Feeding Dogs
Feeding Your Dog
It is important to feed your dog a sensible diet. Dog obesity is a growing problem, and can cause serious health problems for your dog. You should carefully decide on what to feed your dog, based on the type, age and size of the dog, and stick to that. Changing the dog's food regularly can upset the dog's digestive system, and could cause health problems.
Dogs are omnivores, and although they usually prefer meat based foods, they are able to survive on vegetable proteins and carbohydrate as long as the appropriate nutrients are present or added.
Commercial Dog Food
Dog food that you can buy comes in three types: dry, semi-moist and canned. Dry dog food is a mixture of grains, meat products, fats, minerals and vitamins, that have been balanced to be apppropriate for dogs. Canned dog food is probably the one that most dogs would choose, as it smells and probably tastes better. Dogs fed dry food seem to have fewer health problems than dogs fed on a canned or semi-moist diet.
When choosing a commercial dog food, read the label to ensure that it is suitable for the type of dog you have, and read and stick to the instructions on how much to feed your dog. You should try to stick to the same type of food as much as possible. Frequent changes to the dog's diet could upset its digestive system.
Home Made Dog Food
If you choose to make your own dog food, ensure that you know the correct balance of carbohydrate, protein and other nutrients to have in the food. If this balance is not maintained, it could lead to health problems in the future. Feeding scraps of food from the table or leftovers can also lead to health problems, as it is unlikely that your dog will get a correctly balanced diet.
Treats
There are many dog treats available for sale in pet shops, and feeding a little treat occasionally is ok. You should not feed too many treats though, as this could easily lead to obesity and the associated health problems. It is better to use commercially available dog treats, rather than feeding human foods, as this will ensure that your dog does not eat anything that is likely to cause health problems. Chocolate, for example, can cause very serious health problems in dogs, as can grapes. Dog chocolate drops sold in pet shops are not the same as chocolate that you would eat, so you can feed them as treats.
Eating Grass
Many dogs eat grass when they are in a grassy field or on the lawn. There are a number of possible reasons for this, but nobody is absolutely certain why dogs choose to do it.
Dogs evolved as scavenging animals, and they are omnivores so they don't just eat meat. This means that they will eat just about anything that is available, and may occasionally get a craving for something green!
Sometimes dogs that are feeling ill will eat some grass and bring it back up. It is possible that eating the grass helps them to be sick if they are feeling ill in the first place.
Grass itself will not cause any harm to your dog, however any chemicals that the grass has been treated with, for example weedkiller or pesticide, might. You should only let your dog eat grass that you know has not been treated with any chemicals that could be poisonous to dogs.
