of just lean meat won't help to meet the requirements of everything she needs.
In their natural state, dogs eat their prey whole, which tends to contain everything they need. What you need to do as a dog owner is come as close as you can to providing the natural balance that your dog would get if she were eating live prey.
Scientists have conducted a number of studies concerning dogs' habits and what they eat. It turns out that dogs have a strong preference for food that has been cooked and is mushy, rather than food which is meaty and raw. Nonetheless, your dog will probably eat most of the things that you set in front of her. So you are the one who must do the job of establishing a proper diet for your dog.
Commercially-available dog food is what most people tend to feed their dogs. Many times these are fortified with the vitamins and minerals that they need. The manufacturers of these commercial dog foods understand that you need to have something that is easy to store. And this is why they tend to come in cans or bags and are a favorite of pretty much all dog owners.
This food, loved by dog owners -- for the most part loved by dogs -- can get expensive. And for this reason, people are beginning to make their own dog food. This can make it difficult to balance the food just right. You're not a multi-million-dollar dog food manufacturer; you're probably working in your own kitchen. And there are issues in trying to get the balance exactly right. And you cannot base it just on what you eat. You would to do a fairly extensive on this topic to achieve your goal of making sure you're giving her the best possible food for her health. If you're not careful, some health issues may arise. For instance, scouring may occur if you're putting too much milk powder in the food. This is because dogs have a hard time digesting lactose. So instead of making up your own recipes for what you're going to feed your dog, you need to find the ones that have been tested over time and shown to work.
You need also to consider that while your dog probably enjoys chewing on bones, you need to avoid a lot of them. If they are small bones that have been cooked, they are a lot more likely to cause problems by splintering and getting caught in your dog's throat or digestive tract. So avoid cooked chicken bones, fish bones, lamb chop bones. These are the biggest culprits for this "splintering" problem.
And be extra careful. You shouldn't be feeding your dog from the table. But if you do, be extra careful what you feed her. You will learn as you observe your dog what is best for her. You will probably notice that she avoids meals with which she has had a previous bad experience. Pay attention to this. This is your dog's natural instinct coming to the fore, avoiding foods that have given her difficulty.
If you want to keep your dog healthy and happy for a long time to come, be careful what you feed her and work hard at getting her all of the things that she needs to stay healthy.
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