Feeding your dog well: why is it important?
Feeding your dog well means providing him with a stable diet day after day. This power supply must both:
- cover correctly and without excess its daily calorie requirement in order to preserve your pet's he althy weight,
- provide the 40 nutrients essential to the dog's good he alth every day. Otherwise, an unbalanced diet leads to medium-long term he alth problems and has every chance of reducing your dog's life expectancy.
Which diet should you choose for your dog?
Croquettes or dog food
Respecting a good nutritional balance and providing a sufficient quantity of food to your dog is quite simple today given the wide variety of complete dog food available on the market such as pâtés and dog food.
Dog croquettes
Dog kibble is the exclusive mode of feeding dogs for 50% of them in French households (source: KANTAR TNS 2016 survey). If half of dog owners have made this choice, it is because the kibbles are above all practical, easy to dose and store and they are sufficient on their own to feed a dog.
With a bowl of croquettes, we provide both the calories necessary for the dog but also all the nutrients, vitamins, minerals and trace elements that a dog needs. In other words, it is a complete food to which nothing more should be added, with the exception of a bowl of water left available to the dog at all times.
Available in several recipes and in several ranges (junior croquettes, for adult dogs, organic croquettes), the croquettes adapt to the food preferences of all dogs and their specific nutritional needs, throughout their life. .
They can therefore be suitable for dogs of all sizes, all breeds and all ages. Relatively inexpensive, they are particularly interesting for large dogs that require quantities of food adapted to their size.
Whatever the age or size of your dog, the important thing is to always choose kibbles of good nutritional quality, relatively rich in protein from good quality animal sources and low in assimilable carbohydrates.
To read also: Which croquettes to choose for my dog?Dog food
Dog pies are an interesting alternative to dog food.They are particularly palatable and indicated for dogs with food fussiness or more sensitive from a digestive point of view. Less "concentrated" in calories than kibble, it is therefore necessary to distribute 3 to 4 times more so that feeding a dog with industrial pâtés can be a little more expensive and that, for these reasons, they are only recommended for small to medium sized dogs.
Also know that you can choose to feed your dog exclusively with mash on the condition of choosing complete dog mash.
Also read: Which pâtés to choose for my dog?These products can only be kept for a few days after opening in the refrigerator and can promote the appearance of tartar on your dog's teeth. You must therefore take care to brush your pet's teeth even more regularly than with kibble!
Homemade dog food
For the most motivated masters and mistresses, homemade food is the third possible option for feeding their dog. It simply consists of “cooking” fresh products for your animal. It is a mode of feeding very appreciated by dogs and very qualitative. However, when cooking for your dog, you must make sure to balance his diet and not introduce toxic foods into his bowl. The help of a veterinarian to balance his recipes is then always necessary!